In the last Connective Issues, I announced that I would be retiring on December 31. I am still retiring. I have been humbled by the avalanche of good wishes from across UMB and appreciate each and every one of them. As I’ve been attempting to clean out 36 years of files and office stuff, I am constantly reminded of what a wonderful career I have had here at UMB, taking more trips down Memory Lane than I care to admit. I wish I could count those trips toward my step goals!

One truth that has emerged is that what matters most is the people. I have had the joy of working with some amazing people across the university, and it warms my heart to remember them. Among those special people are the staff and faculty of the HSHSL, who have trusted me to lead them over the years. It is an easy thing to do when you are part of a creative and committed team dedicated to providing an information and knowledge infrastructure for any and every endeavor at UMB. Those people are the HSHSL – not the bricks and mortar, or the books and journals. If I have any regrets, it has been that I have not been able to stabilize and increase the HSHSL resources budget. There is an article further down about the next round of major cuts we will have to make based on a flat resources budget that has not increased in a decade. Maybe the next dean will have better luck with that.

To support the wonderful team at the HSHSL, my husband and I have established the Tooey/Huffman Professional Development Endowment for Library Faculty and Staff Professional Development. A long name for a simple concept. In order for the HSHSL faculty and staff to stay on top of our professional game, we need to grow skills and equip the team for the fast-evolving world of knowledge work. If you are interested in supporting the HSHSL, you can donate online at the university’s giving page. For information about each HSHSL fund, please visit our website.

I think it is going to take a long time for me to stop referring to the HSHSL in terms of “we” and “us.” Lots of people have asked about my plans. I don’t have plans, but I have lots of ideas and curiosity to accompany those ideas. Travel, our family (including our amazing granddaughter), gardening, learning, election work, sleeping in – I am only limited by my imagination!

Please take good care of the HSHSL. Embrace what it stands for and does − and support it! Thank you for the privilege of being here.

Bye.

Back by popular demand, the HSHSL is pleased to announce that limited quantities of the 2023 HSHSL Calendar, Fatal Beauty, are available for purchase. Priced at only $12, the calendar will make a fantastic – and affordable – holiday gift.

This year’s calendar was inspired by the Fatal Beauty exhibit installed in the Weise Gallery this past summer. The calendar features a selection of stunning botanical plates from volumes in the HSHSL’s Historical Collections Pharmacy Collection.

For centuries, plants have been used to treat a variety of ailments. Fatal Beauty, showcases some botanicals that, if used improperly, can be deadly. Each month features a different fatal beauty with information on its toxicity and pharmaceutical uses.

The HSHSL appreciates the help of Dr. Mordecai “Mordy” Blaustein, Professor Emeritus and Past-Chair of the UMSOM Department of Physiology, in the planning and research for the calendar. Dr. Blaustein is a huge supporter of the Library and was initially responsible for suggesting the Fatal Beauty theme.

Calendars can be picked up at the HSHSL Information Services desk or shipped for an additional $6.25 per calendar.

Quantities are limited, so order yours today!

In January, a flat resources budget will force the HSHSL to cancel over 100 journal subscriptions. Many of these titles are heavily used by UMB researchers. They include

• The American Journal of Medical Genetics, with over 1000 uses;
• Pediatric Blood and Cancer, with over 800 uses;
• European Radiology, with over 500 uses; and
• Drug Safety, with over 400 uses.

While these journals are extensively used, they are also very expensive. A subscription to The American Journal of Medical Genetics, for example, costs over $26,000. This means the average cost of each full-text article UMB researchers download is over $25. This year the HSHSL will not be able to renew any journal with a cost-per-use of over $9.

These cancellations are the result of a long-running structural deficit funding issue. While journal prices have increased on average 7 to 10 percent a year, the HSHSL’s resources budget has remained essentially flat for over a decade. Every year faculty librarians spend time evaluating the HSHSL’s journal collection based on data (cost-per-use) and the need to ensure a balanced collection addressing and supporting UMB’s mission. Journal subscriptions are identified for cancellation in order to remain within budget. For the past few years, one-time funding has been received allowing the collection to be maintained. However, these budget constraints also mean that the HSHSL is unable to add any of the many new subscriptions requested each year. It has also impacted the HSHSL’s ability to support new UMB programs. These flat budgets and diminishing collections will also have an impact on accreditation reports and visits.

Access to articles from cancelled journals will be lost on January 1, 2023. Individual articles from any journal not subscribed to by the HSHSL are available through the Request Articles & Books service (interlibrary loan).

If the HSHSL resources budget remains flat and journal costs continue to rise, more journal cancellations will continue in the future.

On January 25, 2023, the new NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy (NIH DMSP) will go into effect. Have no fear, the Center for Data and Bioinformation is here to help you prepare for this change!

