: For Students, Faculty, and Staff 
The logo for the 2025 Midwest Chapter of the Medical Library Association Annual Conference with the theme, “Imagination & Co-Creation.”
An owl mascot represents the Midwest Chapter of the Medical Library Association. This professional organization of health science librarians from nine Midwestern states gathers in the fall of each year for their annual conference.
As with most conferences, the meeting showcases scholarship, emerging trends in program development, and innovative services from hospital and academic libraries.
And at this year’s Midwest Chapter conference, our “parliament” of health sciences librarians showcased their expertise and won top honors.
Behind the scenes of conference planning
The conference was made possible by the contributions of the conference co-chairs, the Health Sciences Library’s (HSL’s) Liz Weinfurter and Lisa McGuire. Weinfurter and McGuire began their planning in early 2024 with a call for volunteers, and the work continued for the next year and a half as they formed committees, held meetings, identified keynote speakers, communicated with conference members, and developed the conference program—all in addition to their day jobs at the library.
“I knew it was going to be a lot of work, but I think I naively underestimated just how much time conference planning would take,” said Lisa McGuire, who was new to conference planning. Despite the time and effort it took, McGuire was glad for the experience, “It allowed me to practice my project management skills in a supportive environment with amazing colleagues.”
The keynote speakers were a highlight of the conference. Philip Walker, Director of the Annette and Irwin Eskind Family Biomedical Library and Learning Center at Vanderbilt University, spoke on co-creating the future in uncertain times. Teddie Potter, the inaugural Director of the Center for Planetary Health and Environmental Justice at the School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota, explored the role of health sciences librarians in planetary health.
And the winner is…
Nicole Theis-Mahon, Evidence Synthesis Librarian and HSL Collections Coordinator, holds her plaque honoring her as the 2025 Jean Sayre Innovation Award recipient from Midwest Chapter of the Medical Library Association.
During this year’s conference, Nicole Theis-Mahon, Collections Coordinator & Evidence Synthesis Librarian at HSL, won the 2025 Jean Williams Sayre Innovation Award from Midwest Chapter.
Theis-Mahon was recognized by her colleagues for shaping a new generation of health sciences librarians through thoughtful training and mentoring of colleagues learning how to do evidence synthesis projects and for creating collections that amplify underrepresented voices at Minnesota. “This was truly unexpected and humbling … to be nominated by six of your colleagues for the Jean Williams Sayre Innovation Award is a high honor,” remarked Theis-Mahon.
Joining Theis-Mahon in recognition is Dentistry Librarian Melissa Ernst, whose research on librarian involvement in oral health and systematic reviews won the Excellence in Research: Lightning Talk award.
Additional scholarly contributions: presentations, posters, and lightning talks
Librarians at the University of Minnesota are expected to provide professional service and make scholarly contributions to librarianship and other scholarly disciplines.
HSL librarians were well represented at Midwest Chapter with several presentations that spanned a broad range of topics that demonstrated their wide-ranging expertise. Topics included librarian partnership with an office of student affairs, systematic review training and faculty partnerships, development and validation of search hedges for transgender (2STGNB) populations, and the integration of virtual reality into the health sciences curriculum.
In all, six HSL librarians (Sarah Jane Brown, Merete Christianson, Melissa Ernst, Ryn Gagen, Brooke Olson, Nicole Theis-Mahon) contributed their scholarship to the conference.
A very special appearance
Spruce, a bird ambassador from the Raptor Center, drops in to visit the attendees at the Midwest Chapter Annual Conference. Everyone loves Spruce!
Stealing the show was Spruce, the saw-whet owl who made a zoom appearance from the UMN Raptor Center. Spruce enjoyed a snack and received many on-screen hearts by conference participants.
And we’re all looking forward to gathering again at next fall’s Midwest Chapter conference, where we can contribute to our profession and learn from our colleagues as we advance the practice of health sciences librarianship.
