Anna Biszaha
ALA Divisions:
Quiet, curious, detailed.
I’m currently reading a collection of short stories by Edgar Allen Poe. I was inspired after watching Netflix’s "The Fall of the House of Usher" and realizing I hadn’t actually read much Poe before.
Community, learning, supportive.
I have found ACRL to be a very welcoming and accessible organization, especially as a member of the Evidence Synthesis and Health Sciences Interest Groups. In addition to getting to connect with and learn from colleagues working in similar fields to myself, I also really appreciate the diversity of types of librarianship in ACRL. Whenever I go to the conferences, I especially enjoy hearing talks from librarians in all different areas and realizing how much we all have in common.
The vast majority of my time is spent educating and supporting researchers in whatever way they may need at that moment. This can run the gamut from introducing undergraduate students to the Health Sciences Library for the very first time, providing instruction to graduate students on how to effectively search the literature, and meeting with researchers to talk about their research needs.
I knew I wanted to be an academic librarian when I was in library school; however, I will admit I was a bit surprised when I landed in health sciences librarianship. Although, now that I am here, I can see that this field is a good fit for my skill set and I get to regularly learn new things and grow in the profession. This type of continual learning and the opportunity to be surrounded by new knowledge is exactly what I had hoped for.
Credentials:MLIS
Title:Research & Education Librarian
Workplace:The Ohio State University Health Sciences Library
Location:Columbus, OH