In celebration of National Medical Librarian Month, we’d like to celebrate all Himmelfarb staff and the important work they do each and every day! While working at Himmelfarb does have some similarities to working in other types of libraries, working in a health sciences library has some unique aspects. So we asked our staff to share a bit about their experiences at Himmelfarb. Here’s what they had to say:
What brought you to Himmelfarb? How did you end up working here?
“My spouse got transferred to DC and I needed a job in the area. I was working in an academic health sciences library previously and wanted to stay in that type of environment. I'd actually interviewed for another job at Himmelfarb the year before when he had another assignment to DC that subsequently got canceled.” ~ JoLinda Thompson, Associate Director of Library Operations (Interim), and Systems Librarian
“While I was in graduate school, I worked part-time for my campus' library. When I graduated, I knew I wanted to continue working with libraries. I sent out a lot of applications to various institutions in the area. Thankfully, I had a great interview experience with Himmelfarb and I knew it would be a good place to work for the foreseeable future.” ~ Brittany Smith, Metadata Specialist
“After 16 years of working in the Biomedical Communications Department of SMHS as manager of the print shop, I was asked by the VP of Himmelfarb Library and Biomedical Communications to consider helping the Library fill a much-needed vacancy. A plan was made to have me split time between the two departments. After one year, I was permanently moved full-time into Himmelfarb Library as the newly established Serials Manager.” ~ Lonnie Williams, Serials Manager
“I came to the DC area for a fellowship at NLM. I love the DMV, so wanted to stay in the area. I found the opening at Himmelfarb not long after the conclusion of my fellowship year and have been here since!” ~ Stacy Brody, Reference and Instruction Librarian
“I worked for a government contractor on an NCI (National Cancer Institute) project after I finished my master's, but really missed being in an academic setting. My husband found an ad for a reference librarian at Himmelfarb in the Washington Post's Sunday print(!) edition and I've been here ever since.” ~ Laura Abate, Library Director
“My husband and I had recently moved to DC from Fredericksburg, VA where I'd been working at a community college library. I reached out to Himmelfarb's former director, Anne Linton, whom I'd met about 6 months earlier. The reference department was short-handed at the time, and I ended up helping out at the reference desk a few days a week. During that time, a full-time position opened up, and I applied and got the job.” ~ Ruth Bueter, Serials Librarian
“I responded to a job ad in the Washington Post” ~ Yvonne Lee, Print Resources Specialist
“Prior to GW, I was working at the University of Maryland, College Park in the chemistry library. I actually applied and interviewed for two other positions at the Gelman library before being offered a job at Himmelfarb about 12 years ago.” ~ Tom Harrod, Associate Director of Reference, Instruction, and Access
If you’ve worked in non-health sciences libraries, how does working at Himmelfarb compare to your other experience?
“I worked in school library environments briefly (student teaching experiences). It was vastly different! Although during my early days at Himmelfarb (in the '90s), I applied some of the crowd management skills I learned in student teaching when we'd have large groups of students gathering on the first floor at certain times of the day.” ~ JoLinda Thompson
“When I was a student library worker, I worked for the general sciences branches of the library, like the Physics library and the Math and Engineering library, so I'm accustomed to working with library materials for specific departments and students. At first, it can feel intimidating to work with this population because I'm much more comfortable with the humanities. But ultimately, working at Himmelfarb is immensely rewarding and I learn about subjects that I would have never encountered before in my daily life.” ~ Brittany Smith
“Compared to my other library experience, Himmelfarb patrons are intelligent, motivated, serious about learning, and appreciative of the library.” ~ Yvonne Lee
“I've worked in public and special libraries. At Himmelfarb, I have more teaching responsibilities. I also have more opportunities to pursue my own professional projects and support researchers directly by conducting searches for systematic and other reviews.” ~ Stacy Brody
“The focus on recency with books and journals is very health science-specific and has forced me to reassess my understanding of collections in a couple of ways. First, it might be okay to get rid of a book just because it's ten years old. And second, while that ten-year-old book may not be of much value, a 30-year-old book may have some crucial historical information.” ~ Ian Roberts
“During grad school, I worked in the primary campus library on the reference desk. The range of questions that we received was huge. Answering a question could mean anything from showing someone where the encyclopedias were; to helping them search Lexis-Nexis via command language; to heading down to the huge, maze-like government document archives in the basement.” ~ Laura Abate
“I've worked in archives, law libraries, and scholarly publishing in the past. Himmelfarb is fun because it's so fast-paced. No two days are ever the same!” ~ Sara Hoover
“In a lot of ways, working at Himmelfarb is similar to my previous experiences in academic libraries. The biggest difference is that there's a whole other vocabulary that comes with working in a health sciences library. Not having a health science or medical background, there were a lot of terms that went way over my head at the beginning. Another pretty large change is that I get to be involved in CIS classes and get to know my students pretty well since I spend a year and a half with the same students. While I did get to interact with students and teach classes at my last library, I typically only saw students once in class and didn't have the opportunity to get to know them as well as I have here at Himmelfarb.” ~ Ruth Bueter
What do you enjoy most about working in a health sciences library?
