{"id":19192,"date":"2026-08-27T15:54:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T15:54:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_7\/?p=19192"},"modified":"2026-08-27T18:23:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T18:23:19","slug":"member-spotlight-malana-krongelb-from-boston-public-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_7\/2026\/08\/27\/member-spotlight-malana-krongelb-from-boston-public-library\/","title":{"rendered":"Member Spotlight: Malana Krongelb from Boston Public Library"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MalanaAs a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

When I was about three, my dad asked me the same question. I said, \u201cA bigger kid!\u201d For a while, that meant wanting to become a baseball reporter. While that didn\u2019t happen, I succeeded in the bigger kid department. I dance randomly, play lots of video games, and get super excited when I see a mushroom in the wild.\u00a0\u00a0We even now have a \u201cpun jar\u201d in the office because of how many I make.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Could you tell us about your position\/institution?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

I am a reference librarian in the Research Services Department at the Boston Public Library. Among other things, we answer the majority of reference questions that come into the library, manage our 20 million item research collection (including a significant amount of current and historical health literature), and work to make research more accessible to the public. While we focus on serving Massachusetts residents, people from across the world ask us questions and use our holdings. We all have subjects that we oversee, and <\/span>health and medicine<\/span><\/a>\u00a0are\u00a0in my domain.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What about your work do you most want to share with the NNLM community?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

We recently subscribed to <\/span>Examine+<\/span><\/a>, a database that helps\u00a0patrons\u00a0navigate\u00a0evidence for\u00a0non-pharmaceutical health interventions, as part of our health and medicine collection.\u00a0The topics covered in Examine+ are some of the ones most flooded with health misinformation from AI, TikTok, and other unreliable sources.\u00a0\u00a0This database provides\u00a0accurate, peer-reviewed content on those topics for both general and specialist users.\u00a0<\/span>Anyone who lives or pays taxes in Massachusetts (including students) can get a\u00a0<\/span>BPL library card<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to use our online resources.<\/span>\u00a0Tell your Massachusetts friends! If\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0not from Massachusetts but are interested, I recommend browsing their\u00a0<\/span>tutorials<\/span><\/a> to learn more.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What special projects are you working on?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

In addition to spreading the word about Examine+ (seriously, check it out), I have been engaged in a long-overdue health collection refresh project that\u2014fingers crossed\u2014will help guide health collection management across the BPL system.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a never-ending process, but it\u2019s worth it. I\u2019ve also been building out a consumer health information LibGuide in Spanish. Stay tuned!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While not explicitly health focused,\u00a0I\u00a0established\u00a0our reference by mail program\u00a0where we answer questions from incarcerated people\u00a0across\u00a0New England.\u00a0Since we\u00a0formally\u00a0started about a year ago, we have had several\u00a0health-related questions. These ranged\u00a0from safety thresholds for fluoridated water to research studies on barbershops\u2019 effects on community mental health\u00a0(both of which I used NLM resources to answer).\u00a0Prisons are information deserts, and it is vital\u00a0that we\u00a0can\u00a0provide high-quality information\u00a0to people who\u00a0are most in need of it.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is your favorite NLM resource?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

If it were socially acceptable to fangirl over MedlinePlus, I would do it even more than I already do.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How does the NNLM help you do your work?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Consumer Health Information Specialization\u00a0was absolutely instrumental in me becoming a better librarian.\u00a0Like many people, I fell into\u00a0health\u00a0librarianship\u00a0without specialized training ahead of time. CHIS has\u00a0made me more\u00a0knowledgeable\u00a0and confident in serving the health information needs of my community.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is one word that you would use to describe the NNLM?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Health information as a human right. Okay, maybe that\u2019s not one word, but who’s counting? <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many thanks to Malana for your engagement over the past few years and for sharing this guest post with us!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?\u00a0 When I was about three, my dad asked me the same question. I said, \u201cA bigger kid!\u201d For a while, that meant wanting to become a baseball reporter. While that didn\u2019t happen, I succeeded in the bigger kid department. I dance randomly,… Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2975,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[242,570],"tags":[143,532,266],"class_list":["post-19192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-member-spotlight","tag-medlineplus","tag-member-spotlight","tag-public-libraries"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2975"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19192"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19212,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19192\/revisions\/19212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}