Elaine Alligood

Elaine Alligood, MLS
Elaine is the Chief, Library Service for the Boston VA Healthcare System's three campuses. A member of the New England VA Library Re-design Task Force, she helped develop a consolidated network-wide 24/7 virtual knowledge library accessible across VA New England. She provides client-focused service for clinicians and researchers as well as supporting several research teams on care coordination, mental health recovery, and service line management.  Working directly with clinicians and researchers at the front lines she partners with clinical staff to integrate e-resources into clinical decision making, teaching and research. One of the co-developers of the MLA CE program on Diagnostic Error and the Librarian's Role in Patient Safety, Elaine believes medical librarian's transforming roles perfectly align us with the clinical and research staff’s ever-changing information needs. Moving librarians out of the library ‘place’ to where information needs occur—at the point of care and research benefits everyone: clinicians, researchers and patients.

Prior to joining the Boston VA Healthcare System, Elaine earned her MLS from the University of Maryland School of Library and Information Services. She’s held positions at the Johns Hopkins Medical Instutitions’ Welch Medical Library, the University of Virginia Health Sciences Library, Elsevier Science Publisher's North American EMBASE Department, Harvard's Countway Medical Library, and the VA Technology Assessment Program, where she was Informationist and Knowledge Manager.  Elaine is a past President of the Massachusetts Health Science Libraries Network, and the 2013 recipient of their Vagainas Librarian of the year award.