I became the coordinator for the InterProfessional Student Advisory Group (IPSAG) in July 2016. Each semester, I am responsible for promoting and organizing two events or meetings in which health students are welcome to discuss their current research projects and share feedback with librarians.
In Summer and Fall 2016, I revamped the publicity of IPSAG by designing new posters, flyers, postcards, bookmarks, and digital flyers. I also created the IPSAG webpage to provide an online presence. Through working on promotion for IPSAG, I have been able to connect my subject liaison colleagues with student organizations within their communities, identify communities that need liaison support, and receive feedback from my colleagues. As liaison roles continue to evolve in the STEM Libraries, I update the liaison spreadsheet.
In Fall 2017, the Welcome (Back) Lunch at the Biomedical Library, at the time, became the largest IPSAG event in recent history as far as other STEM libraries can remember. Since then, IPSAG has been rebranded as a lunch series called InterProfessional Student Advisory Gatherings.Â
The Halloween Lunch at the Vet School was the first #IPSAG event to be held outside of the Biomedical Library. At the time, the Halloween Lunch set the record for the highest number of registrations.
Following the Halloween Lunch, I attended Penn Health Quizzo hosted by Student Healthcare Alliance at PEnn (SHAPE) and funded by the Graduate And Professional Student Assembly (GAPSA), in which students in health sciences and related programs formed interdisciplinary teams and compete in a trivia competition. My team, comprised of nursing, dental, and medical students, finished in 2nd place!
As the Community Health & Engineering Librarian, I continued to coordinate #IPSAG, which has become a recognizable "Social Wellness" initiative at Penn. The event series has become so popular that registration fills up within the first week. I frequently have waiting lists of up to 60+ students. I have also started hosting Lunch with a Librarian, a series of smaller student-oriented events. IPSAG went virtual during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, ISPSAG was disbanded in early 2022.