Arlene Haessler, MLIS, LMT

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About Arlene Haessler With an extensive career spanning over two decades, Arlene Haessler is a dedicated massage therapist and librarian. Since beginning her practice in the vibrant Florida Keys in 1997, Arlene has nurtured her passion for wellness and education, ensuring that both her clients and library patrons receive the utmost care and support. Arlene recently served as the Branch Manager of the Monroe County Public Library (MCPL) in Marathon, FL, where she expertly supervised daily operations, guided staff, and cultivated community engagement through innovative programs. Her efforts in collection development, outreach services, and budget management have made a significant impact on the library’s success and accessibility. Prior to that, she excelled as the Assistant Branch Manager, assisting the manager in the transition to a new facility. Her experience as the Campus Librarian at the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences allowed her to curate specialized health resources and empower students and faculty with valuable research skills. Additionally, Arlene’s teaching experience at the Florida Keys Learning Institute School of Massage reflects her commitment to sharing knowledge and fostering the next generation of massage therapists. Arlene holds a Master of Library & Information Science from the University of South Florida, with a focus on health information resources. Armed with certifications such as the Consumer Health Information Specialist from the Medical Library Association, she remains dedicated to her professional development and stays current with industry trends. Beyond her professional roles, Arlene has contributed to numerous leadership and volunteer activities, including serving as a committee member for the Florida Library Association and the Florida Health Sciences Library Association. She is recognized for her dynamic presentations at conferences, where she combines her expertise in both librarianship and massage therapy. Now seeking new opportunities in academic libraries within the Atlanta area, Arlene is eager to bring her unique blend of skills in health sciences and community service to elevate library services and enrich the lives of patrons. When she’s not at the library or practicing massage therapy, Arlene enjoys exploring the local culture and advocating for wellness in her community. Now, several years later, while focusing on her Atlanta job search, Arlene is returning to massage therapy full-time and accepting new clients in both the Marathon and Key West locations: https://massagepro.org

Program Goal II: Systems and Services

Students understand the systems and technologies that facilitate the management and use of information resources to serve the diverse needs of users.

  • II.a Students identify and analyze diverse information needs of individuals and communities.

Assignments in Basic Information Sources and Services, LIS 6303 provided my first experience with thinking of user needs. In this annotated bibliography, https://1drv.ms/w/s!Ap6gMKkB15dDg2OH9aEx3McH3mDG, I combined my interest in health and medical librarianship with my current experience as a massage therapist to review an article describing the development of a hospital based massage therapy program. The role of massage therapists in patient care is essentially reemerging. The needs of users in this area will vary greatly from medical experts to massage therapists. This article bridges that divide by demonstrating evidence for medical experts as well as possible roles and training opportunities for massage therapists.

For the Research Methods course, I decided to focus my research proposal on evaluating the information and research literacy skills (IRL) of massage therapy students and practitioners. It is a goal of educators and practitioners in the field to encourage research literacy and evidence based practice in massage therapy practice and education. However, I believe that we must first discover and address existing IRL skills of this population to better inform the learning objectives and goals of these programs. https://1drv.ms/w/s!Ap6gMKkB15dDpHld9xOh7M-VX1cX

  • II.b. Students evaluate and select print and digital information resources and systems to meet needs of users.

The Reference Quest assignment in the course Basic Information Resources and Services, LIS 6603 in my first semester demonstrates locating and evaluating resources to meet user needs: https://1drv.ms/w/s!Ap6gMKkB15dDpiJTEOekp4wCPyaw. The assignment offered a selection of varied user queries, requiring me to both describe my search process as well as consider the needs of the user. For example, one question was for a mother concerned about child health complications. Here I was able to incorporate important health information resources such as Medline Plus. Another question required searching congressional history, I was able to demonstrate searching government documents and information for a user.

As the culminating assignment in Health Information Resources I produced a libguide for users that have a unique need. The assignment was to create an information resources for users being discharged from a residential substance abuse program. I chose to focus on a unique group, parents in addiction recovery. This group needs information resources for not simply their personal addiction recovery but may also may be dealing with family problems such as having children placed in the Foster Care system. For this guide I combined information resources that would be useful for parents in general, for families dealing with addiction, for researchers and social work professionals as well as for parents dealing specifically with Foster Care.

  • II.c. Students understand and use appropriate information technology for information services.

Sadly, links to the examples have broken. I will keep looking and update this section if I find them.