2025 Liberty Chapter Elections Info
Voting
Voting is open Friday Sept 5 through Monday October 6.
Please use the ballot page to submit your votes for our open chapter positions. See below for information about each position and the candidates. Position descriptions are derived from the Chapter Bylaws.
Skip to a specific position:
- Board Member-at-Large
- Representative to the Chapter Council
- Alternate Representative to the Chapter Council
- Nominating Committee Members
Positions and Candidates
Board Member-at-Large
A Member-at-Large serves as a voting member of the board for two years. The Board has two members-at-large, who are elected in alternating years. The person elected in this cycle will serve Oct 2025 - Oct 2027. Board Members-at-Large are voting members of the Board who are responsible for representing the interests of the membership at large.
Maria Deptula MLIS
Maria Deptula is an experienced librarian with a diverse background in academic, special, and public libraries. She holds an MLIS from Rutgers University and an MA in History and Archives from John Paul II Catholic University in Lublin, Poland. Currently, Maria serves as the Health Sciences Collections Librarian at Rutgers University, George F. Smith Library of the Health Sciences.
Her previous roles include Library Director and Director of Library Digital Services at Berkeley College. Maria has also worked as an archivist and historical researcher. She has presented on a wide range of library topics at local, national, and international conferences, and her current research focuses on Open Access and bibliometrics.
Maria has held leadership positions in professional organizations, including serving as President of the New Jersey Academic Librarians (NJAL) in 2024–2025 and co-chairing the New Jersey Academic Libraries Conference Planning Committee. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she earned a Medical Coding and Billing degree to support healthcare-related library services, which led to her transition into health sciences librarianship.
Michelle Bass PhD, MSI, AHIP-D
I just started my third year as a clinical information librarian at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In addition to collaborating on knowledge synthesis projects and collection purchasing, I also chair the hospital’s patient education and health literacy committee and serve as a lead instructor for our evidence-based practice for health care professionals fellowship program.
As a member-at-large, I will work with the board and committees to ensure chapter programming and professional development offerings include opportunities for engagement by librarians working in all health sciences areas.
The photo was taken in the Pennsylvania Hospital Surgical Amphitheatre and I’m accompanied by my therapy dog, Norman.
Lara Lasner Frater MA, MLS
Lara Lasner-Frater has been the Electronic Resources Librarian at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine/College of Pharmacy, Touro University since 2016. Her expertise includes cataloging, literature searching and research, Interlibrary loan, and resource management. She is a graduate of Queens College Graduate School of Library Science with an MLA and of Hofstra University: School of Education with an MA. Prior to Touro Lara worked as the Technical Services Librarian at the Health Library at the New York City Health Dept: Health Science Library. Lara is an active member of the Liberty Chapter of the Medical Library Association serving on the Archives committee and the Annual meeting committee. She is a board member of NYCLI Health Science Librarians (Formerly BQSIMB). She is the author of several Database resource reviews and Library topics book chapters. Besides being a librarian, she is also the author of several published horror novels and short stories. She loves reading, movies, nature, cats, and video and table top gaming.
Representative to the Chapter Council
The Representative to the Chapter Council represents the Liberty Chapter on the MLA Chapter Council for a three-year term (2026-2029). Members serving in this position attend meetings of the Chapter Council, communicate activities of the Council to the Liberty Chapter leaders and membership, and share recommendations from the Chapter to the Council.
Note: Only MLA (national) members may vote for the Representative to the Chapter Council
Robb Mackes MLS AHIP
Robert T Mackes is the academic success manager for Covidence. He is the former Executive Director of the Health Sciences Library Association of New Jersey (HSLANJ), and project manager for the HSLANJ Group Licensing Initiative. Prior to that, he was project manager for DelMIRA, the Delaware Medical Information Resources Alliance, and managed several health sciences libraries in hospitals in New Jersey. Robb holds a master’s degree in library science from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, is a distinguished member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals, and has been a medical librarian in New Jersey and Delaware for over 30 years. Robb has been involved in HSLANJ, MLA, Hospital Libraries Caucus, LGBTQIA+ Caucus, Social Justice & Health Disparities Caucus, and the Liberty Chapter for many years. He served as chair of the NYNJ Chapter, Chapter Council Representative, and served as co-chair of the NYNJ & Philadelphia Chapters Merger Steering Committee. Among Robb’s achievements are the MLA’s Thomson Reuters Frank Bradway Rogers Information Advancement Award, the HSLANJ Librarian of the Year, and the Hospital Libraries Section Leadership Award.
Alternate Representative to the Chapter Council
The Alternate Representative to the Chapter Council serves the same three-year term as the Representative (2026-2029). Alternates attend Chapter Council Meetings, serve as the Representative to Chapter Council when the current Representative is not available, and assumes the role of Representative for the remainder of the term if the current Representative is unable to complete the term.
Note: Only MLA (national) members may vote for the Alternate Representative to the Chapter Council
Helen-Ann Brown Epstein MLS, MS, AHIP-D, FMLA
As you know, Helen-Ann is a devoted member of the Liberty Chapter, chairing the Professional Recognition Committee and being active on the Annual Meeting Program Committee. In the past, Helen-Ann represented the NY/NJ MLA Chapter on Chapter Council when she was Chair of the Chapter. She appreciates the work of the Council, how our Chapter should be represented and the responsibilities to bring back news and goings on of the Council that will benefit us. She will gladly step in when our Chapter Council Rep is unable to attend. If the Chapter Council Rep also wants her present to listen, she is ready for that as well. Helen-Ann appreciates your consideration in voting for her for this position.
