Data, data, data. A day does not go by without some aspect of data bombarding us. The UMB resource enterprise generates and thrives on data. Clinical care is based on evidence informed by data. Increasingly, education and training advances rely on assessment and the use of student and achievement data. Even community engagement activities are based on evaluation and data around community needs. The Health Sciences and Human Services Library is no different.

We collect a lot of data essential to our decision-making. We track usage of our e-resources and use that data to help determine how to maintain the best collection possible in a time of diminishing resources. We gauge user satisfaction with surveys of new students and our annual Library Genie survey. Recently we completed our biennial online survey of resource usage. This random survey gives us a snapshot of user behavior. Which school uses us the most? What percentage of our users are faculty, staff, or students? What is the purpose of their use – research, assignment, care, etc.? This helps us develop a fuller picture of usage and user needs. We count numbers of services, such as systematic reviews, consultations, and training sessions, and their attendees. We also look at interlibrary loan statistics for trends in resource use. Later this year we will be doing an internal survey of the library staff regarding their thoughts about how we work together within the library. And finally, for 39 years, the HS/HSL has contributed to the Annual Statistics of Medical School Libraries in the United States and Canada compiled by the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL). Through questions related to budget, staffing, training, salaries, and many other areas, we track our progress, monitor trends, and benchmark against peers and colleagues.

There are many other data touchpoints we examine here in the library in our quest to do the best we can in support of our community’s success. If you would like more information about any of the many things we count and analyze, please let me know.

P.S. Congratulations, 2017 Graduates!

Working with the National Library of Medicine and Research!America, the Friends of the National Library of Medicine will host its annual conference, “Consequential and Reproducible Clinical Research: Charting the Course for Continuous Improvement,” June 14 to 17 on the NIH campus in Bethesda, MD.

The conference will discuss prevention of non-repeatable research and inconsequential studies and highlight positive strategies to achieve trustworthy results and significant quality improvement in clinical research studies.

The constructive and practical messages should benefit producers as well as users of clinical research discoveries. The conference will feature a variety of speakers, including the School of Pharmacy’s Peter Doshi, PhD.

REGISTER NOW

On Saturday April 22, 2017, we experienced an unprecedented historical event. Over 600 marches promoting science took place worldwide. Citizens and professionals alike came together in Washington D.C. to voice vehement support for science and scientific research funding, and to express concern about how the current political climate is affecting public perceptions of science. With temperatures ranging from a brisk 51 °F – 74 °F and spotty rain off and on throughout the day, the tenacity of the attendees of the March for Science was a testament to their unwavering dedication to their cause.

Amidst the energy of the moment and huddled within the crowd stood the proud members of the University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB) graduate student group SOAP (Student Organization for Advocacy and Policy).

In the week leading up to the March for Science, SOAP members held a poster design-a-thon at the Health Sciences and Human Services Library. During the design-a-thon, SOAP members created posters for the March and had them printed using the new HS/HSL Poster Printing service.

The members felt moved to express their views and support of the various scientific topics to be promoted at the March for Science. Our student representatives were thrilled at the opportunity to have their posters printed at the HS/HSL and to be able to march on D.C. for the scientific cause. Inspired by his experience, SOAP member Ben Wolfson wrote an op-ed, “Why I marched for science,” for the Baltimore Sun.

We at the HS/HSL feel honored to have worked with SOAP as they prepared to represent UMB at the 2017 March for Science.

What happens when the UMMC’s Pulmonary Department needs posters printed, it’s Nursing Research Day, and Certified Nursing Leader students are preparing for a poster session requirement for class all at the same time? A rush of over 102 requests in four days challenged the HS/HSL Poster Printing Service to deliver. The poster printing team handled the influx with professionalism, calming anxious patrons with approaching deadlines, hastily ordering more glossy paper as we ran out, and working all day and into the evening to make sure the posters were ready. Find out more about our service here.

On April 24, a group of medical librarians from Seoul National University (SNU) in Seoul, South Korea visited the HS/HSL. The SNU Medical Library is planning for a $260 million project to demolish and reconstruct their library building starting next year. The new library will be a 167,917 sq. ft. building with six stories. In preparation for this project, two teams of SNU librarians are visiting the U.S. and Europe to tour several model libraries. The HS/HSL was selected as the first stop for their U.S. tour group.

The HS/HSL director, M.J. Tooey, and associate directors, Aphrodite Bodycomb and Bohyun Kim, welcomed the librarians from SNU, discussed current trends in library space planning, and shared ideas about future directions relevant to academic health sciences libraries. The medical librarians from SNU were particularly interested in the innovative uses of the HS/HSL space and noted the importance of flexibility and versatility of library space that can accommodate quickly-changing user needs. Their U.S. trip includes visits to Brody Learning Commons at Johns Hopkins University, Health Sciences Library at New York University, Cushing/Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, and Countway Library of Medicine at Harvard University. We wish them all the best in their new library building project!

