HSLIC News

The Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center is excited to be hosting a 3 Part Zine Workshop Series!

Join zinesters Rhonda Kauffman, Amanda Meeks, and the Indigenous Honeys to learn about what zines are, their history as an alternative publishing mechanism, and how to utilize them for your own and your community’s care. You can attend any or all of the sessions, but you do need to register for each session you plan to attend. The first 20 people to register for any one of the workshops will also receive a zine and self-care kit that can be picked up at the Library (instructions will be sent closer to the date of the workshops). Click the titles of each workshop to be taken to their registration.

• Virtual Zine Tour: The History and Techniques of Zine DIY with Rhonda Kauffman on Wednesday April 7th from 12-1pm

  • Zines (rhymes with “beans”) are independently published, photocopied, do-it-yourself publications that -- particularly during times of social/economic unrest -- provide an outlet for creative, emotional, and personal exploration. Join zinester and zine librarian, Rhonda Kauffman, as she shares the history of the diy culture of zines. She will browse through some zines from her collection, examine their aesthetics and construction, and then share techniques and tips on making zines on your own.

    Rhonda Kauffman (she/her) is the Metadata management librarian at University of Connecticut Library. As metadata management librarian, Rhonda manages metadata necessary for the discovery, access, and stewardship of UConn Library collections. Previously, she worked as metadata librarian at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and metadata/catalog librarian at Lehigh University. Her research interests include diversity, equity, and inclusion in library collections and technical services; and zine librarianship. She’s been making zines since the 1990s and likes to incorporate zines and zine ethos into librarianship whenever she can.

• Creating Empowering Mental Health Care Plans: From (A)dvance Directives to (Z)ines with Amanda Meeks on Wednesday April 14th from 12-1pm

  • In this zine workshop, participants will be introduced and encouraged to explore mental health advance directives as a starting place for developing radical and empowering care plans. Each person will then create a mini zine on wishes and preferences for their own mental health care, which can be shared with anyone they choose. The creative prompts and guidance provided in this workshop will be intentionally designed to help destigmatize the topic of mental illness in our communities, families, and professions.

    Amanda Meeks (she/they) is an interdisciplinary maker, artist, and librarian living in Tucson, AZ. Their work takes on various forms including zines, artist books, pins, painting, collage, letterpress, and a participatory social art practice. Their current Tucson-specific project, Outspokin’ & Bookish, is part pop-up feminist zine/art object collection and part playful, mobile (via bicycle) maker space focused on print media, which has evolved into a regional zine collective and exchange open to all during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Outspokin’ & Bookish mission includes cultivating social connectedness, sense of belonging, celebration of difference, and pride of place through sharing DIY publishing and print media-making practices and tools. In her free-time Amanda studies death care work, disability justice/mental health, and does some light gardening. Outspokin’ & Bookish, Tucson, AZ.

• Engaging Your Senses and Honoring Your Body Through Zine-Making with the Indigenous Honeys on Wednesday April 21stfrom 12-1pm

  • Indigenous Honeys invites you to a virtual zine workshop on self-care! In this workshop we will focus on our senses and create zines that will involve collages, writing and more. You are encouraged to bring personal digitized photos of people, places and/or items that are important to you.

    Indigenous Honeys is Chantal Jung (she/they), Michelle Bernardino (she/they), Marina Perez (she/they) - an interdisciplinary arts collective dedicated to cultivating space for Indigenous zinesters, artists, writers, and storytellers. Our work centers the voices, experiences, realities, histories, perspectives and talents of Indigneous peoples. We have experience working as a small scale disto, supporting Indigenous artists from diverse geographical spaces. We are dedicated to promoting self-published material because we recognize self-publishing as an accessible and autonomous strategy that interrogates settler colonialism and capitalism. You can find them on Instagram.

Registration for each workshop is capped at 20 participants to allow for increased engagement, so be sure to book your spot as soon as possible!

We also have a virtual exhibit called Zines for Alternative Publishing: Making Your Voice Heard that accompanies these workshops. Be sure to take a look and engage with the materials, history, and creating playlist!

With the devastating murders this past week, the Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center wanted to take the opportunity to reach out to our community and condemn these acts of violence and take a moment to mourn. In the past year, we have seen a large rise in the cases of anti-Asian hate crimes. The COVID pandemic has already disproportionality impacted BIPOC communities, and in addition to this, the rise in violence against Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander persons has only added to the fear and pain our community members endure.

It is important that we not only come together to support each other through these times of devastation, but also continuously question and work towards changing the environments that have created and allowed systemic racism to thrive. What can we do to work towards asking the hard questions and taking solid action to make change?

