DISABILITY IN THE LIBRARY: Attending the Medical Library Association Conference to take two continuing education seminars

Research Statement by JJ Pionke

I am seeking funding for attending the Medical Library Association conference in May of 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. The conference costs about $2500 for me to attend in part because I must room alone and have to have larger travel accommodations because of my physical and mental disabilities. I am specifically asking for the scholarship to attend two continuing education sessions. I can not attend them without extra funding as the two seminars alone are a little over $800 and of course, I will need to add 2 more nights of hotel stays. Getting a scholarship will help me offset costs enough to be able to afford to go.

The two seminars that I wish to attend are Statistics 101 and Qualitative Analysis. My research revolves around disability and the library and I am strong advocate for accessibility and compassionate interaction with patrons of all kinds. I feel that my research and my advocacy for disability rights and inclusion tracks strongly with the Sabbatical Beauty community because the SB community is dedicated not only to excellent skincare but also to social justice and equality. I’m phenomenally weak in stats and much of my work actually revolves around listening to patron narratives of their interactions with the library and how that intersects with their disabilities. Within the SB community, discussions of disability happens quite frequently in terms of talking about depression, struggles with identity and fitting in, self-care, and of course the positive support as each person in the community grapples with their lives and the things that happen to them. I see both seminars that I want to attend as enhancing my abilities to understand the narratives that I am hearing in my research and in the SB community, both in terms of the numbers and stories. In terms of benefit to the SB community, being more educated on technique helps me be a better contributor to the community. While I tend to be a lurker these days, in part because of having been sick and in part from being overwhelmed, I want to contribute more thoughtfully to the conversations that happen on SB and I see both of these seminars as enabling me to do so.

In terms of timeline, the conference is in May of 2018. I would make the video shortly thereafter and post it to SB, while what I learned was still fresh in mind. I would also make a short document that focuses on listening skills and share it with SB as part of my deliverable. Both the video and the document would be completed in June of 2018.