April 2003 Award Recipient Sydney Ann Fingold

The Massachusetts Health Sciences Library Network (MAHSLIN) is pleased to announce that Sydney Ann Fingold, Library Director of the New England Regional Primate Research Center, has been chosen as a recipient of this year's professional achievement award and induction into the MAHSLIN "Hall of Fame". This award is in recognition of Sydney's outstanding performance in her field and the leadership she has offered the members of the health sciences library community.

Sydney Ann Fingold began her career as director of library services at the New England Regional Primate Research Center in 1972. Her imagination and hard work transformed what started as a "reading room" into a professional biomedical research library as the Research Center itself grew in size and scope. She sought out every source of medical library training available, including the weeklong MEDLARS training at the National Library of Medicine. She modernized and automated library services and resources while still in the graduate library program at Simmons College. With limited space and unlimited vision, she introduced PC's, Fax, and other equipment as well as an expanded print collection. Her efforts were rewarded in the mid 1980's when the reading room was given the status of a library and was dedicated as the Henry Coe Meadow Library. The Meadow Library is now a state-of-the-art biomedical library with a collection of over 12,000 volumes, tucked into every room, closet, office, or hall space available in the Primate Center. Sydney has published a descriptive article on the growth of the Library and the Center in the November/December 1995 issue of MAHSLIN's Network News

The New England Regional Primate Center investigates primate diseases relevant to the health of human beings. Sydney's library program was affected greatly by their research into AIDS during the last 2 decades and the increased awareness of "animal welfare." While expanding the AIDS related collection, Sydney also collected and organized a large volume of material on all aspects of animal welfare. She then developed a database called "The Psychological Well-Being of Nonhuman Primates." After publishing a paper on the animal welfare project in Science and Technology Libraries, Sydney received the Bryant Fellowship grant from Harvard University Libraries to continue work on the project. Today, Sydney collaborates with librarians from three other Primate Research Centers to provide information on primatology over the Internet, answering questions from all over the world.

Sydney Fingold was one of the founding members of MAHSLIN and has served the organization and its members in several capacities over the years. She has served as Vice-President, President and Immediate Past President (a three-year commitment) not once but twice! She also chaired both the ILL Statistics Committee and the Nominating Committee. She has also held several offices and chaired many committees in both CMCHRL (Central Massachusetts Consortium of Health Related Libraries) and NAHSL (North Atlantic Health Sciences Libraries). Sydney's generosity of time is only matched by her generosity of spirit. Due to her talent and dedication, our state health science library organization owes as much to her as does the New England Regional Primate Research Center. It is with deep gratitude that we honor Sydney Ann Fingold by installing her in the MAHSLIN Hall of Fame.

The first MAHSLIN "Hall of Fame" award was given on Wednesday, April 29, 1998 during the MAHSLIN Annual Meeting. Past recipients of the award include: o James A. Daly, Jr.; Systems Librarian, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and QUICKDOC Developer o Nancy Elizabeth Frazier; Library Director, Cape Cod Hospital o Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery Department; Lamar Soutter Library, UMASS Medical Center o The Massachusetts Medical Society o Nancy B. Fazzone; Library Director, North Shore Medical Center

Sydney Ann Fingold is a resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts where she lives with her husband, Jim. They are the parents of two daughters, including one who is a member of the faculty at Harvard Medical School, and three grandchildren.

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