Guest Editorial 
Bass 

 

   

Hypothesis, vol. 29, no. 2, Fall/Winter 2017                                                                           6                                                                                

 

Welcome from Research Section Chair (2017-18 term) 

Michelle B. Bass, PhD, MSI, AHIP 
Population Research Librarian 

Lane Medical Library 

Stanford University School of Medicine 

Palo Alto, CA 

 

I’m fairly new to the Medical Library Association (MLA) as my professional organization home 

but I was not shy about looking for ways to get involved. I joined as a student member in the 

fall of 2013 as I began my two-year assistantship at the Taubman Health Sciences Library at the 

University of Michigan in tandem with my Master of Science in Information degree at the 

University of Michigan School of Information. I was honored to be selected as an MLA “New 

Voice” at the 2015 Austin meeting and took this as my cue to become more involved, and 

served as a member of the Research Imperative Task Force to populate the forthcoming Health 

Sciences Librarian Research Guide page on the MLA Advocacy website. I was also encouraged 

by my colleagues at Taubman, many of whom were active in the Research Section, to run for a 

leadership position. I did and here I am.   

My new leader status has left me a bit unsteady on my feet as I try to figure out what I should 

do as Chair and brainstorming what I could do as an organization leader. A main goal of my 

term as Chair of the Research Section is the production of a section procedure manual with 

delineation of roles and responsibilities for leadership positions as well as serving to guide the 

continued publication of Hypothesis. I thank the current members of the Research Section 

Leadership team for working with me on the manual and would like to further extend this call 

to the membership.  Have you held an elected position in the Research Section?  Did you work 

on Hypothesis? Do you have your notes? I’d love to hear from you to add your knowledge to 

the manual for future leaders to reference as we continue to expand the impact of the 

Research Section in the organization. Please contact me by email 

(michellebbass@stanford.edu) and we can set up a time to chat or, if you’re in the Bay Area, 

I’m also open to field trips to meet in-person.   

mailto:michellebbass@stanford.edu


Guest Editorial 
Bass 

 

   

Hypothesis, vol. 29, no. 2, Fall/Winter 2017                                                                           7                                                                                

 

Looking forward to a strong slate of programming from section members at the 2018 Annual 

Conference! 

Sincerely, 

Michelle B. Bass, PhD, MSI, AHIP 

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