To receive alerts for upcoming First Friday Forums, please go to the ACRL HSIG page on ALA Connect:
Login or create a free account if you are not an ALA member. After you log in, click the Join Community link that will appear at the top of the page.
Scheduled forums will be listed under the Events tab, typically about one week in advance:
For more detailed instructions and a video walk-through, please visit the Joining the HSIG ALA Connect Community tab on this guide:
First Friday Forums are a networking space to share our challenges, ideas, successes, and more!
They occur the first Friday (or second if there's a holiday or schedule conflict) of every month starting in 2024. Previously, First Friday Forums occurred every other month. The announcement with a link to attend will be shared on the HSIG listservs and elsewhere. Each month is a new topic and a different facilitator. If you are interested in facilitating a conversation on a specific topic, please email jules.bailey@fsu.edu.
Everyone is welcome, regardless of your affiliation with ALA, ACRL, or HSIG.
Starting in 2024, we are now recording the presentation portion of First Friday Forums. If a forum includes time for discussion, we will turn the recording off so people may speak freely. In the past, First Friday Forums were never recorded.
We ask that all members of the conversation respect each other's privacy, so we can speak openly about the challenges we've faced and the solutions we can offer. Sometimes aggregate or anonymized notes are shared on the listserv and linked below.
March 8, 2024: Evidence-Based Refresher: Best Practices, Tools, and Resources, facilitated by Howard Rodriguez-Mori (Texas Tech School of Veterinary Medicine)
April 5, 2024: Evidence Synthesis: Managing the Faculty Consultation, facilitated by Jules Bailey (Florida State University) and Anita Kuiken (Syracuse University)
May 3, 2024: Advanced Searching for Evidence Synthesis, facilitated by Jules Bailey (Florida State University) and Howard Rodriguez-Mori (Texas Tech School of Veterinary Medicine)
June 14, 2024: Systematic Reviews Across Disciplines: Frameworks and Best Practices, facilitated by Howard Rodriguez-Mori (Texas Tech School of Veterinary Medicine)
September 6, 2024: Literary and Scoping Reviews: Setting up the Groundwork for Solid Research Projects, facilitated by Howard Rodriguez-Mori (Texas Tech School of Veterinary Medicine)
October 4, 2024: A Health Sciences Librarian's Introduction to the NIH: How the NIH Affects Your Faculty, facilitated by Dr. Nina Exner (Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries)
February 3, 2023: Communicating Evidence-Based Practice: Using Standards to Find Common Ground - facilitated by Caitlin Plovnick (Medical Library, New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine)
April 7, 2023: ACRL Post-conference Chat
June 2, 2023: NIH Data Management & Sharing Policy facilitated by Mara Sedlins (Colorado State University)
August 4, 2023: How has the COVID-19 pandemic influenced reference, research, and instruction in health sciences libraries? facilitated by Deborah Charbonneau and Emily Vardell
February 2022: Systematic Reviews: Setting Reasonable Expectations
April 2022: Library Adaptations to COVID: Where are we going next?
June 2022: How can librarians conduct and collaborate on our own research?
August 2022: What’s in a One-Shot? Unpacking the Challenge of Health Sciences Library Instruction in the One Shot Format
October 2022: Staffing Shortages Solutions & Successes
December 2022: Lovely Library Lessons (celebrating our successes in 2022)
December 2021: Facul-tastrophes: Challenges and Successes in Working with Faculty
