The Future of Historical Medical Libraries in the Digital Age

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“We read the future through the lens of the past.” A decade ago, prominent library leaders convened a conference on “Emerging Roles for Historical Medical Libraries: Value in the Digital Age.” This event offered a fruitful opportunity for librarians and researchers to discuss the challenges and opportunities presented by the digital age. A decade on, in the era of rapidly evolving AI and other information tools, in an age of great distrust in science and scholarship, what is now the best role for historical libraries with extensive collections in print and manuscript form? 
 
To discuss and help answer these questions, the New York Academy of Medicine is convening a one-day meeting with representatives of some of the significant historical medical libraries in the United States and the United Kingdom, other library leaders of specialized collections, and leaders harnessing technology to better store and readily access needed information. We will gather to collectively explore key issues in the field. While the focus of the discussion will be historical medical libraries, the conclusions should be of interest to special collections libraries generally.
 
Click here for the full conference prospectus
 
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
 
Trevor Owens
Chief Research Officer
American Institute of Physics
 
COMMITTED SPEAKERS
 
Babak Ashrafi
Consortium for the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
 
Tom Baione
American Museum of Natural History
 
Michelle DiMeo
Science History Institute
 
Sandra Enimil
Yale University
 
Melissa Grafe
Yale University
 
Jeremy Greene 
Johns Hopkins University
 
Pamela Horn
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
 
Polina Ilieva
University of California—San Francisco
 
Lise Jaillant
Loughborough University, UK 
 
Ann Kurth
New York Academy of Medicine; Fellow, New York Academy of Medicine
 
Trevor Owens
American Institute of Physics
 
Jeffrey S. Reznick 
National Library of Medicine
 
Edward H. Shortliffe
Columbia University; Fellow, The New York Academy of Medicine
 
Paul Theerman
The New York Academy of Medicine; 
 
David J. Wolf 
Weill Cornell Medicine; Fellow, The New York Academy of Medicine.
 
Borui Zhang
University of Florida
 
AGENDA
 
9:00AM–9:15AM Welcome
Ann Kurth, President, and Paul Theerman, Library Director, NYAM
9:15AM–9:30AM Conference overview and keynote introduction
Melissa Grafe, Medical History Library, Yale University
9:30AM–10:15AM Keynote Address
Trevor Owens, Chief Research Officer, American Institute of Physics
10:15AM–11:15AM Question 1
Michelle DiMeo, Science History Institute, Philadelphia, and Polina Ilieva, University of California—San Francisco, addressing “What new roles are historical medical libraries taking up in today’s world?”
Facilitated by Tom Baione, American Museum of Natural History
11:15AM–11:45AM
Break
Optional tours of NYAM Library highlights in the Drs. Barry and Bobbi Coller Rare Book Reading Room.
 
11:45AM–12:45PM
Question 2
Lise Jaillant, Loughborough University, UK and Borui Zhang, University of Florida Libraries, addressing “What interplay between technology and collections—both physical and digital—can best serve ‘historical libraries’ new roles?”
Facilitated by Pamela Horn, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
 
12:45PM–2:00PM
Lunch & presentation by Jeremy Greene, Johns Hopkins University, introduced by David J. Wolf
 
2:00PM–3:00PM
Question 3
Babak Ashrafi, Consortium for the History of Science, Technology, and medicine, and Jeff Reznick, National Library of Medicine, addressing “What new organization structures would best enable historical libraries to fulfill their new roles?”
Facilitated by Edward H. Shortliffe, Columbia University
 
3:00PM–3:30PM Break
Optional tours of NYAM Library highlights in the Drs. Barry and Bobbi Coller Rare Book Reading Room.
3:30PM–4:15PM Summary
Sandra Enimil, Program Director for Scholarly Communication and Information Policy, Yale University Libraries: “What we’ve learned; what we still need to know; next steps.”
4:15PM–4:45PM Question & Answer with all participants.
4:45PM–5:00PM Concluding Remarks
Ann Kurth, President, NYAM, and Paul Theerman, Library Director, NYAM
PROGRAM COMMITTEE
 
Ann Kurth
NYAM President and Fellow
 
Vimla L. Patel
NYAM Fellow
 
Paul Theerman
NYAM Library Director (chair)
 
David J. Wolf
NYAM Fellow
 
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Please contact rrpeelle@nyam.org with additional questions.