Jessica Sender, MLS, MA  
Coordinator, Online Teaching and Learning Technologies  
Librarian for the College of Nursing   
Michigan State University 

Editor’s note: This month, we are celebrating Jessica Sender, who has served as a Librarian Selector for Doody’s Core Titles since 2019.   

Provide a brief description of your library and its services. 

The Michigan State University Libraries are the center of academic life on campus and provide expertise, collections, and infrastructure for discovery and creation. We facilitate connections that support research, teaching, and learning in our local and global communities. The health sciences team serves a wide cross-section of students, faculty, staff, and researchers from multiple colleges and disciplines, including those I am the for which I am the liaison: the College of Nursing and the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders.  

How did you get started in health sciences librarianship? What brought you to the profession? 

I started out as an instruction technology librarian and an instruction librarian and then became a health sciences librarian about four years into my library career. My background in instruction and educational technology helped during the transition to the health sciences as several of the degree programs I work with are hybrid or online and others involve substantial in-person teaching and instruction.   

Share two of the most important issues facing the profession today and why they’re important to address. 

One of the most important issues facing the profession today is the proliferation of published literature, particularly poorly executed reviews. I have seen so many publications calling themselves “systematic reviews” when they are anything but that. This is really challenging because a systematic review should be a rigorous, intensive endeavor and those done poorly are a detriment to the profession. This is tied to another major issue facing the profession: open access resources and publishing. Addressing the high costs associated with publishing open access and navigating read-and-publish deals remain a challenge. 

A third issue is understanding how generative artificial intelligence (AI) is going to continue to impact our roles. AI is not new, but the ease with which it’s integrated into new products and resources has really expanded over the past few years. I see a parallel to the expansion of Wikipedia and the ways librarians can work to promote information literacy and analysis skills with students and researchers. From collection development to the research process, librarians have seen AI proliferate for years, but understanding how AI is embedded further into the products we purchase and resources we provide is going to be paramount.  

What is one innovation, product, or service in your library that you’re excited about? 

I am really proud of and impressed by the partnerships and collaborations the health sciences team shares with our colleges, faculty, researchers, and students. We’re a small but mighty team and the collaborations we’ve built across campus and across the state have made a demonstrated impact on our students, staff, faculty, and broader community. 

What aspects of your work keep you most professionally motivated? 

I’m always learning, and that keeps me professionally motivated. I really enjoy the work I do with faculty and student researchers. They’re very passionate about their areas of research which makes working collaboratively with them a real joy. In the past few years, I’ve had the opportunity to expand my knowledge and skills as it relates to data management and the data lifecycle, and it has been really rewarding to integrate those more fully into the services we provide as a health sciences team.  

Why have you selected for the last seven editions of Doody’s Core Titles? 

When I first started out as a health sciences librarian, I greatly benefited from Doody’s Core Titles. It provided me a better understanding of and background in the areas and disciplines I covered in my work. As I have progressed in my career and developed my own knowledge in nursing and the broader health sciences, contributing to Doody’s Core Titles allows me to pay it forward while also staying abreast of the trends and knowledge in the field. I see Doody’s Core Titles as a community-built resource: we know we can rely on it because of the background and knowledge of the Selectors. Continuing to contribute in this way allows us to have a resource that is reliable and trustworthy. 

A recent book you’ve enjoyed or anything else you’d like to share? 

I recently read Naomi Alderman’s The Future and thought it was really great. If you like the dystopian or futuristic genre, I recommend it!