This new policy will require 1) submission of a data management and sharing plan with all NIH grant applications for projects that generate scientific data, and 2) compliance with that plan. This expands on the current policy, in effect since 2003, which has this requirement only for projects requesting $500,000 or more in funds. While it is understood that a variety of reasons may limit data sharing, “NIH expects that in drafting Plans, researchers will maximize the appropriate sharing of scientific data” − while also being mindful of ethical considerations.

How CDABS can help:

1. We facilitate access for UMB researchers to several great resources for working with data.
• DMPTool provides templates for writing plans and allows you to request feedback on your plan from the CDABS team. Use your UMID and password to authenticate.
• OSF is a collaborative tool for keeping your project documents organized. Use your UMID and password to authenticate.
• ICPSR and QDR are excellent repository options for sharing sensitive data.
• The UMB Data Catalog can hold a record of your shared data, with metadata and access instructions.
2. Schedule a consult with us to talk more in-depth about your personalized data management needs, finding an appropriate repository, and anything else data-related!
3. Subscribe to CDABS updates for information on workshops and other resources we will be releasing over the next several months.
4. Contact CDABS at data@hshsl.umaryland.edu to schedule a presentation about the policy and writing data management plans for your group, department, or program.

You can also check out our curated list of helpful NIH DMSP-related resources.

Maryland Pharmacist, a journal of the Maryland Pharmacists Association (MPhA) is now available online, thanks to funding provided by the Maryland Pharmacist Association Foundation. The Association authorized the digitization of the journal from 1956 to 2021 and provided the print volumes. HSHSL staff prepared the journal volumes for shipping to an Internet Archive digitization center in Princeton, NJ. The preparation process included physically examining the volumes for suitability for digitization and creating a spreadsheet of metadata describing the volumes. The spreadsheet accompanied the journal to the digitization center. Once scanning was complete and the volumes returned to the HSHSL, a quality assurance review was conducted to ensure the scans and metadata were accurate on the Internet Archive.

Access Maryland Pharmacist (1956-2021) through the Internet Archive and through the UMB Digital Archive collection, Maryland Pharmacist 1895-2021. This collection also includes the Maryland Pharmaceutical Association Proceedings from 1895 to 1955, an earlier joint project supported by MPhA.

In the United States, the holiday and winter seasons traditionally elicit a variety of spices and flavors, as well as traditional floral decorations. Join the HSHSL in celebrating the season with Season’s Greenery, a new exhibit featuring seasonal botanicals from the Historical Collections. The botanicals featured come from Julius Leo’s Taschenbuch der Arzeneipflanzen (1826-27), Robert Bentley and Henry Trimen’s Medicinal Plants (1880), and Botanical Magazine (1806).

While the botanicals featured in the exhibit are found in food and decorations today, some were once used for medicinal and health reasons.  The exhibit highlights these pharmaceutical uses alongside displays of beautiful pieces found in the historic pharmacy collection.

The exhibit will run from December through January in the Weise Gallery, on the first floor of the HSHSL.

Last fall the HSHSL launched Woven Stories: Out of many we are one to celebrate the diversity of UMB’s Campus. The stories were shared on the HSHSL’s Updates Blog. Through the project, people across campus have shared personal items and stories that inspire their personal culture.
We’ve discovered the influence of food on people’s lives and how much a simple recipe or cooking item can elicit an important memory or feeling. We’ve learned how significant places – including a family home – can be for people and their families. Others have shared the value of music and faith or the impact of holidays in their personal culture. In each post, the reader can find some connection to the story, something that speaks to their own culture and traditions.

The purpose of Woven Stories is just this – to provide glimpses into personal culture, reminding us that through individual stories we can connect to one another. Submissions can be long or short and can be anonymous.  Join the HSHSL today and weave your story into the larger UMB Campus’ culture.

Last summer, the Historical Collections department of the HSHSL installed an overhead scanner, which allows for the safe scanning of oversized books and historical volumes. The scans can then be uploaded to the UMB Digital Archive or Internet Archive for researchers to use. This summer, four Baltimore College of Dental Surgery (BCDS) Alumni Photo Albums were scanned and uploaded.

These volumes are part of a collection of record books, including meeting minutes, matriculation records, and grade books, held in Historical Collections. The BCDS Alumni Photo Albums are the result of a Dean’s Office initiative to compile the available photographs of BCDS graduates from 1883 to 1916. The albums add value to the collection because they predate the school’s yearbook collection – which begins in 1901 – and provide over 20 years’ worth of BCDS graduate photographs, as well as details about the classes.

The first volume, dated 1883, contains photographs of the BCDS faculty, including school founder Chapin A. Harris and dean Richard B. Winder. It also includes beautifully hand-drawn and colored botanicals decorating the pages. Later volumes feature artwork by graduates and identify valedictorians and class officers – information typically recorded in yearbooks. The Digital Archive records include a list of the names identified in each volume; unfortunately, many of the graduates remain unidentified.

