There’s a crispness in the air. Holiday music is on the radio. And solicitations of all sorts for charities and institutions are threatening to crowd out the glut of catalogs in my mailbox at home.

Flat library budgets, reductions in funding, reduced revenues, and increases in costs have placed the HS/HSL in the position of having to cut resources and reduce staffing. And while we haven’t begun to mail solicitations (yet), you may have noticed the HS/HSL has added a green “Donate” button to the navigation bar on the top of the library home page. The Donate button links to a number of opportunities for giving to the HS/HSL. These include the HS/HSL Fund for the Third Century, the Kinnard Leisure Reading Collection Fund, the Charlotte Ferencz Endowment, the HS/HSL Fund, and the HS/HSL Technology Endowment. A description is provided for each funding opportunity, and credit card donations are accepted. If you are interested in establishing a fund or in naming opportunities, please contact me at mjtooey@hshsl.umaryland.edu or call 410-706-7545.

Donations can also be made to the HS/HSL through the Maryland Charities Campaign (MCC), although it is a little less direct and requires a little more effort. If you would like to make a donation via the MCC, designate the UMB Foundation (select code 5384) as your pledge. The MCC Chair, Bill Crockett, will then get in touch with you regarding how to designate the HS/HSL as the recipient of your donation.

A strong HS/HSL benefits everyone at UMB. Knowledge underpins research and scholarship, teaching and learning, service and caring. A library is as vital as electricity and water for the progress of a major health sciences research university’s strategic goals and mission. If the traditional means of supporting the Library aren’t adequate and aren’t likely to increase, we have to seek alternative support.

The late Dr. Theodore Woodward, a great benefactor of the Library, compared it to an oil lamp that needs to have the oil replenished in order to continue shining.

Please consider supporting our expertise, our resources, and our place.

Continued increases in journal prices combined with a flat resources budget have resulted in difficult collection decisions. Faculty librarians spent several months evaluating the HS/HSL’s journal collection based on data (cost per use) and the need to ensure we provide a balanced collection addressing and supporting UMB’s mission.

Journal price increases made it necessary to take apart one of our large journal package this year. One way many libraries, including the HS/HSL, have extended their budgets is by participating in publishers’ offers of bundled packages or “big deals.” Under this model libraries commit to maintaining their current subscriptions with a publisher. In exchange, for a relatively modest fee, the publisher will allow the library access to many more of its titles. The HS/HSL currently participates in big deals with Elsevier, Wiley, Springer, Sage, and Taylor & Francis, giving the UMB community access to considerably more journals than single subscriptions would allow. However, steady increases in journal prices while the Library’s resources budget remains flat have made our continued participation in all of these deals unsustainable.

The Springer package was identified as the least well-performing on a cost-per-use . Consequently, the package is being “unbundled.” High-use Springer journals were evaluated on an individual basis, and thirty-one were selected for retention. Journals were evaluated for both their cost effectiveness and their fit with UMB’s research and educational missions. All other individual (non-bundled) subscriptions were also evaluated, and nine of them were selected for cancellation.

The cancellation of the Springer package was a difficult decision to make. Without the favorable pricing that comes with participation in the publisher’s bundle, the UMB community will lose access to over 1,600 Springer journals, including 372 that had twenty or more uses last year. But the HS/HSL must remain within its resources budget.

Access to the cancelled journals will be lost on January 1, 2016. Individual articles from any journal not subscribed to by the HS/HSL are available through Interlibrary Loan.

If the HS/HSL resources budget remains flat and journal costs continue to rise, we will unfortunately need to make more cancellation decisions next year.

Funding for the MPower Virtual Research Library will cease on July 1. This collaborative effort among the libraries at UMB and College Park received $750,000 in the first year of its existence. This funding number has been decreased in the subsequent years to $440,000 and then $200,000. The $200,000 in funding for FY16 was then greatly reduced, resulting in only enough money to support Scopus®, which has become a major research support resource for both universities. At this time, It is not clear how Scopus will be retained for FY17.

JoVE and ProQuest Dissertation and Theses will be continued for another year due to collaborations with the University of Maryland College Park and USMAI. The remaining MPower resources (Wiley journals and Taylor & Francis journals, Embase and BioMed Central) became part of the HS/HSL’s resource evaluation process. With an already flat resources budget and MPower funding destined for elimination, cuts needed to be made (see HS/HSL Flat Funded = 1600 Journals Cancelled). Wiley, and Taylor and Francis journals were integrated into the HS/HSL collection as was Embase.

Two years and 500 conversations later, the HS/HSL is proud to introduce its new strategic plan – Expertise, Resources, Place. Following a template similar to the one used to develop the University’s plan, the new library plan used an “outside-in” technique, gathering input via “strategic listening” tours, focus groups, and town hall and individual meetings. These sessions and meetings informed the development of four themes.

