During her six years at WCM, Library Director Terrie Wheeler has sought to transform the Samuel J. Wood Library so it remains on the cutting edge of education and research. Her years of experience at esteemed institutions – like the National Institutes of Health Library, Gorgas Memorial Library, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Naval Medical Research Center, and the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System (VAPHS) – have provided Terrie special insight into how libraries can support researchers and physicians.
Describe what you do at WCM.
When I started, my role was to transform the library into a next generation facility supporting next generation science, care and education. To accomplish this, I needed to hire or develop new skill sets, and build high performance teams. To target what new library services would be most beneficial to the WCM research and clinical missions, I spoke with all faculty chairs. In the first year, I learned about services that would be valuable and worked to make them a reality.
And what were those services?
We introduced quite a few! We now have a grant editing service that has successfully helped investigators with funding. We’ve developed tools for bibliometrics reporting service with VIVO Dashboard, which includes monthly updates called “New Pubs” and “Trending Pubs,” and ReCiter for publications management for ASMS and Faculty Review. On top of that, we now have a bioinformatics service, a Scientific Software Hub where the WCM community can request access to sophisticated analytics tools, our Data Core and Data Catalog, and a Clinical Medical Librarians service team.
How did you manage to curate these services over time?
I started with listening to every member of the library staff, from the weekend library clerk to the full librarian. I wanted to hear what got each one of them up in the morning, what they valued most, what they were most proud of, what skills they had and what skills they wanted to grow. I find that people excel when they do what they are already good at, so I tried when possible to build services that were needed around what library staff were already good at. For example, we had a library exempt employee who used to be a full-time editor, and that individual now leads our grant editing service. We had another library employee who is a wedding planner, and now she is a critical member of our SMARTFest team.
In time I replaced a traditional associate director position with a new position and a new portfolio – bioinformatics and data. I also brought in the balanced scorecard, which is a performance management tool. Through this, we developed core values that all of our services pivot around today. As a result, the new library services we’ve added are all a reality now.
Aside from some of the new services you mentioned, are there any other projects you’ve accomplished during your time here that you’re most proud of?
Really, it’s transforming the library, and developing two first-in-the-nation library services. Also, having our administrators see the library as an important partner who can reliably develop new services has been a huge accomplishment.
Is there a woman or women you admire?
In our department? Paula Herber, Diana Delgado, Vanessa Blau, and Vanessa Puig. Outside of WCM, it would be Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Lyn Cook, Mother Teresa, and my mom.
What do you do when you’re not at the library?
Identifying and seeking to correct – in some small way – social injustices. Getting to know my neighbors. Cooking dinners for people. Investing time in friendships and encouraging others. Scrapbooking and reading.