Elizabeth R Lorbeer

Elizabeth R Lorbeer serves as Chair and Professor of the Department of Medical Library at Western Michigan University's Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, directing WMed's born-digital library since 2013 with over 25 years of administrative experience across major institutions including Boston University and Rush University Medical Center.

Her academic credentials include:

• Undergraduate degree from State University of New York at Buffalo
• Master of Library Science (MLS) from State University of New York at Buffalo
• Master of Education (EdM) in Higher Education Administration from Boston University

Research focuses on Medical Librarianship, Scholarly Communication, and Evidence-Based Medicine, emphasizing digital library innovation, accessibility solutions for print-disabled students, and librarian integration in competency-based medical education through sustainable collection development and technology-enhanced services.

Her publication trajectory reveals consistent leadership in medical library transformation, with recent works analyzing born-digital implementation, evidence-based medicine pedagogy, and journal metric impacts on collections, demonstrating evolving expertise from foundational library development (2014-2016) to contemporary scholarly communication challenges (2020-2023).

Professional recognition includes:

• Medical Library Association President’s Award (2020)
• Distinguished Member of The Academy of Health Information Professionals (2009-present)

As an educator, she teaches scholarly communication while securing significant grant funding including four National Network of Libraries of Medicine awards and the 2024 Medical Library Association Research Grant, with consulting engagements extending her influence to publisher partnerships.

• Grant Leadership: Four NNLM Express Library Digitization Awards
• Current Funding: 2024 MLA Research, Development, and Demonstration Project Grant

She directs WMed's Department of Medical Library as a fully digital operation, having built its collections and services from inception to support medical education and research through innovative resource allocation and user-centered service models.