2014 Medical Librarians Month – A Journey

Jackie Wirz’ entry in our contest for Medical Librarians Month tells the story of her journey from a PhD in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology to Biomedical Sciences Information Specialist. It all started one night in the ER when she knew that Google was not the right tool. by Jackie Wirz Biomedical Research SpecialistOregon Health & Science University Portland, OR Sitting in the emergency room, I felt a surprising sense of calm. Going to the ER in the middle of the night was an extreme precaution – although the chemical to which I was exposed could be potentially very dangerous, I was feeling normal (well, as normal as one could feel while doing a 36 hour protein purification). No burning lungs, no severe nausea, just a sense of mild boredom while I was waiting to be seen. I was told that it was my lucky night, as one of the attending physicians happened to be an expert in chemical exposure. He bustled into the room, firmly shaking my hand while giving me a critical once over. Having ascertained there was no immediate danger; he turned to the computer and asked me to name the chemical I was exposed to. I replied, and watched with mounting horror as he opened up Firefox, and proceeded to Google the name of the chemical. I’ve always been interested in information. From my early days reading the Childcraft encyclopedia to many years later assimilating and developing new data on collagen as a graduate student, I’ve always been able to find and, more importantly...
Source: Dragonfly - Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Tags: Funding News from Network Members News From NN/LM PNR Source Type: news