HAM-TMC Library Welcomes New Director

Dr. Elizabeth Eaton, the new director of the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Library, is no stranger to the "Lone Star" state.

During her extensive library career, Dr. Eaton was associate director of public services at The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston’s Moody Medical Library from 1974 to 1982. She also earned a Ph.D. from UTMB in 1986.

But this current Texas resident is not a Texas native. Originally from the East Coast, Dr. Eaton received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry, math and astronomy from Hood College in Frederick, Md.

"After graduation, I went to Boston and worked at Massachusetts General Hospital for awhile," she said. "It was a very popular thing to do, to work for a researcher in a lab doing experiments."

A couple of years later, she fulfilled her dream of traveling abroad by accepting a job at St. Bartholomew’s Medical College in London as a research assistant in the gastrointestinal lab. Several years later, she returned to the states to take yet another research assistant position at the University of California at Los Angeles, and while there, decided to pursue a master’s degree in library science, since UCLA is home to one of the country’s top-rated library schools.

"My mother was a librarian, and I could think of no finer role model on which to pattern my career," said Dr. Eaton. "And since I was interested in science, I decided to study biomedical library sciences."

While Dr. Eaton was at UCLA, the medical library was directed by a woman named Louise Darling, who is considered the "matron" of health science libraries. Darling became the library’s director at a very young age, which was unusual, especially for a woman.

Darling, who was also a member of UCLA’s library school faculty, understood the entire library process, Dr. Eaton said, including how to manage the library’s collections.

Darling was a mentor to Dr. Eaton and to anyone who took her classes.

"We followed her around like a mother hen," Dr. Eaton said. "She treated you that way. She was wonderful at taking her library students and anyone who worked for her under her wing. She made sure that at any event you attended with her, that you were introduced to the people there and that you were comfortable. Almost everyone who either worked for Louise Darling, or went to library school at UCLA has done very well in the medical librarianship world," Dr. Eaton said.

The UCLA Biomedical Library is now named in Darling’s honor.

After graduating from UCLA, Dr. Eaton became director of Tufts University Health Sciences Library in Boston in 1982. While at Tufts, she was instrumental in the redesign and modernization of the new university’s new library building which opened in 1986. At that time, the print collection was transferred into an electronic format, and the library became the centerpiece of an integrated, university-wide system.

In addition, Dr. Eaton served as a faculty facilitator in the Tufts University School of Medicine Problem Based Learning Program and was the course director for new technologies in the Tufts/Emerson Health Communications Program.

Last fall, Dr. Eaton re-established some old friendships when she accepted the executive director position at the HAM-TMC Library. While at UTMB in the late 1970s, she had contact with the HAM-TMC Library, and became acquainted with some of the employees, several who remain on staff today.

Another acquaintance from her past, Dr. Kathryn Stream, chair of the HAM-TMC Library board of directors and Texas Medical Center senior vice president, has also known Dr. Eaton since her days at UTMB.

"I have followed her career with interest," Dr. Stream said. "I am especially intrigued by her experience in providing library assistance to medical students in the first two years of their curriculum. In addition, she is knowledgeable about one of the library’s new initiatives – Consumer Health Information."

Dr. Eaton, who started her new position last November, said the library should be an integral part of a well-rounded student’s training. She stressed that it is important for everyone to know the "ins and outs" of the library, and to know how to access the information they seek.

"I said to the librarians, ‘Why aren’t we doing orientation rounds at all of the medical, nursing and other health-related schools?’ I attended Baylor’s orientation, along with the safety, benefits, and parking people, and wondered, ‘Why aren’t we represented?’ What could be more important than knowing how to use the library?"

Dr. Eaton said she is excited about her new position, and at the suggestion of Dr. Stream, is making the rounds, meeting other leaders of the TMC’s 42 institutions. To brush up on her TMC trivia, she has read "Monroe Dunaway Anderson, His Legacy: A History of the Texas Medical Center, 50th Anniversary Edition" by N. Don Macon.

Dr. Eaton has arrived at the HAM-TMC Library just in time for the completion of Tropical Storm Allison post-flood renovations. Computer lab and classroom facilities should be open to the public mid-January.

"We are indeed fortunate to have attracted Elizabeth Eaton to lead the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library," Dr. Stream said.

NOTE – Because the area of the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library where users were permitted to eat and drink was destroyed in the Tropical Storm Allison flood, library staff have been intentionally lenient when spotting anyone eating and drinking in other areas of the library.

With the reopening of the library’s newly renovated street level this month, staff will once again begin enforcing the former rule that specifies food and drink may be consumed only in approved areas on the street level. These areas are not carpeted, but instead have a linoleum floor, making it much easier to clean.

Thanks to all visitors who help maintain the library’s valuable resources by observing "food free" zones.

– By Beatriz Varman

HAM-TMC Library

For more information on the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library, visit the Web site at http://www.library.tmc.edu. Library hours of operation are Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to midnight; Friday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday, 1 to 10 p.m.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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E-Mail: tmcinfo@texmedctr.tmc.edu
URL: http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/01_15_02/page_02.html