Here’s your chance to get to know Lisa Wood.

Where do you live?

Currently in Lakewood, Colorado. I’m looking to move to north metro Denver nearer Boulder.

Where do you work, and what’s your title?

I have started a new job at the Southwest Acupuncture School, a 4-year full graduate program. I am the solo librarian at a time of a complete remodel and a “rethinking” of the role of the library to become the learning hub of the school. This is wholly in keeping with my personal philosophy as an information professional.

In addition, I have just learned I will have a volunteer librarian role at the heart of two projects for the Indigenous and Integrative Medicine collection at the University of Colorado (CU) Health Sciences Library. Can’t wait.

What’s the mission of your organization?

The SWAC website gives a Mission and Focus statement as follows:

Southwest Acupuncture College is a classical school of Oriental medicine offering an accredited professional degree program leading to a Master of Science in Oriental Medicine (M.S.O.M.). With the primary responsibility of educating students to become independent healthcare providers, our foremost goal is to provide excellence in the education of those prospective practitioners. A concomitant goal of the school, to cultivate leadership and service to the community in this emerging field of effective medical care, is fostered in the curriculum and the educational format as well as the life of the college community through our on-site low cost public clinic and numerous off campus extern clinics where we offer free services.

http://www.acupuncturecollege.edu

When did you become an SLA/RMSLA member?

I joined in early 2012, a year after completing my LIS grad program. Due to other events, I had been unable to join a professional organization the first year out of school. Almost as soon as I joined SLA and met some of the members, I felt the support, community, and like-minded people that had been very absent my first year in the field.

What drew you into an information career?

I wanted work that would fit with a sense of purpose and meaning for me, and that I would find personally fulfilling. In lots of ways, as I complete my second year, I have really just begun to see how well information services provides this. I was also drawn by the foundational approach that this is work in community-building — partnership, collaboration, and a connected community.

What’s the best thing about being an information professional?

It’s a continual expansion of who I am. I am continually learning more. My learning is with skills, promoting positive change, and facilitating the exchange of information in a way to have an impact on people and the world we live in.

What’s the next great thing you want to learn?

Everything there is to know about Integrative Medicine, as well as Indigenous medicine. I love it. It is a multi-disciplinary study including culture, history, philosophy, lifestyle, and biomedicine.

Are you a member of any other professional associations?

Yes, all library associations, as follows:

• American Library Association
• Colorado Association of Libraries
• The Association for Rural & Small Libraries
• National Network of Libraries of Medicine (and the MidContinental Region Chapter)
• Colorado Academic Library Association (CoALA)

What do you do in your non-work time?

I love to dance NIA. It is a combination of martial arts, dance, and healing arts such as yoga.

Tell RMSLA something about yourself that we’d never think to ask.

I speak extremely good Spanish, though I don’t consider myself fluent. I learned it living in Mexico where I once rode a burro under a starlit sky. That evening we rode for 3 hours through mesa country to a remote rancho.

What’s your favorite thing about SLA and/or the Rocky Mountain Chapter?

The people. They are so willing to help, to give, and to share knowledge and opportunities. They are fun and interesting to be around, which doesn’t hurt any, either.