HSLIC News

The UNM College of Nursing recently transferred over ninety digitized class composites to HSLIC Special Collections. These images date from 1959 (when the first class graduated) to Summer 2024 and help document the history of the College of Nursing, which started in 1955. The images are currently being added to New Mexico Digital Collections and will be available to view online in the near future. Here are some examples of class photos over the years.

One of the richest resources in Special Collections about the history of health and health care is the oral history collection. The program began in 1982 as part of an effort to document New Mexico health history due to the New Mexico Medical Society’s 100th anniversary in 1986. 

The collection contains almost 170 interviews with New Mexican providers and health administrators. Unrestricted oral history transcripts are available to view here. Topics covered in the interviews include nursing, rural health care, midwifery, tuberculosis treatment, rural health care, and the history of the UNM School of Medicine. 

The complete list of oral histories is available here.

HSLIC's 2nd (Main) floor renovation continues, with plans to be completed in February 2025. The construction team are finishing up with new and improved network access, texturing and painting walls, and removing extraneous wiring in the ceilings. The photos below show the new "molecule" lighting fixtures and some of the ceiling grid. Once the electrical work is completed and inspected, the remaining ceiling grid will be installed. We are grateful to everyone for their patience as we work through this major construction project; we cannot wait to open the new space and welcome you all. We promise it will be worth the wait!

Our doors will close for Thanksgiving break starting Wednesday, November 27, at 5:00 PM, and we'll reopen bright and early on Monday, December 2, at 8:00 AM. Please note that 24/7 badge access will also be unavailable during this time. We wish you a joyful, safe, and memorable holiday filled with gratitude, delicious treats, and warm moments with loved ones! Happy Thanksgiving!

Get ready to ace your finals with the library's Fuel for Finals event! Enjoy a complimentary selection of coffee, tea, and an assortment of snacks to keep you energized and focused. Take a break at the giant coloring page station or work on puzzle. Don't miss out on this opportunity to prepare for your exams in a comfortable and supportive environment. 

Also, don't forget about the library's Wellness Room, Wellness Corner, and Nap Pods if you need a longer break. The Wellness Room has soft lighting, sound machines, a constellation lamp, fidget toys, stretching tools, and a comfy couch. If the Wellness Room is in use, visit the Wellness Corner for fidget toys, coloring materials, origami, blankets, and puzzles. The Nap Pods are a great option to refresh, nap, and listen to calming music. 

Best of luck with your finals! 

Valmora Industrial Sanatorium, a tuberculosis sanatorium located in Watrous, New Mexico, regularly hosted special Thanksgiving dinners for patients well enough to socialize and eat in the main dining hall. Along with rest and fresh air, a rich and nutritious diet was part of a patient’s treatment at the facility. Dr. Carl Gellenthien, Valmora’s second director, wrote about treating tuberculosis with diet, including, “A Resume of Diet Therapy” (1931) and “Wartime Food Rationing and Tuberculosis” (1943). 

Valmora often printed special menus for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other social gatherings. Here are two examples of Thanksgiving menus found in their records in Special Collections and an article about the 1938 dinner in the December issue of the Valmora Sun (one of the sanatorium’s newsletters). 

This Thursday, November 21st, is National Rural Health Day. In celebration, the Health Resources & Services Administration will offer an array of exciting and useful online events and the National Organization of State Office of Rural Health will offer a special online main event webinar featuring success stories and innovation strategies. 

HSLIC strives to support rural communities year-round. Last fall, participants in the state’s Tribal Libraries Program spent a day receiving training at HSLIC. The Outreach and Community Engagement Librarian visits libraries in both Southern and Northern New Mexico to discuss health literacy. HSLIC has also received a Network of National Libraries of Medicine (NNLM) grant to improve underserved communities’ access to health information by working with rural libraries to broaden knowledge of NNLM resources. This fall, HSLIC has offered two webinars on telehealth and consumer health to tribal libraries staff and two more webinars for rural libraries staff are scheduled this December. 

Starting in January, HSLIC will offer a different way of sharing its resources with communities, particularly those in rural areas, through a new partnership with the State Library’s Courier and Delivery Services, which serves over 120 public libraries. Libraries will be able to check out and have delivered directly HSLIC’s Reading is Health Book Club Kits, helping their populations easily access and learn about a wide variety of health topics. In the spring, this partnership will circulate and deliver HSLIC-created exhibits to libraries in communities throughout the state. These touring exhibitions will consist of full-size display panels and resources featuring HSLIC Special Collections and health literacy materials and will bring a little bit of the library to communities in all corners of all the state. 

Like many things, National Rural Health Day is only one day a year, but we should strive to remember it all year. 

We are proud to award one HSLIC Seed Funding Grant for the 2024-2025 year. This internal mini-grant program, currently in its fourth year, supports a variety of research and innovative projects by HSLIC employees. 

This program supports the library’s value of innovation, fostering an environment that values creativity, flexibility, open-mindedness, and informed risk-taking. It also provides a supportive environment for those who wish to gain experience conceptualizing, writing, and administering grant projects. 

This year’s award goes to Dierdre Caparoso (project lead), Abbie Olivas, and Amy Weig-Pickering for their Traveling Exhibits Project. This project will create two traveling exhibits that will share health history and consumer health information with rural public libraries throughout New Mexico. 

The grant award period for this fiscal year runs from November 18, 2024 through June 30, 2025. Follow our blog and keep an eye out from the project team for updates about their progress and outcomes. 

(Photo generated by DALL•E AI)

The Health Sciences Library & Informatics Center is offering hands-on workshops for researchers looking to create a data management and sharing plan (DMSP). DMPTool is a free, online resource that can assist you in writing a data management and sharing plan that meets funder requirements, including those outlined in the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy. This workshop will provide information about: 

1. Data management plan elements 

2. Suggested verbiage 

3. What is expected in a DMSP for an NIH grant submission. 

Data Manager Lori Sloane and Research Data Specialist Danielle Maurici-Pollock will offer sessions via Zoom on Monday, November 11 and Monday, November 25 from 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. Register for the November 11 session: https://libcal.health.unm.edu/event/13467585 Register for the November 25 session: https://libcal.health.unm.edu/event/13467625 Contact lsloane@salud.unm.edu or dmauricipollock@salud.unm.edu with any questions.