Kelly-Rhéaume and Altuntur play a multifaceted vital role at The Neuro, contributing to a wide range of essential services. From updating the literary collection to providing technical support, they assist employees, residents, and students with comprehensive literature searches, as well as systematic and scoping reviews. Both have been part of the MUHC library team for four years, with two of those years spent at The Neuro where their work continues to be integral.
What attracted you to your profession? 
Paule: I’ve always loved being in libraries. In fact, I copied my older sister who’s also a librarian, but I never expected to be a medical librarian. In the end I love it because it’s the perfect combination of something more mathematical and scientific, with social interactions.
Selin: I went into the library program unsure of what I wanted out of it. My background was in the humanities, and I studied anthropology. I got a job as a student at The Neuro Patient Resource Centre and as soon as I started working there, I really enjoyed the hospital environment. You interact with the public a lot and you are really helping people which is great. When the opportunity came to work at the MUHC again after I graduated, I took it.
What’s a day like for you? 
Paule: We do a lot of research in databases to find scientific articles on the latest studies and different themes related to The Neuro.
Selin: On the one hand, it’s to help clinicians make decisions, but also to update protocols for patient care. On the other hand, it’s for research projects such as literature searches for smaller projects or comprehensive and advanced searches for bigger studies.
Paule: Another part of the job is to review the booklets patients receive on how to prepare for a specific surgery. Our colleague Sabrina Burr, a medical librarian who works at The Neuro Patient Resource Centre and I will make sure there is no medical jargon inside the booklets so everyone can understand the information.
What do you like the most about your job? 
Selin: I love my colleagues at The Neuro! I love that there are so many people that have worked here forever and have all these stories and it’s a very strong community. It just feels nice to be part of it. The fun thing about The Neuro, because it is a smaller hospital, you end up meeting almost everyone and you see familiar faces much more often. It’s a very warm environment. Also, my mom worked in research when I was a child. She would take me to work at the RVH (Royal Victoria Hospital) when it was across the street from The Neuro, and we would eat in the cafeteria. It’s nice to have a connection over time with this place. It’s not just a job we got two years ago; it’s been present for the both of us [Paule and I] for a long time.
Paule: You meet people from all kinds of different departments, that you wouldn’t normally meet. There are also lots of activities offered for employees, like the choir and lunchtime trivia sessions. Also, two years ago my mother was ill and before she died, she was a patient at The Neuro for a few weeks. Before I worked here, I visited every day with my sisters. Six months later when I started at The Neuro library, I was a bit nervous at first because the place was linked to a bad memory. But now I’m so happy that every day I can go to work and feel there’s still a connection with my mother because she was in a room on the third floor just above the library.
Is there something you have accomplished recently that you are proud of?
Paule: We recently refurbished the library. The Day Centre was here temporarily during the of their space and we’ve now been able to reclaim back ours. It’s great fun, people come in and visit us more.
Selin: My first systematic review got published and that’s another fun part about our job, the significant projects that we work on get to be published in medical journals.
What is one of your most memorable moments at The Neuro? 
Paule: I would say all the unexpected visitors who visit, such as alumni who studied here 30 or 50 years ago.
Selin: One of our old colleagues Alex, who used to be a librarian at The Neuro and now teaches at Université de Montréal, made sure when he was leaving that Paule and I received all the knowledge that he accumulated over a decade of working at The Neuro. It was very special to be a recipient of that knowledge before he left.
The library is located on the second floor of The Neuro
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