Hi, all. Just passing this along for those of you who know our colleague, Isabel McDonald, and who would like an example of recent activity in the Medical Library Association Oral History Project: Voices of the Past.

Hope Leman, MLIS
Research Information Technologist
Center for Health Research and Quality
Samaritan Health Services
815 NW 9th Street Suite 203A
Corvallis, OR 97330
(541) 768-5712


http://www.consortiumlibrary.org/blogs/pnc/2011/01/16/a-pioneer-among-us-isabel-g-mcdonald/

A Pioneer Among Us: Isabel G. McDonald, Lifetime Member of the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Medical Library Association and Notable Veterinary Medical Librarian
January 16th, 2011
Author: Hope Leman

One of the greatest pleasures in life is the chance to meet and chat with a true pioneer and contributor to one’s profession and to hear about how her work is being recognized by the professional organization you both belong to. I had such an opportunity at the October 2010 annual meeting of the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Medical Library Association when I was introduced to PNC lifetime member, Isabel McDonald.

I had never been to a PNC meeting before and so felt rather shy at the opening reception. Luckily for me the very kindly Vicki Croft, head of the Animal Health Library at Washington State University, and Isabel McDonald saw that I was a bit of a waif and included me in their conversation. I was soon very much at ease and as Vicki told me what a distinguished person Isabel is and some of the highlights of her career, I felt very lucky indeed to have rescued from my initial shyness in that group. That got me to a good start at the meeting and I later learned that the friendliness of Isabel and Vicki was abundant among the PNC as a whole.

I think what impressed about the conversation with Croft and McDonald most was the obvious admiration that the former has for the latter—which attests to what an impact McDonald has had in not only the PNC region but in animal health librarianship in particular and in health sciences librarianship as a whole. Not many of us have had entire libraries named after us, after all! What a tribute it is to her skill and dedication that science and medicine are served by the Isabel McDonald Library, located at the Oregon National Primate Research Center at Oregon Health & Science University.

And not only have OHSU and the Oregon National Primate Research Center recognized McDonald for her contributions to research, McDonald is one of the interviewees of the Medical Library Association Oral History Project: Voices of the Past (although given what a vigorous, forceful but friendly presence Isabel is I don’t really regard as a voice of the past, save for the fact that she is retired). It will be really fascinating to read or listen to the interview (still in the editing process) that was conducted for this project. Kudos to both the MLA and to McDonald herself for contributing to the historical record in this fashion.

In the few minutes I was able to spend with McDonald (for she had many colleagues to greet at the reception), I heard some quite absorbing stories of what legwork, dogged sleuthing and resourcefulness were required in the years before the Web made some librarianship considerable easier than it was during of McDonald’s illustrious career. She is modest about her own accomplishments, but an engaging raconteur and one of a phenomenal memory. Each of her stories rendered clearly (though she was not all self-important—just matter of fact) how important librarians are to medical researchers. We have all benefited from the pathbreaking work she has done that has made things easier for both groups, for the good of science and patients past, present and future.  I also learned a lot about the field of veterinary medicine librarianship and so was able to better understand the really impressive poster that Vicki Croft had on display at the same reception at which I met her and McDonald. McDonald was a charter member of the Veterinary Medical Libraries Section/MLA (1973, for those that like dates!) and one of the nation’s first primate librarians.

All in all, a very impressive person and I felt privileged to have met her. Sometimes, it pays to look shy. You get to be befriended by very distinguished people.

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