Nursing School Library Director Awarded Fellowship

by Judy Long

Susan Gerding Bader, director of the learning resource center at Baylor's Louise Herrington School of Nursing, was been awarded a fellowship through the National Library of Medicine/Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries Leadership Fellows Program. In November, she will begin a one-year mentor relationship with a director of an academic health center library.
"This excellent opportunity will benefit Susan, the nursing school and the university. As the only credentialed health services librarian at Baylor, Susan's expertise in this critical field is a valuable asset for the LHSON," said Dr. Judy Wright Lott, dean of the Louise Herrington School of Nursing.
Bader said the direction of her study will be up to her and her mentor to design. In her application, she told the association she wanted to increase her knowledge of strategic planning and technological enhancement for libraries.
"As I learn more about strategic planning and how other libraries are applying technological advances, I'll see how to incorporate them here," she said. "My mentor is Jean Sayer at the Hardin Library of the Health Sciences at University of Iowa, an innovative health science library with a strong web presence."
The fellowship program is a response to a perceived need to recruit and develop first-class leaders in academic health center libraries. As in the nursing profession, medical librarian numbers have been on a downward trajectory, and 16 percent of current librarians will retire by the end of 2005, and nearly half of all current medical librarians will retire by 2010.
Bader, who is a Distinguished Member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals, has served as director of the Louise Herrington School of Nursing academic resource center since May 2003. "I love working in health sciences education, and the faculty, staff and students here at the Louise Herrington School of Nursing are wonderful," she said.