From May 19 – 22, the Medical Library Association held its 128th annual meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where the cheese puns were a-plenty. They weren’t just cheddar than gouda, or more than extra sharp, they were actually un-brie-lievable! Yep, I heard them all, because hey, ricotta make it work, right?

The last time MLA was held in Milwaukee was in 1955, where the Cold War drove the focus on “the protection and preservation of library collections under atomic attack.” 1 Although we are living in a different era, our collections are in fact still under attack – the First Amendment kind – and our workforce maintains the same drive to protect information accessibility.

My attendance was made possible using (every last penny of) my ZSR travel funds as well as the WFU Provost’s Fund for Faculty Travel.

Sessions I was grilled about

Since instruction and evidence synthesis are my top priorities, I attempted to catch as many of those sessions as possible. My favorites included:

  • Piquing Interest with PICO de Gallo: Infusing Fun into Library Instruction with Gamification
  • Cheddar Together – The Power of Evidence Synthesis Apprenticing
  • Patterns and Priorities in Faculty and Students at a Newly-Designated R1 Institution: An Evidence Synthesis Service Needs Assessment
  • AI-Assisted Risk of Bias Assessment in Observational Health Studies
  • Beyond Lecture: Search&Destroy, a Card Game for Interactive Biomedical Literature Instruction
  • Integrating Project Planning and Service Data Collection: Development of a Dual-System Intake Tool for Evidence Synthesis Projects

Additionally, I picked up some takeaways for inclusion in LIB courses and evidence synthesis projects. Two separate sessions addressed biases that I have yet to incorporate into my courses: overadjustment and automation. Furthermore, Elsevier provided a fantastic update on the functionality of Embase – a database that is highly recognized as one of the top sources to include in evidence synthesis-based projects and one we have access to through our relationship with the Carpenter Library. Lastly, plenary sessions addressed the risks and rewards of health science librarians balancing civic advocacy and political discourse in and out of instructional settings since the political nature of health and medical communications seem more evident than perhaps ever before.

My grateful contributions

I presented a lightning talk which included a two-year data summary of the High School Health Literacy Pilot Project and a poster reporting on the results of LIB290 Advanced Library Research in Medical Literature taught in the Fall of 2025.

Nacho Average Service Project

Each year MLA embeds a local service project into the conference agenda. And since I can’t resist a charitable service opportunity, I became a “Blanket Angel” for about an hour and made My Very Own Blanket supporting children in the foster system in greater Milwaukee. Check out a couple of pics HERE. I’m happy to say MLA 2026 attendees made and contributed about 200 blankets to the organization’s yearly goal of 40,000.

MLA is always a good time and a great resource for creating or updating protocols or curriculums. Thanks to ZSR and the Provost’s office for making my attendance possible. Next year’s conference will be held in Denver. I’m already looking forward to it!

1 “Proceedings, Fifty-Fourth Annual Meeting, Medical Library Association, Inc., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, May 16-20, 1955,” Bulletin of the Medical Library Association 43, no. 4 (1955): 543.