Judith Rieke Retires
Barbara Knight, MA, MLS
Lila Pedersen, MALS, AHIP
Harley E. French Library of the Health Sciences
Grand Forks, ND
On December 9, 2008, the staff of the Harley E. French Library of the Health Sciences at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks held a reception to honor Judy Rieke, PhD, retiring Assistant Director and Collection Management Librarian. Judy had been with the Library of the Health Sciences in that position since 1992. In those 16 years Judy guided the transition of the library collection from print-based to our largely digital-based collection today.
Judy assisted with the library’s move to the current building in 1994 and was able to fulfill her interest in historical and rare books by organizing the Harry D. Benwell History of Medicine Reading Room. During her time on the staff, she monitored two special gift collections which today number nearly 2,000 volumes. One collection featuring historical pathology and anatomy books is from University of North Dakota School of Medicine alumnus Dr. James D. Barger, and the second is from former faculty member Dr. Anthony B. Gustafson.
Judy was passionate about library outreach services to the citizens of North Dakota. She participated as a presenter and exhibitor during several outreach projects funded through the Greater Midwest Region and also directed two projects involving outreach to Native Americans. The first project, an Access to Electronic Health Information for the Public contract, trained the librarians at five North Dakota tribal colleges in NLM databases and helped build their skills in searching the best online medical and health databases. The project also purchased computers and other equipment for their libraries, which serve as public libraries on their reservations. A second follow-up project was a Health Information Outreach contract which focused on training health care workers and professionals, including Indian Health Service and tribal health employees on North Dakota reservations. It also included follow-up training for the tribal college librarians to assure that their skills were kept current.
Since 2005, Judy also has coordinated a user group composed of American Indians who advise the National Library of Medicine’s American Indian Health Website [http://americanindianhealth.nlm.nih.gov/]. She is also on the steering committee of Outreach Connections, a group of librarians from throughout the country who have an interest in outreach to Native Americans. The group has developed a wiki [http://native.outreachconnect.info/wiki/] which serves as a resource to those working in native communities. This project was funded by the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services under Contract No. NO1-LM-6-3504. It was developed at The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center with the support of a national steering committee in follow-up to a Conference on Native American Health Information in the United States, held July 2006. In recognition for her work and the networks she maintains on behalf of American Indian people, she and her husband were presented a star quilt and a Pendleton blanket accompanied by an honor song performed by a group of singers from the University of North Dakota American Indian student organization (image below). 
Judy also found time to participate in professional organizations. She was an active participant in the Medical Library Association, especially as chair of the Collection Development Section. She was co-chair of the 2005 annual meeting planning committee of the Midwest Chapter of MLA, and was chair of the North Dakota-Manitoba Chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries. Judy was active in the North Dakota Library Association, and was on committees of the NN/LM Greater Midwest Region. She presented numerous papers and posters at professional meetings of these and other organizations. She also published papers in the Journal of the Medical Library Association, Journal of Consumer Health on the Internet, and the Serials Librarian, among others. One of her personal triumphs was obtaining her PhD in Educational Leadership from the University of North Dakota in 2003.
Judy and her husband Garl have relocated to St. Paul, Minnesota. She hopes to remain involved in the profession on a part time basis through special projects and can be contacted through Facebook.
