Member Spotlight: Jessie Casella

Posted by Margot M on December 7th, 2022 Posted in: Communities of Interest
Tags: hospital librarians, Member Spotlight, Vermont, Veterans

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If you had 25 hours in a day, what would you do with the extra hour?

This time of year, if I had an extra hour in a day I would probably craft.  I enjoy printmaking, photography, quilt making.  However, if I am right in the middle of a good book, I might spend the extra hour reading.  There is never enough to read and craft!  In warmer months if I had an extra hour I would spend it gardening or doing garden crafts.

Tell us about your position/institution.

I have worked at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) New England Health Care System for almost 7 years.  I served as the clinical librarian at the Central Western Massachusetts VA Health Care System for 6 ½ years.  In October I transferred to the White River Junction VA Medical Center.  I am still learning my way around campus and meeting all of the staff.  The staff I’ve met are wonderful and are keeping me busy.  Two of my biggest job functions are conducting literature searches and providing training on Library resources, evidence-based practice, and Microsoft software like Excel.  I love designing learning modules and teaching, so I am always excited to hold Library classes.  I also serve on local and regional VA committees including the VA New England Healthy Living Team.

What special projects are you working on?

Currently I am coordinating with the Education Department for their Education Day in spring 2023 at which I will offer training on Library and Microsoft resources.

In January I will go through training to be a core skills facilitator technical support for the New England VA.  I am excited to learn more about MS Teams functionality and work with the core skills facilitators.

Being new at the facility I am also challenging myself to go to different areas on campus to learn my way around.  I’m getting more familiar with the different buildings but still have a ways to go before I don’t need to check signage.

What National Library of Medicine resource is the most useful to your work, and why?

PubMed and ClinicalTrials are most useful to be in my work.  Both are important for literature searching.  PubMed provides published literature and ClinicalTrials provides information on unpublished research.

PubMed is also useful for literature alerts.  I am part of the national VA Library Network Office’s literature alert volunteer team.  We use PubMed for our alerts.  I am responsible for the weekly prosthetics literature alert, biweekly sports and art therapy literature alert, and monthly yoga and mental health alert.  VA staff sign up for these alerts and receive them in their emails.  Each alert has several hundred VA staff recipients from across the country.

What is the coolest thing about your library/organization/county/state?

The coolest thing about my library and organization are the people I get to work with and the Veterans we serve.  The VA New England (also known as Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 1) Knowledge Information Services Department is consolidated.  This means we have centralized librarian who handles all purchases and licenses for all of VA New England facilities and another librarian whose focus is on technical services.  This frees up the librarians at each facility to provide more services to staff and Veterans.  Most VA facilities in New England have 1 librarian.  Because we are consolidated we can assist one another with coverage and coordinate on projects.  So even though I am the only librarian at White River Junction I have a team of librarians I can rely on.  I am grateful to work with such a committed, talented, and fun team.  I also work closely with the White River Junction Education Department who are equally fantastic.

Upcoming NNLM Webinar: The History of the Rochester Study

On January 12^th, we are hosting an online discussion about the history of the Rochester Study. In 1990-1991, hospital librarians in Rochester, NY developed a research project to explore the impact of library services on clinical decision making. This became known as “The Rochester Study.” The National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM), Middle Atlantic Region (MAR) decided to replicate the study in the early 2000’s.

Join us for a discussion of three journal articles about these studies. Please read the articles prior to the discussion. We will give background information and a summary of key points. Attendees will be encouraged to offer comments on the relevance of these studies to today’s environment and offer ideas for future studies on the impact of hospital libraries on patient care. Please register at this link.