The trend in academic libraries over the past decade has seen librarians moving beyond the walls of the physical library, meeting patrons where they are, be that a classroom, a clinic, a lab, or even a bedside. Health sciences librarians have sought numerous ways to support clinical research including serving on Institutional Review Boards, rounding with physicians and students, performing systematic reviews, and being embedded in research projects and/or teams. This year’s Antonija Prelec Memorial Lecturer, Sally Gore, has supported clinical research via outreach efforts of a health sciences library, and as an evaluator and librarian within a Clinical and Translational Science Center. Both experiences have taught her much about what works – and what doesn’t – when librarians and clinical researchers come together.
Sally Gore, MS, MS LIS, is the Manager of Research and Scholarly Communications for the Lamar Soutter Library, University of Massachusetts Medical School. In her 10+ years in the LSL, she has held other roles in the Library including consumer health librarian, reference librarian, scholarly communications librarian, biomedical research librarian, and embedded informationist. Sally recently spent 3-1/2 years outside of the Library, serving as the Research Evaluation Analyst for the University of Massachusetts Center for Clinical and Translational Science. Her areas of expertise lie in tracking and measuring the impact of research, bibliometrics, evaluation, data and information visualization, and a myriad of trending topics in scholarly communications. Sally has a keen interest in creativity and enjoys speaking to groups on how to foster creativity in one’s work and life. She writes the blog, “A Librarian by Any Other Name” to chronicle her professional adventures and finds. Along with her degree in Library and Information Science, Sally also holds a Master of Science in exercise physiology and a Master of Divinity degree.
Outside of work, Sally plays the mandolin and guitar, writes the occasional song, hosts a program on Worcester’s community radio station, produces a podcast, doodles and draws, enjoys craft beer, and binge watches too many murder mysteries, crime dramas, and westerns. She lives in Worcester, MA with her spouse, Lynn, her beagle, Eliza, and her cat, Tater.