HSLIC News

As part of our new series Library Perspectives we asked all of the Library employees 1. What is your role at HSLIC & how have you adapted that position to the current conditions? and 2. What is something you are doing right now that is helping you cope with day to day life?

See their responses below to learn about what services the Library has to offer and some possible tips/tricks for adapting to our current situation.

David Lucero, Unit Administrator

1. I oversee HSLIC’s personnel and HR. Although it can be a challenge working from home (not having access to files or my two monitors), I’m slowly adapting to this new structure. My organization skills are definitely coming in handy when working on projects remotely. 
2. During Spring and Summer, I really love to work on my yard. Picking weeds, planting flowers, trimming the hedge...I enjoy it all. I especially love growing my favorite flowers -- Dahlias!

Jonathan Pringle, Scholarly Communications and Digital Librarian

1. I do a bunch of different things, but all have to do with finding and disseminating new and engaging content for our HSC students, faculty, and researchers, as well as for the broader community. Whether this be in the form of exciting new HSC-led research conducted and discoverable in our UNM Digital Repository; unique primary source archival materials found in somebody’s basement or attic for our Special Collections; or grey literature for our Native Health Database, I get to work with donors, colleagues, faculty, and community members on how best to provide access to them. At this moment, I am only hindered by the fact that I cannot access our physical Special Collections, but otherwise I have endless creative options for improving digital access to all our materials - safely from home. 
2. I enjoy the mindfulness that comes with picking weeds out of our yard; it is something I can control and in these times we all need to find those things that we can be in control of. I have also enjoyed my new Oculus Quest and playing myriad games that allow little mini-vacations from reality. Beyond that, I am the spouse of an HSC Physician Assistant student, and also enjoy watching what he gets up to during the day while I’m working. Right now, Eston Littleboy is mastering how best to frost a cake and it is enjoyable to me to see how much effort he is putting into this; his own form of control.

What are you doing right now to cope with the day to day? Are there any library resources you are learning to access in different ways? We'd love to hear from you! Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

While adjusting (and readjusting) to the new reality of working remotely, I’ve found that in order to be more effective in our virtual capacity, I’ve had to find new ways to be active before or after work. As I’ve spent less time hiking, I’ve been able to relax and exercise by exploring new neighborhoods near our home by running or walking daily or reading on our front porch after work. 

With that in mind, I would like to invite you to Running Medicine’s upcoming “Creating Community through Movement” event. Many HSLIC staff and faculty have participated in events sponsored by Running Medicine and their multiple partners in the past, and we hope you can join us this Saturday for their next "Creating Community through Movement" event. The goal of these events is to get moving in your community, with your community. The next event will be Saturday, April 25, 2020. For more information on the events, please see “Creating Community through Movement”. 

Let us know by adding a comment to this blog post if you participated in the “Creating Community through Movement” event. I hope you get outside to read, write, stretch or run this Saturday. Let us know how it felt, and don’t forget to share the information with our friends at Running Medicine and Run Fit here.  

Need a wifi or internet connection?  The City of Albuquerque is offering free wifi throughout the city.  For a map of these hot-spots, see https://www.cabq.gov/wifi.  In addition, there are a number of private businesses and restaurants that also offer free wifi.  For a map of these hot-spots, see https://www.wifimap.io/2994-albuquerque-free-wifi/map.