VCU's Jean Shipman elected President of the Medical Library Association

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A Virginia Commonwealth University librarian has been elected president of the Medical Library Association, a national organization that works to ensure access to health information.

Jean Shipman, director of Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences and associate university librarian, begins her term in May and will serve in the role that is considered one of the highest honors in the profession, given to those who show exemplary leadership.

"Jean's election comes as no surprise to all of us who work with her daily," said John E. Ulmschneider, University Librarian. "I am proud to see this national recognition of her many extraordinary contributions in the four years that she has been at VCU."

Shipman has been a member of the MLA since 1980. She previously worked for the Health Sciences libraries at the University of Washington and at the University of Maryland at Baltimore.

Founded in 1898, MLA is a nonprofit, education organization with more that 1,100 institutional members and 3,600 individual members. It is committed to educating health information professionals, supporting health information research, promoting access to the world's health sciences information and working to ensure access to the best health information.