Suzetta Burrows, Director of Library Operations, has announced her intention to retire at the end of December this year. Suzy came to the Calder Library in 1980, working for Henry Lemkau as Associate Director for Media and Regional Programs.
Nurtured by her dedication, Calder health information outreach services have flourished over the past 30 years. Suzy founded the CLASSIC program for community hospitals, clinics and corporations, which was nationally acknowledged as a model in self-sustaining healthcare information outreach. CLASSIC continues to meet the information needs of thousands to this day, and has recently been extended to international clinics and hospitals.
Suzy served as co-PI on two major Calder Library Information grants, Point-of-Care, Team-Based Information System (POINTIS) and Southeast Florida AIDS Information Network. Most recently, as co-PI on a third National Library of Medicine award, she helped launch the Calder partnership with south Florida public librarians in support of the highly successful, medical student led, DOCS health fairs.
She guided the transformation from print to online collections at the Calder Library. By stewarding university resources through the years, continued access was maintained to the wealth of resources that are the foundation of the Calder Library. Her understanding of scholarly publishing and electronic access was acknowledged when she was named co-editor this year of a column for the Journal of Electronic Resources in Medical Libraries.
As a member of the Southern Chapter of the Medical Library Association, Suzy served as Chair of the Association, as well as chair of the Continuing Education Committee, Nominating Committee, Strategic Planning Committee, and co-chair of two Convention Committees for the annual meetings in Key Biscayne (1984) and Coral Gables (2003). Her mentoring of other librarians was twice recognized by the Southern Chapter.
Suzy also has been a member of the Medical Library Association (MLA) since 1969, serving as Chair of the Communications Committee, the Ida and George Eliot Award Jury, and the Medical School Library Section. She has been a Distinguished Member of the MLA’s Academy of Health Information Professionals since 1990.
Her professional expertise and service have left indelible marks on the Louis Calder Memorial Library. Although she will be enjoying a well deserved rest, Suzy has assured us that she will be available in the future to help document the contributions of others to the Miller School of Medicine through oral histories.
We hope you will join us when we will recognize Suzetta Burrows and her many accomplishments at the Spring Faculty and Friends reception at the Calder Library. Details will follow.