You can now visualize and explore human anatomy and DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) files in 3D using the zSpace VR (virtual reality) station and its software. The zSpace VR station is located at the HS/HSL Innovation Space and available for use on a first-come, first-served basis.

The zSpace VR station allows a user wearing a pair of the 3D glasses to manipulate a digital object with a stylus. Connected to the station is a large LCD screen that can display the 3D image of the object to other viewers who are not wearing the 3D glasses. The zSpace VR station is equipped with Visible Body, Studio, and zView.

Come explore VR at the HS/HSL Innovation Space today!

*Modernization projects such as the Innovation Space initiative are made possible by the generosity of donors through the UMB Foundation. If you would like to support projects such as these please visit https://umaryland.givecorps.com/causes/714-hshl or contact us at 410-706-7545.

On a recent site visit to North Carolina, one of the stops on the itinerary was The Country Doctor’s Museum in rural Bailey, NC. This charming museum features three buildings with exhibits related to the history of America’s rural health care. While touring the museum, we came across a physician’s diploma with the inscription from Terrae Mariae hanging on the wall. We took a picture and sent it to the HS/HSL’s historical super sleuth, Richard Behles, Historical and Special Collections Librarian.

Behles reports, “He is Cornelius H. Brantley, a native of North Carolina. This diploma is from our College of Physicians and Surgeons, his graduation in 1887. P & S was separate back then, later merged into University of Maryland in the nineteen-teens. According to the 1906 American Medical Directory, he was the one and only physician practicing in the town of Finch, NC. The town name also includes an R.F.D. designation. So indeed, I’d say this document is hanging in a most appropriate location.” How nice to see a reminder of Maryland in North Carolina!

On April 12 the HS/HSL hosted a special event to accompany our latest gallery exhibit, From DNA to Beer: Harnessing Nature in Medicine & Industry. The event featured a talk by enthusiastic homebrewer Drew Morgan, who shared stories and insights about his brewing hobby and discussed some of the science behind making beer. A wide selection of local beers for sampling and delicious catering made this a particularly successful and savory evening.

The ACRL (Association for College and Research Libraries) #CritLib Unconference, sponsored by the HS/HSL, was held on March 22, 2017 at the SMC Campus Center. Following the distinctive unconference format, over 150 attendees from many different academic libraries across the country proposed discussion topics in advance, creating a list of potential topics from which the final three were chosen: critical theory; truth, neutrality, and information literacy; and culturally responsible pedagogy. The Unconference ran from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., providing an excellent lead-in to the 2017 ACRL Conference that opened later that day at the Baltimore Convention Center, just a few blocks from the UMB campus. The Unconference was a free event open to all. More information about the 2017 ACRL #CritLib Unconference can be found at https://critlib2017.wordpress.com.

Emily Gorman joined the HS/HSL in April. She comes to us from the Loyola/Notre Dame Library, where she worked as the Health & Natural Sciences Librarian. She received her Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree from the University of Pittsburgh. She is the Research, Education and Outreach Librarian for the School of Pharmacy. As the REO for the School of Pharmacy, she will work with faculty, students, and staff to assist with their research needs. Emily is excited to join the UMB community!

Staff News

Colette Beaulieu, president of the Staff Senate, accepted the UMB Community Service Award on behalf of the Staff Senate in March 2017.

Persia Drummond, BS recently graduated from UMUC with a bachelor’s degree in management in December 2016.  She is currently enrolled in UMUC’s master’s program in project management.

Bohyun Kim, MA, MSLIS, was elected as the 2018-2019 president of the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA), a division of American Library Association (ALA). She will serve as vice-president and president-elect during 2017-18 and will assume the presidency in July 2018.

Posters, Presentations & Publications

Everly Brown, MLIS and Persia Drummond, BS presented “Innovation Space & Poster Printing at HS/HSL” at USMAI’s Annual Access Services Conference in April 2017.

Bohyun Kim, contributed a book chapter “A Librarian’s Guide to 3D Printing” in the Makerspace Librarian’s Sourcebook, published by American Library Association. She also presented “Pricing, Staff Workflow, and Application Development for 3D Printing Service: Achieving the Best User Experience” at the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Conference in March 2017 in Baltimore.

Bohyun Kim and Brian Zelip, MS, MA, gave a TechConnect presentation at the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Conference in March 2017 in Baltimore, “Growing Makers in Medicine, Life Sciences, and Healthcare.”

Alexa Mayo, MLS, AHIP, presented at a poster session at the annual meeting of the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR) in April 2017 in Savannah.  The poster, co-authored with M.J. Tooey, MLS, AHIP, FMLA, is entitled “Project SHARE:  Building Teenagers’ Skills to Advocate for Improved Health at the Personal, Family, and Community Level.”

Brian Zelip, presented a poster at the Triological Society 2017 Combined Sections Meeting in January in New Orleans. The poster, co-authored with students and faculty from the University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Medicine, is entitled “A Novel Computer Algorithm for 3D Printing a Prosthetic Nose: A Pilot Study.”