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标题：In their own words: oral histories of Medical Library Association past presidents
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作者：Barbara A. Epstein , AHIP
期刊名称：Bulletin of the Medical Library Association
印刷版ISSN：0025-7338
出版年度：2016
卷号：104
期号：1
页码：3-14
DOI：10.3163/1536-5050.104.1.002
语种：English
出版社：Medical Library Association
摘要：Objective The purpose of this lecture was to review the development of the Medical Library Association (MLA) oral history program and to highlight the oral histories of thirty-seven past MLA presidents to identify themes of common interest and relevance to current MLA members. Methods The lecture focused on three main topics discussed in many of the interviews: the presidents' backgrounds and how they came to be medical librarians, how MLA developed as an organization as a reflection of the growth of medical libraries, and the presidents' predictions and advice about the future. Results MLA presidents came from varied backgrounds and locales. As MLA grew from a small, intimate group into a multifaceted organization with a professional management staff, the workload of the presidents changed in scope. One recurring theme in the presidential oral histories was the power differential between men and women in the organization and the profession. MLA presidents reminisced about notable annual meetings and praised the positive impact of the organization on members' professional and personal lives. Conclusions The lecture concludes with recommendations to the organization to increase the availability of the oral histories by providing online access for future interviews and to pay careful attention to their long-term preservation. It is a thrill to deliver the Janet Doe Lecture and to see so many friends and colleagues with whom I have worked throughout my career. The Medical Library Association (MLA) has been an important part of my life for almost forty years. Since the first meeting I attended in my hometown of Cleveland, I have missed only two annual meetings. For one week every year, I have been so happy to leave behind my obligations at home and in the workplace, travel to a new city, stay in a nice hotel, eat in good restaurants, listen to interesting speakers, learn about advances in our profession, brainstorm about problems and opportunities, present papers, teach classes, go to fancy parties, and make new friends from across the country and around the world. It has been a wonderful part of my professional life! I have listened to many Doe Lectures, and I must admit that the experience of preparing my lecture during the past year has given me a new appreciation of the effort that goes into selecting and researching a topic. While there may not have been blood, sweat, or tears, I will admit to more than a few sleepless nights. I thank my terrific colleagues in Pittsburgh, my husband, and my friends for listening patiently to my endless ruminations. When I was invited to be the Doe lecturer, I knew that I wanted to tell a story, but I was not sure what story I wanted to tell. And here I have to acknowledge Mary Langman from MLA headquarters and my fellow members of the Joint MLA/Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries Legislative Task Force. Every year, this group travels to Washington, DC, and spends a day on Capitol Hill, meeting with legislators and staff to tell them about the important contributions of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and medical libraries in general. After a busy and exhausting day on the Hill last June, the group gathered in the hotel to relax before leaving for home. We were talking about MLA, and Mary told us about the Oral History Project, and lamented that there is so much wonderful information and stories in those documents that very few people read. A light bulb went off in my head, and I knew this was the story I wanted to tell. Our profession is changing rapidly, as is our association. We are reevaluating our strategic vision and our goals. We are seeing a generational shift, as the Baby Boomers move toward retirement, while a new cohort of medical librarians enters positions of leadership in the association and in our institutions. As this new generation creates the future, it is useful to remember that progress is rarely a smooth progression of preordained successes, but rather a series of false starts, wrong turns, frustrations, insights, “aha moments,” and course corrections. In my remarks this morning, I will focus on three main topics: ▪ the development of MLA's oral history program ▪ common themes in the oral histories I reviewed ▪ my recommendations for the future of the oral history program The first theme I am going to discuss is the development of the oral history program. Oral history as a scholarly field dates from the mid-1900s, made possible by the development of the tape recorder [ 1 ]. Dr. Peter Olch, former deputy chief of the NLM History of Medicine Division, wrote that the unique aspect of oral history is that it “supplement[s] the written record with candid commentary, to create a record or collection of information about an individual or a specific subject area in those instances where a prior record does not exist, and to capture a sample of the personality of the person being interviewed” [ 2 ]. As related by Diane McKenzie, FMLA, and Victoria Pifalo in their 1998 Bulletin of the Medical Library Association (BMLA) article: An oral history program was proposed at the 1977 Medical Library Association Board of Directors meeting “to provide one basis for the history of American medical librarianship and the Medical Library Association…[by recording] in their own voices the memoirs and reminiscences and experiences of medical librarians of the United States and Canada who had an impact on the practice of health sciences librarianship or the Medical Library Association.” [ 3 ] An Oral History Committee was appointed and began conducting interviews in 1977. NLM provided a three-year grant in 1980 to support the program. The oral interviews are transcribed and edited, and bound with a biographical statement, photograph, and index. Some recent interviews also include a full curriculum vitae. A collection of oral histories is kept at MLA headquarters in Chicago, and the printed transcriptions are distributed to NLM and to each of the Regional Medical Libraries (RMLs) of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM). The original recordings and unedited transcripts are accessible with permission in the MLA archives at NLM. My friends at the University of Maryland Health Sciences and Human Services Library were kind enough to send me the full set of oral history transcripts on long-term loan, so I could do a preliminary review and identify a subset to focus on for this project. To date, ninety-one interviews have been conducted. The interviewees and summaries of their interviews are listed on the MLA website. They include MLA past presidents and organizational leaders, NLM officials, Janet Doe lecturers, winners of MLA's prestigious Marcia C. Noyes Award, and significant leaders of academic, society, and hospital libraries. I decided to review the oral histories of MLA past presidents for several reasons. They came from a variety of institutions, over a long time period. They had varied leadership and personal styles: some were visionaries and some were functionaries. Some faced great challenges and unforeseen difficulties, while others had relatively smooth sailing. I read the oral histories of 37 past MLA presidents. Tables 1 and and2 2 list their names and the year they served as president. The earliest president interviewed was Mary Louise Marshall, who served for 5 years during World War II, and the most recent was Frieda O. Weise, FMLA, from the University of Maryland, who was president in 1999/2000. Some interview transcripts were as short as 11 pages, while others were more than 100 pages. Table 1 Medical Library Association (MLA) presidents' oral histories reviewed: alphabetical listing Table 2 Medical Library Association (MLA) presidents' oral histories reviewed: chronological listing I feel that I have made thirty-seven new friends. Their perspectives and recollections vary. Some were interviewed before or shortly after retirement, or even at the midpoint of their career. Others were quite elderly and interviewed several decades after retirement. Some shared information and opinions openly, while others were more circumspect. I am not going to regale you with the biography of each president; there is an excellent series of three articles in the 1998 BMLA that gives an overview of each person's career [ 1 , 4 , 5 ]. My goal in reviewing these interviews was to identify recurring themes in their experiences that have relevance for us. What were their concerns, challenges, and struggles? What can we learn from them as we move toward an uncertain future? As the famous World War II American General George Patton said, “Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable” [ 6 ]. Even more to the point, Guy Stanton Ford, noted historian and president of the University of Minnesota, was quoted by past MLA President Helen Crawford in her oral history: History is not a conservative subject, and if it teaches anything, it teaches constant change. I do not think any man fully grasps all that his profession means, the sense of all that is behind him and the importance of what he is and what he does unless he knows the long road traveled by all those on whose shoulders he stands today. [ 7 ] So let us turn to the specific themes in the oral histories that I have reviewed. I will focus on three main topics that were discussed in many of the interviews: ▪ their backgrounds and how they came to be medical librarians ▪ how MLA developed organizationally as a reflection of the growth of medical libraries ▪ the presidents' predictions and advice about the future