The tenth Janet Doe Lecture, a forty-year perspective: still relevant after all these years

Authors

  • Wayne J. Peay Librarian Emeritus, Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
  • Helen-Ann Brown Epstein Informationist, Health Sciences Library, Virtua Health, Mt. Laurel, NJ http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6506-7634

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2020.864

Keywords:

Janet Doe Lecture, Erich Meyerhoff, Technology, Hospital Libraries, Women, Education, Library Schools, Festschrift, Medical Library Association

Abstract

Erich Meyerhoff was an academic health sciences librarian and a distinguished member of the Medical Library Association when he was invited to present the Janet Doe Lecture in 1977. His lecture on the state of the association is considered one of the finest Doe lectures and is still relevant more than forty years later, not only from an historical perspective, but also for his projections for the future and his prescient comments about the future of hospital librarianship and the important role of women in the association. Key 1977 Doe lecture topics are reviewed and updated in the context of the current health sciences library environment.

Author Biographies

Wayne J. Peay, Librarian Emeritus, Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

Wayne received his bachelor's degree in history from the University of Utah in 1973 and a master of science degree with honors from the School of Library Service at Columbia University in 1977. In 1984, he was appointed director of the Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library at the University of Utah. He has been principal investigator, project director, or participant on 18 federally or state funded projects. These projects include the installation of the first higher education computer network in the state, the installation of the first analog and then a digital fax network connecting the 14 college and university libraries in the state, implementation of integrated library systems in higher education libraries and the development of Pioneer: Utah’s Online Library. From 2002 to 2005, he was cochair of the Health Sciences Education Building Committee, responsible for the construction of a $40 million, 158,000 gross square feet interdisciplinary education building. Following its completion, he assumed responsibility for its operation and administration.  His professional activities include president of the Association of Academic Health Sciences Library Directors, member of the Board of Directors of the Medical Library Association, chair of the National Library of Medicine's Biomedical Library Review Committee for 1995/96, and chair of the Utah Academic Library Consortium, twice. In 2001, he became director of the MidContinental Regional Medical Library of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine. He was an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Medical Informatics in the School of Medicine.  He is a Fellow of the Medical Library Association and was elected to the American College of Medical Informatics in 2006.  He retired from the University of Utah in 2007 as librarian emeritus.

Helen-Ann Brown Epstein, Informationist, Health Sciences Library, Virtua Health, Mt. Laurel, NJ

Helen-Ann Brown Epstein has been a medical librarian for more than forty years. With the exception of her years as an online coordinator for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM) and trainer for a commercial vendor, Epstein has been a hospital librarian with a large component of clinical outreach. Her career began has a reference librarian at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and has taken her to Richmond, Denver, New York City, and now Mt. Laurel, New Jersey, as the informationist at Virtua Health. She has been honored with a Virtua SuperStar Caring People Award. Epstein holds a master's of library science (MLS) from the University of Maryland and a master's of science (MS) from the University of Pennsylvania. She is the associate editor of the Journal of Hospital Librarianship and is honored to be a Fellow of the Medical Library Association. Epstein so enjoyed knowing Erich Meyerhoff and is delighted to join Wayne Peay in this look back at his Doe Lecture.

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Published

2020-01-02

Issue

Section

Festschrift