I am going to forego my usual editorial to honor the memory of an amazing person who was so important, not only to the library, but to me personally.

I first met Dr. Charlotte Ferencz, or Sari (her Hungarian nickname), back in the ’90s, when then vice president for Academic Affairs, Joann Boughman, introduced us. Sari had just received the first UMB Life Sciences Achievement Award, a precursor to the Researcher of the Year Award. Jo had worked with her on the landmark Baltimore-Washington Infant Study, and somehow she knew we would all be fast friends. And we were.

Sari was born in Hungary in 1921. Her family moved to Germany and then onto Montreal, Canada, where she later received her medical degree from McGill University. She eventually ended up as a fellow under Dr. Helen Taussig at Johns Hopkins. I believe it was there she discovered her lifelong passion for pediatric cardiology. She shared great stories about the difficulties of being a woman in medicine, and of her great fondness for Dr. Taussig. In particular, she had a wonderful story about a Jamie Wyeth portrait of Dr. Taussig.

By the time we met her, she was finishing up her illustrious and influential career. In 2001 she established the Charlotte Ferencz Endowment supporting congenital heart disease resources at the HS/HSL. Later she broadened the intent of the endowment to include support of her collection, her website, and digitization projects.

Somehow, back in 2005, we convinced her to develop a web page on congenital heart disease. Basically, it became an online textbook at a time when there wasn’t much of anything online, let alone a textbook. Since it was revised in 2009, it has been viewed by over 13,000 users from all around the world. She was tickled by idea of the worldwide impact and loved working with library team members, Patricia Hinegardner and Brad Gerhart, on the project.

In 2008, Sari received the HS/HSL’s highest honor, the Theodore E. Woodward Award, awarded to someone who “enthusiastically and meaningfully advances and supports the work of the Health Sciences and Human Services Library.” The Charlotte Ferencz Collection was established under the watchful eye of Rich Behles, Historical Librarian. (Historical Collection Pages) – (Digital Archive).

As time went on and her health began to fail, Sari’s world became smaller. Yet even then our relationship continued to grow in depth and richness. Over many cups of tea, as we visited at her apartment, she shared wonderful stories, pictures, and mementos of her family, her career, and her thoughts on the world in general. And she loved to hear about the outside world from us. She was so sharp, and could be wickedly funny.

About a year ago, I was deeply honored to have her ask me to deliver the eulogy at her funeral, which I did on October 25. How practical and courageous for her to plan ahead! And how Sari! I read somewhere that people come and go, and that everyone has been in your life for a reason – to teach you or to love you or to just experience life with you. I am thankful for all the ways Sari Ferencz taught me, loved me, and experienced life with me.

Did you know that you can 3D print unique holiday ornaments and other gift items at the HS/HSL Innovation Space? The best way to learn about 3D printing is to actually use 3D printing. Have fun and solve your holiday gift problems at the same time! Take a look at some of our picks for a variety of gift and ornament ideas.

See here for more details about how to participate.

Regular Hours

Exceptions to Regular Hours

*Floors 3, 4 & 5 and library services close at 10 p.m. From 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., floors 1 & 2 are open for those with a current UMB, UMMC, or USM campus ID. Visitors and those with library memberships may not enter the building after 8 p.m. and must leave the building by 10 p.m.

In an innovative 2014 project, a team at the HS/HSL developed a web-based curriculum through a National Library of Medicine Information Resource Grant to Reduce Health Disparities (G08LM011079). This curriculum, called Project SHARE, aimed at empowering high school students with the health literacy and advocacy skills to advocate for improved health for themselves and for their communities. In 2016, the Area Health Education Centers’ (AHEC)’s national partners unanimously chose Project SHARE for a national health literacy project because of the curriculum’s high quality, “out-of-the-box,” flexible format for addressing health disparities. Recently, the National AHEC Organization announced that three of its member AHEC organizations will participate in the second year phase of the initiative, funded with $150,000 from the National Library of Medicine. Projects will address youth empowerment through health information skills and social action projects. The initiative is based on a growing recognition that the ability to find, interpret, and use reliable sources of health information has a direct impact on an individual’s health throughout their lifetime.

