Skip to main content
MLA - SLA 2023 Conference Main banner
Thank you to Wolters Kluwer
Final Program


Onsite Program
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.

Brian L. Baker (he/him/his)

Library Services Program Manager & Literacy Program Coordinator
Medical Library, Valley Children's Healthcare
Madera, California

Like the Talking Head's song, Life During Wartime, I truly have changed my hairstyle so many times that I don't know what I look like. I have lived in many different places as well, it's hard to have a hometown anymore. The longest I lived anywhere is the DC area. However, I was born in Arcata, CA, lived in a small Ohio town, Wooster for 10+ years, did a short stint in Austin, TX, and have now been in Fresno, CA for 17 years.

I spent most of my 34-year library career as a Law Librarian, including serving as President of the Law Librarian's Society of Washington, DC (LLSDC). I became a Medical Librarian in late 2014 when I accepted the job at Valley Children's Healthcare (VCH), in Madera, CA. I have never been happier. At VCH I have been challenged and succeeded. I have been supported and rewarded, and I know I have made a difference in the lives of kids - both by supporting their healthcare teams, and by providing the children free, new, books for them to keep. The literacy levels in California's Central Valley are some of the nation's lowest. We are trying our hardest to change that by providing new, free, books to any child who wants one.

I am proud of the work I have done at VCH, and with MLA, working to advocate for both kids, and for librarians. Medical Librarianship can help save lives by providing evidence-based research to provider teams. The knowledge we serve up helps keep patients safe and alive. There is nothing that makes me prouder.

I look forward to finishing my career in librarianship as a medical librarian and helping to create more opportunities for librarians in the healthcare arena.

Presentation(s):