Grace and Harold Sewell

Memorial Fund

The goal of The Grace and Harold Sewell Memorial Fund, Inc. (the Fund) is to increase librarians’ identification with medical and health care professionals. Medicine for the 21st Century underlines the key role of information resources in raising the quality of health care.(1) Librarians experienced in managing knowledge and teaching informatics can supply quality information by becoming ongoing members of the health care team. Immersion in the health care environment is necessary for librarians to understand how health care professionals solve problems individually and through consensus.

Learning Partnerships: Toward New Information Perspectives

"Wonderful program. There are not enough such immersion opportunities for librarians."  
                                        – Neil Rambo, UW Health Sciences Libraries, 9/22/06

The Grace and Harold Sewell Memorial Fund funds two, paid, Learning Partnerships placing experienced librarians/informationists within leading health care and/or research organizations for the purpose of both partners gaining a greater understanding of how best information sciences can be effectively applied in each environment.

The application deadline for librarians was April 15, 2009.  We are currently working with the host organizations to finalize the 2009-2010 Learning Partnerships.  Keep reading for information on the host organizations that were available for applicants.  The process for our next round of Learning Partnerships will begin in the fall of 2010.

Detailed information is included below on:

2009 Host Organizations
Anticipated Outcomes from our Learning Partnerships

2009 Host Organizations

Two eminent health organizations, based across the United States have been selected for the 2009 Sewell Learning Partnerships program. These host organizations are leaders in direct care, research, and public health programming. Not only do they provide a dynamic, cutting edge environment in which to learn and contribute, but they also each will benefit significantly from the placement of a skilled and well-educated librarian/informationist.  Note that additional detailed information from the host's proposal is available by clicking on the link at the end of each description below. For additional information about each host, go to each organization’s website.  

1.  San Antonio Metropolitan Health District (http://www.sanantonio.gov/health). Metro Health’s mission is to provide leadership and services for San Antonio and Bexar County to prevent illness and injury, promote healthy behaviors, and protect against health hazards. As a local governmental public health agency Metro Health works at the front line of community health by providing essential health surveillance, laboratory services, education and outreach, emergency response programs, regulatory activities and policy interventions. The Learning Partnership Librarian will take a leadership role in the development and implementation of two major department initiatives: (1) A comprehensive Employee Education & Development Program; and (2) An Information & Communications program to expand the use of information technology to promote awareness of Metro Health resources and services and respond to public information needs.  Supplementing Metro Health as host of a Learning Partnership Librarian, the San Antonio Regional Campus of The University of Texas School of Public Health and the University of Texas Health Science Center Library at San Antonio have committed as partners to provide resources and mentorship for the Learning Partnership.

In addition to the eligibility requirements listed below, the preferred candidate would have experience in a health sciences setting and some familiarity with the mission and services provided by local public health agencies. Interest in the areas of professional education, communications and media relations, social determinants of health and academic-community partnerships is desirable. Ability to develop and support web-based resources would be beneficial.

<For more information on this detailed Learning Partnership proposal, click here.>

2.  Public Health Foundation (www.phf.org)  The Public Health Foundation (PHF), incorporated in the District of Columbia, is a national, non-profit 501(c)3 organization with a clear focus on improving public health infrastructure and the performance of public health agencies and systems. For more than 35 years, PHF has been on the forefront of initiatives designed to strengthen and improve the infrastructure and performance of systems that protect and promote the public’s health.

The mission of PHF is:  Improving public health infrastructure and performance through innovative solutions and measurable results. This mission aims to help PHF achieve its ultimate vision to create "a high-performing public health system that protects and promotes health in every community."

In addition to the eligibility requirements listed below, the ideal candidate should have some knowledge about and interest in the U.S. public health system. In addition, the candidate should be familiar with strategies to identify and access peer-reviewed and gray literature. Some experience with informatics, assessments and/or evaluations is preferred, but not required.

<For more information on this detailed Learning Partnership proposal, click here.>

Eligibility to apply:

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Only those individuals with a MLS or equivalent degree from an ALA-approved university program are eligible to apply for the fellowship.

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For the purpose of this offering, the term librarian includes information scientist or specialist, librarian or any other designation for a person who has received formal training in the skills of knowledge management, including but not limited to understanding the organization and availability of bibliographic resources, the classification of knowledge, and the resources and techniques for locating specific facts, data, and publications whether in print or electronic form.

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Available for a full-time, 12-consecutive-month fellowship.

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Prepare to sign a Partnership Agreement with the Host Organization and the Sewell Fund which specifies performance and reporting expectations.

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Candidates must be United States citizens or have met the requirements of I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification for employment in the United States prior to application for the fellowship.

Selection criteria:

In addition to meeting the eligibility requirements, successful candidates must also match the selection criteria specified by each host organization.

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Anticipated Outcomes from our Learning Partnerships

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Librarians should identify with their clients rather than look at clients’ needs merely intellectually from the library/information services perspective.

bulletLibrarians should be advocates for end users to the traditional library staff, assisting the latter in identifying with the clients and gaining a “We” rather than a “They” perspective.
bulletLibrarians should be prepared to improve or extend their services in a variety of ways such as: a) Developing, promoting, and administering programs to satisfy the client’s needs in libraries or information centers, b) as experienced intermediaries, providing improved services directly to the client in any appropriate setting, c) doing research or development on methods of satisfying those needs, e.g. through artificial intelligence in advanced search engines for the client’s use, and d) becoming more comfortable with the familiar specialty could lay excellent groundwork for showing the import of having an information specialist as a member of the client’s team.
bulletBecoming an “informationist”  in a particular area is valid for those librarians whose personalities and training are “more specialist than generalist.”(2,3)
bulletHosts, besides gaining from the improved perceptions and services of the librarians, should have gained a better understanding of the many ways the librarian can facilitate their work.
bulletHosts should be more facile with the newer information technologies,
bulletHosts should be better able to formulate queries or analyze problems that require a search for information in their solution.
bulletHosts should better understand how to analyze their own information needs as a first step in satisfying them. They should then be aware of when the next step will be turning to the library and/or a librarian.

(1) Institute of Medicine. Crossing the quality chasm: a new health system for the 21st century. [Web document]. Washington, DC; National Academy Press, 2001. http://www.nap.edu/books/0309072808/html/).

(2) Davidoff E, Florance V. The informationist: a new health profession? [editorial] Ann Int Med 2000 Jun 20;132(12):996-8.

(3) Rankin JA, Grefsheim SF, Canto, CC. The emerging informationist specialty: a systematic review of the literature. J Med Libr Assoc 2008 Jul;96(3):194-206.

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Copyright © 2003 Grace and Harold Sewell Memorial Fund
Last modified: 02/24/12