The National Library of Medicine (NLM) – Early and Second-Career Librarians

Posted by J Barnes-Mitchell on

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) seeks early and second-career librarians interested in advancing equitable and innovative futures for biomedical libraries within five years of graduation to participate in a one-year fellowship that fosters the development of librarians seeking to lead in medical or health sciences libraries. A cohort of between 4 and 5 Associate Fellows will be selected for the 2025-2026 year.

 What will you do?

As a National Library of Medicine Associate Fellow, you will:

  • Participate in projects on user services, collection, open science, artificial intelligence, health data standards, information discovery, scholarly communication, user engagement, archives, and training.
  • Grow professionally and learn in a cohort, participating in a formal curriculum taught by staff experts
  • Develop skills in data science (analysis, visualization)
  • Develop foundations for leadership (presenting, network building)
  • Receive support from experienced mentors
  • Attend a professional conference and a one-week practicum at a health sciences library

The NLM Associate Fellowship Program (AFP) offers a series of staff-taught sessions in user services and collections, research, and development, intramural and extramural research, development, and the lifecycle of the NLM web-based products and services, and the NLM engagement and education program. Associate Fellows develop a national and international perspective of the NLM role in health science and biomedical science. Associate Fellows choose projects to collaborate on and complete with NLM staff allowing them to gain valuable project experience in areas that aid their future career. Associate Fellow projects have led to peer-review publications and to services that became a part of the services and products of NLM.

Appointment Length:

This is a one-year research appointment starting July 1, 2025, and ending June 30, 2026. The 2025 – 2026 Associate Fellowship Program year will be remote. Program hours will be 8:30 a.m.—5:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Qualification Requirements:

  • Master’s degree in an ALA-accredited library/information science program, earned by June of the year of appointment or within 5 years. Undergraduate degrees can be in any major.
  • United States citizenship.
  • Desirable, but not essential:
    • Work experience in a library or health sciences environment.
    • Demonstrated interest or experience in leadership.

 Participant Benefits:

  • Annual stipend of $68,405.00
  • Health Insurance Supplement – The program offers a supplemental health insurance stipend for participants to purchase health insurance through a group health insurance plan via Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE).  Alternatively, participants may choose to hold outside insurance. Proof of health insurance is required for participation in this program. Participants are eligible to purchase health insurance through Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE).
  • Training and Travel Allowance that can be used for attendance at local and national conferences and other relevant training materials as determined by NLM and ORISE.

Apply online. The application deadline is January 24, 2025, 3:00 p.m. EST. The NLM Associate Fellowship Program website provides more information about the application process.

More about NLM:

NLM is committed to recruiting and developing a workforce that is inclusive of a broad range of underrepresented people, including racial and ethnic groups, individuals with disabilities, and individuals from economically or educationally disadvantaged backgrounds. NLM’s commitment to workforce diversity extends to advocating for diversity of thought and plurality of methods. A commitment to diversity is grounded in the belief that full participation of a diverse workforce improves team performance, engendering a robust array of knowledge representations and culturally appropriate means of supporting discovery and delivering health information.

This program, administered by Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) through its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to manage the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), was established through an interagency agreement between DOE and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Library of Medicine (NLM). Participants do not become employees of NIH, NLM, ORAU, ORISE, DOE, or any other agency, and no employment-related benefits exist.