Faces of NNLM Region 4: Dana Abbey

For National Medical Librarians Month, we will be shining a light on Dana Abbey, Associate Professor/Engagement Specialist for NNLM Region 4. Below is an interview with Ms. Abbey about her experience being a medical librarian.

Can you give us the elevator-speech rundown of your medical librarian career?

I came to medical libraries by way of careers in public libraries, special libraries, and drug testing.

What are your research interests or top work activities?

I am interested in demonstrating the ways librarians can assist clinicians and researchers discover their scholarly value by understanding different research metrics.

What prompted you to become a medical librarian?

A contract position was ending, and I needed a job!

What is your favorite librarian tool?

It’s not really a reference/information tool, but my hotspot! It helps keep me connected to all my necessary online reference/information resources.

What do you think are the most important challenges that medical librarians face?

Staying relevant in highly specialized environments that are constantly changing and innovating.

Please tell us about an interaction with a library user that gave you a lot of satisfaction.

In 2009, I traveled to Red Feather Lakes Community Library to provide training on health information resources. One of the attendees who was facing surgery, utilized MedlinePlus to further understand her condition and make decisions regarding her care. Her story was selected for inclusion in the Woman’s Day series “The Library Made Me Healthier” (2009, Vol.72(6), p.46).