Blog Author
Jess King, Assistant Professor, Education and Research Services Librarian
On April 25, some of McGoogan Library’s faculty attended the 2025 Pre-Health Symposium at the Milo Bail Student Center on UNO’s campus. The symposium was open to college and high school students and provided students with the opportunity to engage with industry experts, discover their future career, hands-on experience, and make connections that can help shape their futures in health care.
The symposium featured a variety of interactive panels, breakout sessions, and presentations, all designed to help attendees explore various career paths, develop key skills, and engage directly with experts from the health care and human services fields.
McGoogan Library faculty participated in a variety of ways. Details for each are listed below.
College & Career Fair
Kiara Comfort, Jess King and Tammi Owens represented McGoogan and Criss libraries with a table. The College & Career Fair offered a chance for students to meet with representatives from leading organizations, discover job and volunteer opportunities, and learn about educational programs that can help them take the next step in their career.
Health Sciences Librarianship for UNO and UNMC Session
McGoogan Library and UNO’s Criss Library partnered together to offer representation for health sciences librarianship for UNMC and UNO. Kiara and Tammi (UNO Criss Library) taught “Introduction to Health Research: Tools and Techniques.” In this session, students explored strategies for effectively using research resources like Google Scholar and PubMed. They also learned techniques for quickly analyzing books and scholarly articles to assess their relevance and usefulness for academic research.
Healthcare Careers in Data, Management, and Information Science Panelists
Jess and Kiara were invited panelists on the “Healthcare Careers in Data, Management, and Information Science” panel. This panel had four panelists who discussed careers within the health sciences that were not direct patient care. Panelists spoke on their career journey and jobs that are available in health information, health care business, and bioinformatics. Jess and Kiara spoke specifically on how health sciences librarians support doctors, researchers, and health care students throughout their educational and professional journeys.
Perspectives in Healthcare Panelist
Jess was also an invited panelist on the “Perspectives in Healthcare” panel. This panel had four panelists who discussed their background working with and serving underserved, minority, and rural communities and how it has shaped their careers. Jess spoke specifically on providing relevant and trustworthy information on these communities to researchers and health care professionals. The discussion included speaking on the importance of health care teams to include members from a variety of backgrounds and practices that can be implemented in the workplace to help ensure that the organization provides the care everyone needs to feel supported.
Want to learn more about the libraries participation in this symposium? Connect with Jess or Kiara.
Discover the work McGoogan Library does for Nebraska residents and patients receiving health care in Nebraska through our Health Information Services.