{"id":33549,"date":"2024-12-09T10:00:52","date_gmt":"2024-12-09T17:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_4\/?p=33549"},"modified":"2025-03-24T15:44:45","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T22:44:45","slug":"funding-recipient-spotlight-2024-unyocmla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_4\/funding-recipient-spotlight-2024-unyocmla\/","title":{"rendered":"Funding Recipient Spotlight: Professional Development Grant for the UNYOC\/MLA Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a guest post written by funding awardee, Jasmine Zacate. <\/em>She<\/em>\u00a0used\u00a0NNLM Region 4 professional development funds<\/a> to attend the Upstate New York and Ontario Chapter Medical Library Association (UNYOC\/MLA) 2024 conference in Celoron, New York this past October.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"CalmI recently attended the Upstate New York & Ontario Chapter Medical Library Association Annual Conference<\/a>. I chose this conference because my project focused on digitizing and analyzing data from Michael Kudish\u2019s field notes of the Catskill Mountain Region located in southeastern New York and for the focus on medical librarianship. I am honored to have been awarded the Professional Development Award from the National Library of Medicine\u00a0 Region 4, which generously covered the cost of my attendance.<\/p>\n

As a 2024 NCDS intern, I hoped to gain a broader understanding and deeper insight into the library profession by attending this conference. One of my favorite sessions explored how to implement horticulture therapy into library spaces for improved mental health. I found<\/p>\n

\"Bamboophysically touching natural elements such as dirt, moss, sea glass, and seashells to be calming. I even brought my plant home with me. It now lives in my office. I also enjoyed listening to updates from members and learned about new updates to library databases through sponsor lightning talks.<\/p>\n

I was also excited to share my experiences of gaining skills in data services and how that fits into my professional goals of becoming an\u00a0academic data librarian through a lightning talk of my own. I presented \u201cDeveloping Data and Communication Skills: Lessons from the 2024 National Center for Data Services Internship,\u201d to share my experience from the summer internship. Presenting at this conference allowed me to demonstrate and reflect on the soft and technical skills I learned during this internship.<\/p>\n

As I returned from the UNYOC conference to my role as a student and a library specialist at a medical library, I brought with me a rekindled\u00a0passion for librarianship and an array of exciting new ideas on how libraries can help with healthcare innovation.\u00a0 And my plant!<\/p>\n

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If you are interested in obtaining funding for professional development, we are currently\u00a0accepting applications for Year 4<\/a>. Applications are accepted and awarded on a rolling basis until February 16, 2025<\/strong>\u00a0at 5:00 pm MT or when the funds are depleted.<\/p>\n

Please reach out to your state\u2019s point of contact with any questions you may have.<\/p>\n