“Knowing that what you're doing is making a very real and positive impact on the lives and health of others.” ~ JoLinda Thompson
“I enjoy seeing the unique items that are available to library patrons. I loved testing out the VR headset and using the anatomy software loaded onto the device. And it's always fascinating to hear how people use our 3D printer to print models for their research.” ~ Brittany Smith
“Working with such an expert staff!” ~ Lonnie Williams
“I love the diversity of research questions we receive in reference! I always learn something new in my searching.” ~ Stacy Brody
“The quantity and complexity of health sciences resources can be overwhelming - and I don't pretend to understand most of the medical jargon - but you pick up a lot of fascinating information working in this environment.” ~ Ian Roberts
“I've always loved the combination of working with people and systems. I love seeing our students progress toward their goals and working with all of our users to identify the right resources to support their work. And, I also love working with the library's systems and tools, and trying to keep up with the pace of change.” ~ Laura Abate
“Supporting the process of making health science research more widely accessible. The health sciences are a great place to support open science!” ~ Sara Hoover
“I love that I get to learn a lot of completely random health sciences knowledge just by virtue of interacting with Himmelfarb's resources, and our students, faculty, and staff! Every day there's something new to be learned! That said, the best part of working at Himmelfarb is getting to work with such amazing colleagues - I learn so much from my co-workers every day and I feel lucky to get to work with such great people!” ~ Ruth Bueter
“I like having access to so much health information at my fingertips.” ~ Yvonne Lee
“The range of patrons with whom we interact.” ~ Tom Harrod
Do you have a favorite and/or unique experience you’ve had while working in health sciences libraries?
“The library I worked in previously served patients and the public as well as the medical center community. This was prior to people having access to the internet at home and there was an enormous need for medical information at that level. They were often very grateful for having someone to help them find information and listen to them during a stressful and difficult time.” ~ JoLinda Thompson
“I've worked under six different Serials Librarians and have had to serve in the compacity of the Serials Librarian on a few occasions while the position was vacant.” ~ Lonnie Williams
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, I've had the opportunity to learn from and collaborate with health sciences librarians from around the world. That has been an amazing opportunity.” ~ Stacy Brody
“On a flight back from Seattle a few years back, I was seated with two women who were accompanying the first lady of Niger on a tour of the U.S. After they learned that I was a librarian and was traveling with other Himmelfarb staff, I found myself in the aisle mid-flight translating a conversation in French and English between the library director at that time, Anne Linton, and the first lady of Niger.” ~ Laura Abate
“Creating a catalog record for the Pandemic board game two months before the global pandemic.” ~ Sara Hoover
“While working at the reference desk, I received a call from the White House wanting information from a book in our reference collection.” ~ Yvonne Lee
What’s the funniest thing(s) you’ve overheard at Himmelfarb? (Because let’s face it, the health sciences can be pretty funny sometimes.)
“The view from students that Himmelfarb doesn't have a relevant resource, they get all their resources through Google searches!” ~ Lonnie Williams
“I love the April fools' and holiday articles and just the generally quirky articles that appear in the literature.” ~ Stacy Brody
“I flirted with infectious disease (said by a resident who chose another specialty).” ~ Laura Abate
“Discussion of style preferences for scrubs.” ~ Sara Hoover
“I recently overheard a student who'd just come from the anatomy lab apologize for smelling of "skull dust." I have to admit that it made me chuckle and was the highlight of my day. Things like that don't really happen in many other environments.” ~ Ruth Bueter
“The imaginative staff birthday posters are always so funny and fun!” ~ Yvonne Lee
What’s a favorite memory (or more than one) of working at Himmelfarb?