The photo albums offer a rare glimpse into early dental students’ lives and provide a valuable resource for genealogists, or for anyone interested in the history of the BCDS, the UM School of Dentistry, or the history of dentistry in Baltimore.

To view the albums, check out the School of Dentistry Yearbooks Collection.

During the month of October, the Library Genie asked for your top three library wishes. We received 26 responses and are looking at ways to grant your wishes. The Genie heard your call for more comfy chairs, extra charging stations, a reflection room, and temperature control. Some of these ideas have been addressed, and others are being considered or are on their way.

More standing desks have been ordered and will be located throughout the Library. You are free to wheel them around as needed. Temperature issues are addressed as they come in. We encourage you to let us know about temperature problems in person or through our suggestion box. Consider leaving your name and contact information so that we can pinpoint the location and resolve the problem more efficiently. In 2024, you will see a beautiful renovation of the third floor, with a variety of updated chairs, study pods, booths, and tables to enhance your comfort while in the Library. The Library Genie is creative and is always watching for opportunities to make visiting the HSHSL a super experience for you. Thank you for your feedback!

The Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM), Region 1, located at the Health Sciences and Human Services Library, collaborated with other Regional Medical Libraries throughout the nation to celebrate October’s National Medical Librarians Month and National Health Literacy Month with a Book Spine Poetry Contest.

Throughout the month of October, participants who submitted health-focused book spine poems were entered into a drawing to receive free copies of 10 books selected from the NNLM Reading Club. We received creative entries from across the network, including the examples below.

Come and see Kindness and courageousness Radical empathy The future of healthcare –Wegner Health Sciences Library

Upon a clay tablet Between the lines A cure within Healing wounds Health thyself Let thy food by thy medicine Live well live long –National University of the Health Sciences

Fear and Trembling the sickness unto death An enquiry concerning human understanding The question concerning technology The scalpel and the silver bear Prolegomena to charity Getting things done The good Samaritan strikes again –Association of American Medical Colleges

The Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) Region 1, located at the Health Sciences and Human Services Library, is excited to announce our awardees for the 2022-’23 funding cycle. Awards are given in several program categories: Data Management Projects, Health Information Outreach, Technology Improvement, and Professional Development.

…

Data Management Project Awards supports projects that stimulate innovations in biomedical knowledge collection, organization and management or data science, information, or research

• West Virginia University Research Corporation (WV): A Cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence Tool to Improve Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Care in West Virginia.

Health Information Outreach Awards supports projects that improve health information literacy and increase the ability of patients, family members, students, and members of the public to find and use health information – or to improve health professionals’ access to, awareness of, and skills for locating high quality biomedical and health information

• Lewes Public Library (DE): Public Library Partnerships to Improve Access, Understanding, and Use of Health Information
• Northern Kentucky University (KY): Impact of COVID-19 on Overall Student Wellbeing – An Examination of Stress Causality on the Basis of Sex, Race, Income & Grade Level
• Mother Goose on the Loose (MD): Making “Mother Goose on the Loose – Goslings” Program Accessible to More Parents of Medically Complex Infants in the NICU
• Black Girls with Green Thumbs (PA): Green Thumbs in Your Community
• South Central Educational Development, Inc. (SCED) (WV): CORDS – Community Outreach to Reduce health Disparities and Stigma – Making Health Happen
• Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project (EHP) (PA): Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and Shale Gas Development Health Outreach to Residents of Southwestern Pennsylvania
• Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center (PA): Increasing the Understanding of the CDC’s Guidance on PrEP to Erase LGBTQ+ Health Disparities

Technology Improvement Award Support for projects that deliver technology improvement and health and digital equity to underserved community impacted by the digital divide via technology funding and online resource training

• Every Library Institute (DE): Telehealth Services in Delaware Libraries

Professional Development Awards supports network members to strengthen professional knowledge and experience in data science or health information access/delivery, building professional capacity in support of NNLM goals.

• Mid-Atlantic Chapter of MLA (Regional): Continuing education to the regional medical library community
• Lewes Public Library (DE): Staff professional development training for library faculty and staff
• Marymount University (VA): Provides travel support towards professional development

Congratulations to all the grantees!

To see the awardees, read more…

 

The HSHSL’s Diversity Committee and Center for Data and Bioinformation Services hosted a virtual viewing and discussion of the film Coded Bias. This documentary, directed by Shalini Kantayya, explores the fallout of MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini´s startling discovery that facial recognition does not see dark-skinned faces and women accurately, and traces her journey to push for the first-ever legislation in the U.S. to govern against bias in the algorithms that impact us all. 

Faculty, students, and staff from across UMB participated in lively discussions about the film and, more broadly, about the causes and effects of bias in artificial intelligence, concerns about privacy and technology, and potential paths forward. We greatly appreciate everyone who came out and made the event possible!