These four major themes – Research, Teaching and Learning, Community, and Place – expose how the HS/HSL will intersect with those areas and with users from within the university and beyond. The plan acknowledges the Library as a cultural institution with a unique place within the university. Additionally, the plan’s “Strategies for Success” provide a roadmap for building capacity to achieve our Vision:

“We will create a dynamic, collaborative, and innovative knowledge environment focused on excellence in expertise, service, and resource access and creation, relevant to and advancing university priorities. We will also advance the library as a vibrant intellectual and cultural hub for the university.”

Library faculty also vetted the plan in order to apply the plan to divisional operational objectives, measurable outcomes, and personal development plans.

“We see our plan providing a solid foundation for growth and change. The methodology we used to develop the plan can be applied to provide a framework for future modifications in response to changes in our environment and our community,” commented M.J. Tooey, Executive Director, HS/HSL and Associate Vice President, Academic Affairs.

After a complete renovation, the HS/HSL Innovation Space is now open! The Innovation Space has expanded to encompass the adjoining area where the Reference Desk used to be. This expansion gives users twice as much room for working with Innovation Space tools and equipment.

To accommodate 3D scanning of smaller items, we’ve added a NextEngine 3D scanner. Now you can use the handheld Sense 3D scanner to scan large objects and the NextEngine 3D scanner for small items, such as a piece of lab equipment or a tooth. Curious how? Our how-to guides will walk you through the steps with the Sense 3D scanner and the new NextEngine 3D scanner.

We have also added three height-adjustable work tables and a dozen stools to make the Innovation Space more comfortable for your work. Many more 3D-printed models are displayed on the shelves. You can also find the finishing tools for 3D printing in pouches conveniently placed on the wall. We have transformed the wall into a chalkboard to promote upcoming workshops on 3D printing and 3D scanning. The large LCD screen, which is perfect for reviewing human anatomy with Biodigital Human or viewing large 3D models from the NIH 3D Print Exchange, is now mounted on the wall, along with two wall cabinets.

Come visit our new and improved Innovation Space!

HS/HSL is pleased to announce that we are transitioning to a new, more advanced reserves systems – Atlas ARES – beginning January 4. A project that the Library and campus IT have been working on for the last nine months, the new system will allow students and faculty to view reserves in Blackboard, or by logging into the Course Reserves system through the link on the Library’s homepage. The system is much more streamlined and convenient to use, and we at HS/HSL are proud to provide the UMB community with an easier way to access their readings and research.

For any questions or for assistance in using the new system, please contact HS/HSL’s Course Reserves at 410-706-7995 or by email eres@hshsl.umaryland.edu.

Over the month of October, the Library Genie asked for your top three library wishes. The number one wish was for water bottle filling stations, followed by requests for better lighting, more of the popular “space pod” study seats, and a wider selection of cables/convertors and charging options. We get the feeling you like being here and just want to make your home away from home more comfortable and convenient! Also popular were requests for coffee vending, more comfortable chairs, and a gender-neutral bathroom.

The Genie is looking into possibilities for granting some of your wishes. We’ll keep you posted.

In an article posted to bioRxiv on October 22, 2015, four NIH scientists proposed a new bibliometric measure of article influence. This measure, called the Relative Citation Ratio (RCR), is presented as an alternative to using Journal Impact Factor to measure the influence of an individual article. RCR measures the citation rates of articles in a co-citation network, or the set of the articles that have been cited by articles that also cite the target article.

A beta of version of the NIH’s online tool to calculate relative citation ratio for articles in PubMed published between 1995 and 2013 can be found at iCite.

In mid-November the HS/HSL received some great news from the National Library of Medicine (NLM): The HS/HSL’s Project SHARE curriculum was unanimously selected by the National AHEC Organization for a study to test the replicability of teen health information literacy projects. Project SHARE was funded by an NLM information Resource Grant to Reduce Health Disparities (G08LM011079).

Project SHARE team members worked with two cohorts of students from Vivien T. Thomas Medical Arts Academy with the goal of developing a replicable curriculum supporting the development of a cadre of teen community health advocates. The Project SHARE curriculum aims to build high school students’ skills to reduce health disparities at the personal, family, and community level. The curriculum aligns with national standards and can be used in diverse settings nationwide: schools, libraries, community-based organizations, and community-academic partnerships.

The curriculum consists of six modules, each with downloadable lesson plans, slides, activities, and references:

1. Overview of Health Disparities
2. Quality Health Information
3. Taking Charge of Your Health
4. Smart Food Choices
5. Crafting and Delivering the Message
6. Promoting Health and Wellness in Your Community

With over 1000 downloads, the curriculum is the second most viewed area of the HS/HSL website. The Project SHARE curriculum is freely available for educational use and can be modified to meet local needs. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

The curriculum is available from the Library’s Project SHARE guide.

