Connie Schardt elected president of MLA

Connie Schardt, MLA, AHIP and adjunct professor of practice at the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and associate director for Public Services at the Duke University Medical Center Library, is the new president of the Medical library Association (MLA).

Schardt was elected vice president/president elect last year and begins her presidency year this month.

According to its Web site, "The Medical Library Association (MLA) is a nonprofit, educational organization with more than 4,000 health sciences information professional members and partners worldwide. MLA provides lifelong educational opportunities, supports a knowledgebase of health information research, and works with a global network of partners to promote the importance of quality information for improved health to the health care community and the public."

For the coming year Schardt will focus on projects that enhance MLA’s roster of distance education courses covering the core competencies for health sciences librarians and projects that engage all members of the association in an annual meeting experience.

“Almost half our members got their start in non-medical libraries and almost half don’t get to the annual meeting," said Schardt. "These projects will help existing members take advantage of all the services and resources of the Medical Library Association and hopefully attract new members.”

Schardt is a long-time member of MLA, joining the professional organization when she completed library school at San Jose State University in 1979. She has since been an active member, serving on the Board of Directors from 2005 to 2008, as chair of the MLANET Editor Search Committee in 2007 and 1998, chair of the CORE Task Force from 2002 to 2005, and participating on numerous committees, including the NPC Technology Advisory Group in 2003, the 1998/99 MLA Nominating Committee, the National Program Committee from 1995-1998, the Bulletin Evaluation Committee from 1992-1995 and the Governmental Relations Committee from 1983-1986.

In 2006, she was awarded the Lucretia W. McClure Excellence in Education Award and in 2002 Schardt received a prestigious Medical Informatics FellowMBL/NLM Course Fellowship at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.

Schardt has taught at the School of Information and Library Science at UNC at Chapel Hill since 1999. She teaches "Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) and the Medical Librarian" as a distance education course. The course is offered to SILS students for academic credit and to practicing medical librarians for continuing education (CE) credits. It brings SILS students together with practicing librarians to explore evidence based medicine. The course has been offered twice a year since 1999 and has always had a full class of 20 participants.

Schardt is also involved with EBM and the Medical School curriculum at Duke University. She works with the clinical faculty to co-direct the EBM course
for 3rd year medical school students. She also co-directs "Teaching and Leading: a Workshop for Teachers and Champions of Evidence Based Medicine." This four-day annual workshop is designed to help clinical leaders and educators enhance their EBM skills. It attracts clinician educators and rising chief residents from across the United States.

Congratulations on this great accomplishment!