The HSHSL celebrated International Open Access Week 2022 with a 5-day challenge designed to help the UMB community improve discovery of their scholarly work. Each day, those who signed up for the event received an email with information about that day’s challenge. The activities included:

• Creating an ORCiD and connecting it to your Scopus author profile
• Locating OA journals in your research area
• Learning about repositories and data sharing
• Utilizing MyNCBI

Over 60 people registered for the challenge from across UMB, the majority of whom were faculty, PhD students, or postdocs. Participants reported improved knowledge about the tools and resources covered in the challenge and planned to continue using many of them. We hope to continue this challenge in future years, so please contact publishing@hshsl.umaryland.edu with any feedback or ideas for improvement!

When the first annual flu clinic took place in 2018, in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the flu epidemic of 1918, we never imagined being in the midst of a pandemic just a few years later. The flu clinic continued despite the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, carefully adhering to COVID-19 safety guidelines from UMB and the State of Maryland. This year, in response to ever-changing health needs and vaccination requirements, the clinic shifted focus to combat the still surging COVID-19 pandemic and to expand the vaccinations offered.

On October 20, 2022, the School of Pharmacy and the Health Sciences and Human Services Library, in collaboration with Walgreens, provided a wider range of vaccinations − flu, COVID-19 boosters, and pneumonia − to over 200 UMB students, faculty, and staff. More than half of the attendees received both a flu shot and a COVID-19 booster. As in previous years, many vaccinations were administered by School of Pharmacy students, to help them learn and to encourage ongoing service in their communities and at future flu clinics.

Thank you to all who attended for helping to protect yourself and others.

For more information on the fifth annual HSHSL/SOP sponsored flu clinic, read Flu Shot? Booster? Both on Hand at This Year’s Clinic published by UMB News.

The “Color Me Happy” exhibit was a 45-foot-long, interactive coloring wall on display in the HSHSL’s Weise Gallery from October through November 2022.  Students were encouraged to get crafty with a selection of washable markers to color, decorate, and make the mural pop! We hope it helped to de-stress from studying and tests.  The HSHSL was delighted to see how creative students were with the images of skulls, teeth, stethoscopes, botanicals, books, and lab rats. Some even signed their work. The project was such a success that we already have plans for future coloring wall projects. What will be next?

Cameron Bailey joined the NNLM Web Services Office as a web developer. Having served previously in a similar role at the UMB School of Medicine, he comes to us with a lot of enthusiasm for the work.

Michael Craven joined the HSHSL as a senior web developer in the CATS department and the NNLM Web Services Office as well. He brings with him 20 years of development experience in higher education and commercial organizations.

Jordan Heustis was welcomed to the HSHSL as a library assistant for the Information Services department in November. She also works for local bookstore − Charm City Books, in Pigtown − and has excellent customer service experience.

Posters & Presentations

Jessie Bauer presented “Book It Forward: An Engaging Community Project” at the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Medical Library Association conference, Richmond, VA.

Tiffany N. Chavis, MSW, MLIS, LCSW-C, presented the poster “Misunderstood: An Analysis of the Homeless Population in Maryland and their Information Needs” at the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Medical Library Association conference in Richmond, VA.

Tiffany N. Chavis, Ashley Minner, and Stanton Lewis (all Lumbee) presented a discussion hosted by the Enoch Pratt Free Library on of their virtual exhibition, “Safety in Numbers: Portraits of East Baltimore’s ‘Reservation’,” which features photographs, sourced from various archival collections, of American Indian people who were part of Baltimore’s “reservation” in its heyday.

Emily Gorman, MLIS, presented the poster “Online Escape Rooms: What Do the Students Think?” at the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Medical Library Association conference in Richmond, VA.

Christine Nieman, MLIS, presented the poster “Free, FAIR, and Fabulous: Five data tools to support open and reproducible research at your institution” at the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Medical Library Association conference in Richmond, VA.

Patrick Waugh, MLS, presented the poster “The Self-Taught Marketer’s Guide to Creating Annual Reports” at the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Medical Library Association conference, Richmond, VA.

Sarah Weirich, MLIS, presented a (virtual) lightning talk, “Managing Conference Posters: A Lifecycle Overview from Printing Service to Digital Repository Discovery,” at the Medical Institutional Repositories in Libraries Symposium on November 17.

Tara Wink, MLS, co-presented “Leading in Challenging Times: MARAC and COVID-19” at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference, College Park, MD.

April Wright, MLS, Tiffany N. Chavis, MSW, MLIS, LCSW-C, Faith Steele, MLS, and Christine Nieman, MLIS,​ presented the lightening talk “Choose Environmental Health and Justice as Your Next Adventure” at the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Medical Library Association conference in Richmond, VA.