Welcome to week 4 of the HLA medical librarians month quiz.

For this week, correctly identify five members of the Health Libraries Australia Executive from their avatars digitally generated through Canva. The prompt was [firstname lastname] medical librarian. Was their consent gained beforehand? Were they compensated for the use of their likeness? Do some avatars have six fingers? Can some avatars write upside down? Can some avatars use a card catalogue backwards? Can some avatars use a card catalogue? Is there an over-representation of hair buns, glasses, tweed jackets, cliches on posters, and longing looks into the middle distance? Look, AI is here to benefit all of humanity and any inconvenient questions will be answered once expensive government lobbying has failed. Which it won’t.

The Week 4 Quiz: https://redcap.link/1q7o4wvn

Congratulations to week 3 winner, Bernadette Royal from Charles Darwin University. 7/50 answered all five correctly. Just in time for the wet season she will be receiving a games device that might actually work in an electrical outage, and is not a chess board.

Answers for week 3:

1. What does “quid utile” mean? What is of benefit (or utility)
2. Which American President signed this letter? JFK
3. What is missing? Authors and Subjects
4. The library of the surgeon general’s office is open each day except Sundays, from…10am-3pm.
5. The report of a survey of the Army medical library in 1944 was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.

All the best,

Daniel.

Welcome to week 3 of the HLA quiz celebrating medical librarians month.

Welcome to week 3 of the HLA quiz celebrating medical librarians month. All submissions correctly answering all 5 questions will go in the draw to win a not-Nintendo not-gameboy with 108 gloriously offline games with zero ads required to play the next level. All those found cheating will go on to the cheaters hall of shame, alongside Lance Armstrong, the 2012 Russian Olympic Team, Milli Vanilli, and my opponents in the Toowoomba Junior Soccer Federation under 7s final. You know what you did.

The Week 3 Quiz: https://redcap.link/durwkl9b

Congratulations to the winner of last week’s quiz, Monica Simpson of the Austin in Melbourne. There were 60 submissions and 18 got all five correct. Week 2 answers below.

1: Royal North Shore

2: Launceston General Hospital

3: Redcliffe Hospital

4: Peninsula University Hospital

5: Royal Perth Hospital

Welcome to the second week of Medical Librarians Month for 2026.

Congratulations to Luke Everson from LaTrobe University, who was victorious in the week 1 quiz. He was randomly selected from 21 entries who correctly answered all 5 questions, out of a frankly astonishing 133 total respondents. Surely you all have systematic review searches to finish off (says the librarian writing stupid quizzes who definitely has systematic review searches that need finishing off… and HLA presentations that need starting finishing). Luke’s prize is a gloriously analogue replica Gameboy, replete with 108 games and no internet connectivity. No cookies, no algorithms, no advertising, no sloppy summaries, no logins, no 2FA. Just nostalgia and the unalloyed joy of digital distraction and cortisol-sluicing addiction. ( Fun fact, if Marty McFly went back from today, he would go back to… 1996). Correct answers from last week’s quiz are below.

For this week’s quiz, simply identify the Australian hospital that has a health library somewhere within its rabbit warren. Feel free to forward on to any colleagues who may not be on this list but who might appreciate momentary respite from bed block and budget constraints. And remember, if you cheat a Portuguese journalist will leak your emails and after an 8 year investigation you will have your victory rescinded and your Gameboy reclaimed.

The Week 2 Quiz: https://redcap.link/yvu6i4ke

All the best,

Daniel McDonald (On behalf of HLA)

Welcome to Medical Librarians Month for 2026. To celebrate, Health Libraries Australia is offering the highest of all art forms… a quiz. Each Friday in October there will be a 5 question quiz. All correct answers will go in the draw for a mystery prize… It could be a surplus stapler, it could be Radiohead tickets.

For this week’s quiz, simply identify the missing word/s from genuine article titles. Yes, you could easily look them up, but where is the fun in that? (Medical Librarians have far more integrity than Manchester City accounting executives).

And please, cover your loved ones in bubble wrap and never let them leave the house, or they too might be featured in an injurious case report.

The Quiz: https://redcap.link/3dqgvnfc

All the best,

Daniel McDonald (On behalf of HLA)