Boston, MA
At the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Boston, Joanne Doucette is supporting future biomedical scientists and health professionals. As an associate professor and associate director for research services and knowledge management at the college’s library, she teaches students critical information literacy strategies to strengthen their skills in research and literature analysis.
In the library’s information literacy program, Doucette uses her expertise in performing complex analyses to make sense of the trove of empirical studies that form the basis of medical decision-making, and she teaches her students to do the same. Supporting graduate students studying a broad spectrum of topics—from pharmaceutical economics to drug regulatory affairs to clinical research and more—she also provides mentorship to guide student theses, dissertations, and submissions to medical publications. Doucette’s own contributions to scholarly publishing are vast, with more than 80 peer-reviewed citations spanning decades.
In May 2020, just two months after COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, Doucette joined the Librarian Reserve Corps, a group of more than 100 volunteers worldwide who partnered with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Outbreak Alert & Response Network to ensure that health and science professionals had access to updated, reliable information. In her work with the corps, Doucette provided research services for WHO epidemiologists seeking articles and reports on COVID-19’s seroprevalence – a measure of how many people in a country, region, or organization have been exposed to the virus by measuring antibodies they may have developed.
“Joanne Doucette exemplifies the spirit of the I Love My Librarian Award,” one of her nominators wrote. “She is knowledgeable, very generous with her time, and deeply dedicated to the success of others. Her impact on our students, our institution, and the broader world is profound, enduring, and worthy of the highest recognition.”
Doucette was selected from more than 1,300 nominations from library users nationwide for the 2026 award. As part of her award, she will receive a $5,000 cash prize as well as complimentary registration and a travel stipend to attend ALA’s Annual Conference in Chicago.
The I Love My Librarian Award is sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, with additional support from the New York Public Library, and is administered by the American Library Association. Since 2008, library users have shared more than 25,000 nominations detailing how librarians have gone above and beyond to promote literacy, expand access to technology, and support diversity and inclusion in their communities.