McGraw Hill’s AccessMedicine® will be added to the collection in support of our education mission. This collection of over 85 e-books and other online tools contains standard texts including Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine and CURRENT Medical Diagnosis & Treatment. In addition to e-books the database also includes 250 examination and procedural videos, quick reference tools, and more.

This valuable resource allows an unlimited number of users and is available both on and off campus through the HS/HSL’s Databases list. Individual books will be added to the Library Catalog and the E-Book list. A mobile version optimized for use with handheld devices is also available.

AccessMedicine® will be available January 2016.

In response to a multitude of genealogical requests from researchers, the Historical/Special Collections Department of the HS/HSL has developed a public, searchable database of University of Maryland, Baltimore alumni. By gathering data from college catalogs and other resources, the Department is able to provide basic verification of the name, year, and school of listed alumni.

The Alumni Database includes students from the year 1840 through current years. A student’s inclusion in the database depends largely upon the history of the school to which the student belonged. Deeper reference and research assistance may be obtained by contacting Rich Behles, the Historical Librarian/Preservation Officer at the HS/HSL. He can be reached at rbehles@hshsl.umaryland.edu or 410-706-5048.

Access and search the Alumni Database.

Find out more about the origins of the Alumni Database.

Joseph Sheppard’s exhibit The Human Figure, Anatomical Drawings is currently on display through March 31, 2016 in the Frieda O. Weise Gallery on the first floor of the Health Sciences and Human Services Library. The exhibit features detailed drawings of anatomy found in several of Sheppard’s published books. His work, deeply rooted in realism, captures the detail and beauty in the human figure.

Sheppard is an artist and sculptor who has both studied and taught at Maryland Institute of Art (MICA). He has been creating works since before the 1950s, spending part of his year in Italy and the remainder here in Baltimore. While Sheppard’s works can be found all over the world, local highlights include the Brooks Robinson statue in the plaza at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the Holocaust Memorial, and the statue of Pope John Paul II with Two Children at the Basilica of the Assumption. The Joseph Sheppard Vesalius painting, which depicts a public autopsy by the renowned 16th century anatomist, was donated to the HS/HSL by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Rosenberg, Jr. The painting is available for viewing just outside the Administrative Offices on the Library’s fifth floor.

Additional information about Joseph Sheppard’s work can be found at his website.

The HS/HSL hosted an afternoon break on Tuesday October 27, 2015. The break was a celebration of National Medical Librarians Month, which takes place every year in October. The celebration gave students a chance to take a break from their studies, relax a little, and have a snack. Students also had the opportunity to meet their school librarians. The break was a great success!

As of January 1, 2016 ScienceDirect – a major provider of the HS/HSL’s electronic journals – will no longer support Internet Explorer 8. If you use IE 8, please contact your school’s IT help desk for assistance with an upgrade.

Katherine Downton, MSLIS, AHIP, received the award for Professional Excellence by a New Health Sciences Librarian at the 2015 meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Medical Library Association (MAC/MLA).

Bohyun Kim, MA, MSLIS, was appointed to chair the Frederick G. Kilgour Award Committee sponsored jointly by the Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC) and the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA) of the American Library Association (ALA). She has also been appointed to the Advisory Group for the ALA’s Center for the Future of Libraries.

Emilie Ludeman, MSLIS, Katherine Downton, and Andrea Goldstein Shipper, MSLIS, were awarded second place for their research presentation “Analyzing Local Systematic Review Output: An Environmental Scan” at the Mid-Atlantic Chapter (MAC) of the Medical Library Association (MLA) annual meeting.

J. Dale Prince, MA, MLS, AHIP, has been selected as a Fellow in the National Library of Medicine/Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (NLM/AAHSL) Leadership Program for 2015-2016. This national program is designed to provide learning opportunities and a mentoring experience for emerging leaders in academic health sciences libraries. Dale is paired with mentor Anthony Frisby, PhD, at Thomas Jefferson University.

Posters and Presentations

Ryan Harris, MLIS, AHIP and Everly Brown, MLIS presented “Launching a Public Innovation Space from the Ground Up” at the MAC/MLA 2015 annual meeting in Asheville, NC

Alexa Mayo, MLS, AHIP, Everly Brown, and Ryan Harris presented “Reinvigorating Services for an Improved User Experience” at the MAC/MLA 2015 annual meeting in Asheville, NC.

Alexa Mayo presented “Extending Our Reach through Research Connection” at the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL) 2015 annual meeting in Baltimore.

Tony Nguyen, MLIS, AHIP, co-presented a poster on LGBT Elder Population Health Awareness at the Gay & Lesbian Medical Association Annual Conference.

Andrea Goldstein Shipper and C. Andrew Youngkin, MLIS, AHIP, presented “Advancing Library Research: A Year in the Life of a Health Sciences Library Research Committee” at the MAC and Southern Chapter MLA 2015 annual meetings.

Bohyun Kim presented “Setting Up a Makerspace: Why & How” at the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL) 2015 annual meeting in Baltimore.