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Wed • Sep
25

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

9:00AM-5:00PM

Venue
The New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street
New York, NY 10029

Also available on Zoom.

The event is free; advance registration is required.

Register

“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–9:15AMWelcome
Ann Kurth, President, and Paul Theerman, Library Director, NYAM
9:15AM–9:30AMConference overview and keynote introduction
Melissa Grafe, Medical History Library, Yale University
9:30AM–10:15AMKeynote Address
Trevor Owens, Chief Research Officer, American Institute of Physics
10:15AM–11:15AMQuestion 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–3:30PMBreak
Optional tours of NYAM Library highlights in the Drs. Barry and Bobbi Coller Rare Book Reading Room.
3:30PM–4:15PMSummary
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–4:45PMQuestion & Answer with all participants.
4:45PM–5:00PMConcluding 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

Click here for travel information.
Click here for recommended hotels.
Please contact rrpeelle@nyam.org with additional questions.