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The group
originally called “Brooklyn, Queens & Staten Island Health Sciences
Librarians (BQSI)” was conceived primarily for interlibrary loan
cooperation of medical libraries of the three aforementioned New
York City boroughs. There were two local organizations at that time
formed for interlibrary loan cooperation, both located out of the
city - in Westchester and Nassau Counties. The New York Regional
Group suggested developing a similar consortium for Brooklyn,
Queens, and Staten Island medical libraries, which would benefit
from sharing their resources. The organizational meeting and dinner
took place in May 1968 at the City Hospital Center at Elmhurst.
Later on, in September 1968 the librarians met again at the Long
Island College Hospital (Brooklyn) to discuss the purpose and
structure of the future consortium. However, a few more years passed
before the group actually became a consortium in 1975. On May 16,
1975 the Steering Committee met at the Medical Research Library of
Brooklyn (SUNY Downstate) to state that there is a need for a new
local consortium, whose members would share resources, such as union
lists, reference lists, and free interlibrary loans. During its next
meeting in June, the Steering Committee defined conditions for
membership: it was decided that any medical librarian from the
geographic area can be a member of the group, which would act as an
educational organization toward both the smaller and larger
libraries. At the same meeting the draft of the first bylaws was
written and the slate of possible officers and committees was
discussed.
The first BQSI bylaws stated:
… The purpose of the Brooklyn, Queens
and Staten Island Health Sciences Library Group is to bring together
persons of this constituted geographic area, engaged in health
science library services for the following purposes: for furthering
their specialized knowledge, for exchange of information, for
improvement and development of resources, for identifying special
needs, for making known the needs of the group to the New York
Regional Group/ Medical Library Association and for coordinating all
Library services and activities with existing area groups, libraries
and programs.
It was also
stated that:
… Membership is open to persons who are
actively interested in providing library and information services to
the Health Science Libraries of Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island.
It was decided that
BQSI would have an Executive Board consisting of four executive
officers: President, Vice-President-President-Elect, Secretary, and
Treasurer, plus three additional members; the consortium would have
a few committees, such as Nominating, Membership, Programming,
Publicity, and any other committees considered useful to further the
aims and objectives of the group.
Mary Buchheit from the
Kingsbrook Jewish Hospital (Brooklyn) became the first BQSI
President.
Throughout the
more than 30 years since then, BQSI has developed from a small group
of hospital librarians to a large organization including medical
libraries from all five boroughs of NYC (it incorporated many
libraries from the Manhattan-Bronx Health Science Libraries
consortium that was finally disbanded). For this reason, in 2005 the
name of the group was changed to Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island,
Manhattan, and the Bronx Health Sciences Librarians (BQSI/MB). The
organization offers individual membership only and currently
contains over 50 members, including retirees.
Besides sharing
resources, the consortium sees its primary goal as sharing knowledge
and expertise among the members. The bi-annual meetings always
include an educational program along with a business meeting. As the
group activities have expanded, new committees have been
established, such as Archives, Political Action, Website, and
Cooperative Purchasing Committees. The last one was set up in 2006
to investigate opportunities for making cooperative agreements for
purchasing by member libraries. During these meetings the members
have the opportunity to meet various vendors presenting the latest
information products and to discuss these products with their
colleagues.
For many years
the consortium published a newsletter; in 2001 BQSI/MB members
decided that the group needs more publicity over the Internet and a
website was created. It was
developed by
Luda Dolinsky who remained a webmaster till 2008 when she
relocated to another state.
The membership
of BQSIMB is what makes this organization so successful. Many
members were with the consortium from its early years and remain
active today, participating in all group activities, chairing
committees, serving as officers, and generously sharing their
knowledge and experience with new members: Mary Buchheit – the first
BQSI/MB President and past Secretary;
Carol Cave-Davis – past
President, Secretary, Treasurer, and permanent member of the
Nomination Committee;
Lydia Friedman
– permanent Chair of Sharing Resources Committee;
Laraine Tursi - past Secretary, Treasurer, and current
President-Elect;
George Wahlert - past President, Secretary, Treasurer, and
newsletter editor for many years, who also created the Policy &
Procedure Manual; and many, many others that have made a great
contribution to the group. With their help and that of the members,
BQSI/MB keeps growing, changing, and providing benefits to all its
members.
BQSI/MB
photo archive (for
members only - password is required)
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