Here at the Health Sciences Library, we know that we need to continue doing more. That is why we have created the Justice, Equity, and Inclusion Committee with representatives from students, staff, and faculty from across campuses. We have our first meeting scheduled for later this month and will be transparent with the charge once we have finalized the document. If there are any concerns, thoughts or comments you think we should know about as we strive to build more inclusive and open spaces, please email the chair, Kelleen Maluski (Student Success and Engagement Librarian).

While the library is here to support and assist in any way that we can, we also know how important mental health and being allowed a space to grieve and process is for everyone. Please take a look at our Wellness Resources Guide, which includes links to student and employee counseling resources. We also have workshops coming up on implicit bias and how it impacts the research process and on creating zines for self-care and making your voice heard. You can find more information on these and RSVP from our events calendar.

For those who are not familiar with or need to learn more about the history and continuation of anti-Asian racism in this country, we suggest reviewing the presentations and webinars from the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association to expand your understanding of our current climate and see their Statement Against Anti-Asian Violence. We also suggest taking a look at the Letter to Asian Diasporic Library Workers that calls for transformative justice from We Here. You can find resources on bystander training from Hollaback to learn how to assist in confrontational circumstances and find out more ways to get involved.

Our last PubMed Like a Pro class of the semester is Wednesday, March 24th from 12-1pm. You can find more information and register on our events calendar.

Not sure how to use PubMed? Been using PubMed for a while but want to learn about the more advanced features? Come to this online workshop to learn how to navigate PubMed and pick up some advanced tricks in the process. This workshop is appropriate for any level of PubMed user (even if you've never used it before) and will review how to utilize keyword and MeSH searching, narrowing your results, creating alerts, saving searches, and more. All registrants will be sent a Zoom link previous to the class. If you have questions or want to schedule a workshop for another time or for your class please reach out to Kelleen Maluski, Student Success and Engagement Librarian. You can see our PubMed Guide for more information. 

We would like to give a special “Thank you!” to Tamara Wheeler, who coordinates all of HSLIC’s Social Media content. Throughout last year, and this pandemic, Tamara has made sure that our patrons and community members are kept up-to-date on events, services, health information, observances, and much more. Digital advertising and communication are key in today’s world, and it takes a lot of work to manage HSLIC’s posts, tweets, stories, photos, and accounts in addition to keeping up with the latest trends, analytics, platforms, and content consistency. Tamara, thank you for all of your tremendous work on launching our social media presence and helping everyone keep connected!

Today we celebrate International Women’s Day. This year’s theme is: “Let’s all Choose to Challenge.” which emphasizes the importance of acknowledging biases and misconceptions so we can create a more inclusive and gender-equal world for all women. International Women's Day was first observed in the United States in 1909 when the Socialist Party of America recognized women workers in New York City who protested against long hours, low pay and lack of voting rights. In 1975 the United Nations officially recognized International Women's Day and in 1996 began to adopt an annual theme for each year.  .

International Women’s Day is a day that celebrates women’s rights and inspires people to continue to fight for gender equality. It also recognizes women’s contributions to society and encourages support for organizations that help women globally. If you are interested in celebrating International Women's Day, there are many ways you can participate virtually which include registering for events that are happening world wide. 

Women's struggle for equality is something everyone should care about and we should all make an effort to call out gender bias when we see it. Also, we should choose to seek out and celebrate women's achievements in order to make this a more inclusive world. Remember to try and take an opportunity today (and everyday) to make a positive change for women as we recognize International Women's Day. 

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We are looking for HSC students and faculty to provide feedback about the library's website. Would you be willing to help?

We want to know how you use the library website and what helps you get to the resources you need most. You'll be asked to complete a series of tasks to find resources on HSLIC's website. You will be paired with a facilitator on Zoom at a time that's convenient for you. The session will take approximately 30 minutes to complete and will be recorded, so we're able to review everyone's feedback with our website team. All participants will receive a $10 Starbucks gift card.

Your input will help us make it easier to find resources, ask questions and learn about classes. If you are interested in participating, please email Sally Bowler-Hill.

Need help keeping track of all your sources? Want to make the citation process as easy as pressing a button? Come to this online class to learn how to use Zotero, a free citation management tool.

Zotero allows you to keep track of all your resources in one place, organize materials to meet your needs, and it creates citations for you. You can register for the class here.

Before attending please be sure to create a Zotero account and download the desktop component. Instructions can be found on our Zotero Guide. All registrants will be sent a Zoom link previous to the class.

If you have questions or want to schedule a workshop for another time or for your class please reach out to Kelleen Maluski, Student Success and Engagement Librarian.