Week 22: Looking Back and Looking Forward

We are in the process of compiling the annual report for 2019-2020. At the same time, we are in the process of completing our personal performance evaluations. I thought I would use this week’s message to share with you my annual report message to the community and my own professional goals looking back and looking forward. Here goes.

Countway Library ranks as one of the largest medical libraries in the world. Anchoring the Longwood Medical Campus, it serves Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and the T.H. Chan School of Public Health providing modern and historical resources for clinical medicine, the biomedical sciences, dentistry, and public health. The library supports faculty, students, staff, affiliated institutions, members and fellows of the Boston Medical Library and Massachusetts Medical Society, and a scholarly community worldwide. By cultivating and advancing education, research, scholarship, and professional growth in the health/biomedical sciences, Countway strives to be a dynamic, collaborative, student-focused library of the 21st century.

It’s been a challenging year and the library’s anticipated renovation brings a sense of much-needed optimism. The new design will deliver a space reflective of a modern health sciences with new services and better ways of delivering evidence-based resources and services to the Longwood Medical Community and beyond. It will help promote innovation, discovery, and academic excellence while furthering technology in a culture of diversity and inclusion.

In light of this transformative year, I am reminded that the only constant in life is change. Just as we were deep in disruption with a yearlong renovation, COVID-19 hit. Countway staff, already pivoting to serve users amid the construction, adapted quickly to yet another change and the uncertainty which has become the new normal. The global impact of this pandemic has proven far-reaching. An economic downturn has put families in financial stress. Schools and daycares have closed making it hard to manage work-life balance. A divisive backdrop of social and political unrest has spawned difficult discussions on racism. Health information disparities about COVID-19 are rampant. It’s a trying time for hope and optimism. How do we serve our intellectual community and solve societal problems while keeping everyone safe?

My personal goal this year (especially during the pandemic) was to communicate regularly with HMS administration to highlight contributions Countway Library staff made in three key areas:

Library as Second Responder

Countway emerged as a front-line provider of essential resources to students, clinicians, researchers, and faculty by supporting our patrons in remarkable ways. Throughout the pandemic, the building had to close, but the library remained open.

Social Honoring

Going from social distancing to careful reconnection has felt different to everyone. We focused on the humanity by honoring people where they are emotionally and respecting personal feelings and risk tolerances.

Countway Community

Although our electronic resources were particularly important this year, the pandemic stressed the importance of our building as a place to connect. Social distancing reminded us how much people need human connection and the collaborative spirit it fosters. The completed renovation will celebrate community like never before.

Recovery means moving beyond surviving to thriving. We must accept the realities we face and embrace the opportunities. We’re building a new future for Countway and the Longwood Medical Community. I want to thank all the library staff for their continuous hard work and perseverance during a period of unprecedented uncertainty and change.

Elaine