“As the librarian that maintains the Emergency Preparedness and Response Research Guide for Himmelfarb, I began closely following the news out of China about a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan in early January 2020. When the CDC began publishing information about the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) to its website mid-month I started adding information and links to trusted resources about it to the research guide. By end of February, there was so much information to share that a Research Guide dedicated to the novel coronavirus was developed for our users. This guide, along with the COVID-19 Situation Report that a number of Himmelfarb librarians contributed to, were shared with the GW SMHS community in the weekly GW Health Updates (now The Digest). Organizing the guide and keeping it updated was something I was able to do to help health sciences professionals on the front lines of the pandemic during that very tumultuous and heartbreaking time.” ~ JoLinda Thompson
“Having to change our Print Journals Collection, (over 7000 Volumes), into an electronic Collection in one month. All without having a Serial Librarian to create and manage the process. We experienced teamwork at its best as every unit worked to accomplish this task on time!” ~ Lonnie Williams
“Our colleagues put together an amazing virtual holiday party during peak COVID.” ~ Stacy Brody
“I love all of the beginnings at Himmelfarb - especially the new student and resident arrivals. It's rewarding to meet people who are passionate about what they're doing and are so excited about taking their next step.” ~ Laura Abate
“Match Day! Always so rewarding to see the med students go off and do great things in the world (complete with impeccable medical informatics skills)!” ~ Sara Hoover
“Some of my favorite memories are of student orientations when we get to meet the incoming class of medical students. There's always such a buzz of excitement in the air. I also have fond memories of when the first group of 1st-year med students I taught finally made it to their Match Day four years later - there's always a sense of being proud of students you've gotten to know who have finally reached such an important milestone. Himmelfarb staff have also done some pretty cool things together outside of work. I have fond memories of pre-Covid outings to Washington Nationals games, meeting up for dinner, and we even went Contra dancing at Glen Echo once!” ~ Ruth Bueter
“I enjoyed Himmelfarb's holiday parties, especially the delicious foods brought by staff.” ~ Yvonne Lee
“One that sticks out was a submission we created for the Art Show many years back with pictures provided by Himmelfarb staff of their experiences with a major snowstorm that we had had the prior winter. This was a massive storm that closed things down for several days and it was fun to see the pics people had taken when we were all trapped at home!” ~ Tom Harrod
Is there anything else you’d like to share about your experience at Himmelfarb or working in a health sciences library?
“I think this is an exciting time to work in a health science library and as an early career library professional, I am eager to learn as much as I can. I'm thrilled I was able to begin my career at Himmelfarb!” ~ Brittany Smith
“I love working with my coworkers and the schools we support!” ~ Lonnie Williams
“My colleagues have great taste in music :)” ~ Stacy Brody
“It can be intimidating and overwhelming, but it's rarely dull and there's always something new to learn.” ~ Ian Roberts
“While I didn't expect to end up working in a health sciences library when I was getting my library degree, I wouldn't want to work anywhere else! Himmelfarb is an amazing combination of amazing colleagues and wonderful opportunities to learn and grow both professionally and personally. I also think that working in a health sciences library, and specifically my involvement with CIS classes, has actually made me a better patient and advocate for my own health during my interactions with my own physicians. I'm more aware of questions to bring up with my doctor, or things I should mention that I may have thought were insignificant previously. Working in a health sciences library has greatly improved my own health literacy.” ~ Ruth Bueter
“Working at Himmelfarb has been a blessing - A truly GREAT place to work!” ~ Yvonne Lee
Happy National Medical Librarian Month!
We’d like to say thank you to each and every Himmelfarb staff member for all of the hard work and dedication you put in every single day! Without our amazing staff, we wouldn’t be able to provide our students, faculty, and staff with the great services and resources they need to pursue their important research, learning, and patient care every day. We hope you’ve enjoyed getting a glimpse into what it’s like working at Himmelfarb.