Tony Nguyen MLIS, AHIP
I am committed to the Medical Library Association's (MLA) core values of providing high-quality health information and championing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. My initial work at Mount Carmel Health System involved streamlining access to consumer health materials and participating in medical rounds to provide evidence-based information, which reduced patient readmissions. At the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) through the University of Maryland, Baltimore, I advanced into leadership, developing health information professionals through extensive training and workshops in areas like evidence-based practice and research data management. Currently, I serve as the Associate University Librarian of Rutgers Health Libraries for Rutgers University Libraries. I served as Chair of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of MLA and on the MLA Board of Directors and as Treasurer, always fostering inclusive environments. I also significantly contributed to diversity and inclusion initiatives, serving on the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of MLA’s Diversity Task Force, which earned the "Majors/MLA Chapter Project of the Year" award. Currently, I serve on several advisory boards for medical foundations and clinical trials and serve as co-chair of the Leadership at All Levels Strategic Initiative Task Force.
Marlowe Bogino MSLS, AHIP
Marlowe Bogino, MSLS holds a MSLS from Clarion University of Pennsylvania, a BS of Allied Health from Widener University and AAS degree in Respiratory Care from Delaware Technical and Community College.
Prior to libraries, Marlowe worked in healthcare for almost 20 years in both direct patient care and in patient support roles. For almost ten years ,she has worked in libraries in various settings including public, academic and health libraries in which she supported learning , instruction and outreach. She currently works in the role of Medical Librarian at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center Junior Board Library . As a member of the Liberty chapter, Marlowe has been a part of the Equity , Diversity and Inclusion committee and most recently had the pleasure of working with the committee as chair.
She believes her library role is rooted in service and support and looks forward to making new connections. The role of the Alternate Representative to the Chapter Council will allow her to continue to be of service and support her fellow librarian colleagues.
Rosemary Farrell MA, MLS
Rosemary Farrell is an Assistant Professor and Reference Librarian at the City University of New York’s School of Public Health and Health Policy and at The City College of New York. She holds an MLS from Long Island University, an MA from The City College, and is an MPH candidate at CUNY SPH. Since joining CUNY two years ago, she has presented at ACRL 2025 and the 2025 Library Association of the CUNY Institute; received a LACUNY travel grant, a METRO continuing education grant, and the 2024 Medical Library Association’s Sewell Stipend Award. She is a member of numerous MLA caucuses including Public Health/Health Administration, AI, and Scholarly Communications, and holds a Level I Systematic Review Services Specialization. She was a member of the 2025 class of the Evidence Synthesis Institute.
She served as the LACUNY Executive Committee Secretary for the 2024-25 school year, is the CCNY LACUNY delegate, and is an active member of the LACUNY Scholarly Communication Roundtable as well as a member of the inaugural CUNY Office of Library Services Peer Mentoring program, which focused on scholarly communication for 2025. She is the LACUNY Vice President for 2025-26 and has initiated the creation of a new LACUNY Roundtable for Health Sciences Librarianship, due to convene in fall 2025.
Nominating Committee - 3 open positions
The Nominating Committee annually prepares a slate of candidates for open Chapter positions (they make the above list of candidates happen!). The Committee consists of five Chapter members, two or three members being elected in alternating years. Each committee member serves a two-year term.
Mina Ghajar MLS
Mina Ghajar is an Education and Research Librarian at Rutgers, George F. Smith Library of the Health Sciences, a role she has held since 2015. With over 30 years of experience in the library and information field, she has worked in various academic and special libraries. Previously, Mina served as a co-investigator on a National Library of Medicine grant focused on Health Information Awareness.
Her research interests include health literacy, systematic reviews, and advocating for open access publishing opportunities for faculty and researchers at all career stages. Mina has also held leadership roles, including Chair of the Medical Library Association’s Consumer and Patient Health Information Caucus (MLA-CAPHIC) and President of the Health Science Library Association of New Jersey (HSLANJ). She currently serves as the Secretary of the MLA Systematic Review Caucus.
YingTing Zhang MLS, AHIP-D
Yingting Zhang, MLS, AHIP-D, is the Research Services Librarian at the Robert Wood Johnson Library of the Health Sciences and an adjunct assistant professor in the Dept. of Medicine of RWJ Medical School at Rutgers University.
As a member of the MLA Liberty Chapter and legacy MLA NY-NJ Chapter since 1994, Yingting served as Chair of the Liberty Chapter (2021 – 2022) and Immediate Past Chair (2022 – 2023), In these two years, Yingting worked very closely with Gary Childs to co-lead the newly merged chapter in completing the legal process of the merger, having the new bylaws established, formalizing the rules and procedures, and ensuring the smooth operation of the new Chapter, etc.
Yingting obtained her master’s degree in library science from Rutgers University in May 1991. She began her career as Director of Plattekill Library in New York and served for almost two years before she started her academic health sciences librarianship in 1993.
Alexandra Short MSLS, AHIP
Alexandra (Alex) Short, MSLS, AHIP, is the System Director of Library Services for Tower Health in West Reading, PA, where she oversees library services for four hospitals and numerous ambulatory sites throughout South Central, PA. Her background includes expert searching, collection development, instruction, clinical librarianship, and scholarly communications. Alex holds a level 1 Systematic Review Services Specialization from the Medical Library Association.
Past service includes: Secretary of the MLA-Philadelphia Regional Chapter, President of the Central Pennsylvania Health Sciences Library Association, Hospital Library Caucus Nominating Committee, and NNLM Region 1 Hospital Library Advisory Group. Currently, Alex chairs Tower Health’s Research Day Committee and is a member of the Graduate Medical Education Research Subcommittee. She serves on the editorial board of the health system’s medical humanities journal and is the publication manager for Tower Health’s medical journal – Transformative Medicine. Alex holds a faculty designation at the Drexel University College of Medicine, where she serves on the Libraries and Information Technologies Committee.