The HS/HSL Innovation Space recently launched a fleet of Google Cardboard virtual reality headsets. Google Cardboard is a low-cost virtual reality platform that consists of a fold-out cardboard viewer and a number of smartphone apps. To use the viewer, simply insert a smartphone with a Google Cardboard app into the back of it and look through the lenses in the front.

The official Google Cardboard app is available for both Android and iOS devices. Various third party apps for Google Cardboard are also available, but these are often designed exclusively for either Android or iOS. Here are some fun examples you can try for free:

• Public Speaking VR (for Android) – practice for public speaking events and job interviews
• Sites in VR (for Android) – tour landmarks all around the world
• Stargazer (for Android) – explore stars, constellations, and other features of our solar system
• FK23 VR (for iOS) – fly over Amsterdam in a plane designed 100 years ago by a Dutch aeropioneer
• VR Moon Walk 3D (for iOS) – explore our moon’s environment from Earth
• VR Ocean Aquarium 3D (for iOS) – explore the deep ocean and swim amongst different fish species

The Google Cardboard viewers in the HS/HSL Innovation Space are available for you to use in the Library on a first-come-first-serve basis. To get started, check out our Google Cardboard guide.

A May 2016 article in PLOS Medicine assessed the quality of systematic reviews indexed in MEDLINE. While the study noted an exponential increase in the number of systematic reviews published between 2004 and 2014, it found that the quality of reviews in 2014 was often not optimal.

For a systematic review to have value, it must be rigorously conducted and transparently reported. The PLOS study found that, in addition to poor methodological conduct (i.e. questionable statistical methods), many reviews failed to explicitly report how studies were identified for inclusion. The study’s findings suggest that authors are not consistently following guidelines, such as the PRISMA checklist, that are intended to improve the quality and completeness of systematic review reporting. Including a librarian or information professional on the systematic review team can also improve the quality of reporting. Librarians have the training and expertise to conduct comprehensive literature searches for systematic reviews and can assist in writing the search methodology section of reviews.

The HS/HSL Systematic Review Service supports faculty investigators conducting systematic and other types of comprehensive reviews. Are you planning to conduct a systematic review? Contact the library’s systematic review team.

Check out the 20 new comfy chairs temporarily residing in the first floor Weise Gallery.

The Library Genie was able to fulfill a request from the 2015 survey for more comfortable seating. These beauties are soft and cushy and covered in solid blue leatherette. Each has a silver handle on the back and rear wheels to easily move them to your spot of choice. We’ve found that students are already using them for study and group chats.  We will soon be positioning them around the floors where needed.

What do you think?

Over the month of October, the Library Genie asked for your top three library wishes. We have heard your requests and are looking at ways to grant your library wishes!

The most frequent request we received was for access to more journals and e-books, or to specific ones. We do our best to collect journals and e-books that meet your needs, but with a flat budget and rising prices, we cannot subscribe to everything we would like to. Try our fantastic and fast interlibrary loan service if we do not have what you are looking for. Other top requests were for a gender neutral bathroom (stay tuned), more late hours, licensing EndNote, more standing desks (look for them soon), and more workstations with extra monitors.

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

Kathleen Hand, BS, joined the Services Division as library specialist in August. She comes to us from UMBC, where she was the hard copy reserves technician.

Posters and Presentations

M.J. Tooey, MLS, AHIP, FMLA, associate vice president, Academic Affairs and executive director, Health Sciences and Human Services Library (HS/HSL) presented “Expanding Library Contributions to University Success – Shifting the Paradigm: Expertise Rather Than Resources” to the Elsevier North American Library Advisory Board and “Who Was Marcia Crocker Noyes and Why Do I Care about Her?” to the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland.