Three takeaways from Day 1 of MLA

by Jon Scaccia May 4, 2022

PubTrawlr is in New Orleans for the Medical Librarians’ Association 2022 conference. I mean, really. Two things that are right up our alley are medical research and the people who curate it. We were super stoked to share our story with a whole new group of people.

And yeah, there were some bumps in the road. Here are three takeaways from Day 1 of MLA.

Measure Twice, Cut Once

Plenty of people have seen our great PubTrawlr backdrop. It’s gorgeous, so hat’s off to Matt for designing it. We needed a new frame to mount it here in NO, so we ordered a new structure.

It turns out we misestimated, instead of measures, the dimensions and ended up with a PubTrawlr sign that freaking towers above the exhibit. It literally 10 feet into the air.

And screws that were about a millimeter too thin, and a centimeter too short, which stopped us from mounting the TV. And that doesn’t even get into the problem with the hotel.

New Orleans is a hell of a city.

There were plenty of little things throughout the day, but the culture brought to the first night of the exhibit was top-notch. Check out these amazing costumes!

And the shrimp po-boys were très bien

And people get the mission of PubTrawlr

Listen, PubTrawlr is not just about efficacy. It’s about finding a leverage point to close the research to practice gap by making science more engaging and less intimidating. And the people that we talked to tonight, from San Diego, to Boston, to places in between like Nebraska, get that purpose. Our task is not to replace reading the primary science; it’s about making it more understanding.

And we need you!

We’re continuing to develop and expand. Reach out to us at info@pubtrawlr to help us develop and improve how people engage with the literature.