HSLIC News

There’s More To RECIS!

The Research, Education, and Clinical Information Services division (also known as RECIS) is a group of expert library faculty that provide teaching, reference and research support, clinical information, student success initiatives, and outreach to the state of New Mexico. Our teaching is embedded across the HSC curricula, the clinical and research enterprise, and provided to communities across New Mexico.  Our faculty conduct research on a wide range of topics related to the use, application, and disparities related to information.  We work with students, faculty, staff, consumers, and healthcare professionals throughout the state.  It would take more than one blog post to highlight the amazing work that our faculty do, but here is a brief introduction:

Lisa M. Acuff, MPH, MSIS, AHIP, (she/her/hers), Education and Research Librarian

What is unique about your role? I collaborate with graduate nursing, occupational, and physical therapy programs to facilitate literature-searching skills and critical thinking about information. I also participate on the Interprofessional Education (IPE) committee to develop programming for students and faculty across all HSC units.  

What is a current project you’d like to highlight? I especially enjoy instructional design and recently created resources for literature searching in the health sciences. They are available in two places: 1) a module in Canvas Commons called Searching Health Sciences Literature and 2) a toolkit in the Open Science Framework.  All resources have a Creative Commons license and are free to share and adapt under specified terms.  I hope you find them useful!

Deirdre Caparoso, MLIS, (she/her) Outreach and Community Engagement Librarian

What is unique about your role? My work on the RECIS team is unique. I am responsible for building collaborative community partnerships to improve and expand access and understanding of health information resources throughout the state.  I started this position in March and am eager to work with a wide array of New Mexican communities and HSLIC faculty and staff.

What is a current project you’d like to highlight? I am currently most excited about learning to navigate the complexities of medical librarianship, creating a systematic internal approach to community outreach, and working toward a first-year plan for this position.  Long term, I hope to learn more about the health information needs of Southern and Eastern New Mexico.

Jon Eldredge, MLS, PhD, AHIP, FMLA, Evidence-Based Practice Librarian

What is unique about your role? My faculty research program encompasses a variety of methods ranging from the qualitative Delphi Method to the more quantitative Randomized Controlled Trial. I have published 71 peer-reviewed journal articles and 22 book chapters. I have been serving as an instructor of record to seamlessly integrate HSLIC-related competencies into our medical school, physician assistant, and MPH curricula.

What is a current project you’d like to highlight? With the generous assistance of the Lindberg Fellowship from the Medical Library Association, I am authoring an open-access, peer-reviewed guide to Evidence-Based Practice. Four colleagues and I are developing a consensus-based national research agenda for health information professionals.

Alexis Ellsworth-Kopkowski (she/her), MA, Education & Research Librarian

What is unique about your role? I think my role is unique because I can work across disciplines and on so many different projects. This suits my personality because I have varied research interests and enjoy working on different things throughout the day. I look forward to co-teaching the Rigor and Reproducibility journal club for BioMedical students again this fall.

What is a current project you’d like to highlight? A current project I’d like to highlight is our new graphic medicine collection. Thanks to the support of our administrative team with seed funding, we’ve purchased a new graphic medicine collection and held two workshops. I hope we can use this project to build on the medical humanities and create a community here at the Health Sciences Library. Come to the library and check something out, https://libguides.health.unm.edu/exhibit/graphicmedicine.

Gale Hannigan, PhD, MPH, MLS, AHIP, Research Services Librarian

What is unique about your role? I retired from Texas A&M in 2011 and have worked part-time at HSLIC, mostly responding to literature search requests.

What is a current project you’d like to highlight? The College of Population Health’s Academic Health Department grant provides an opportunity to work with other HSLIC librarians to develop evidence-based practice training modules for New Mexico Department of Health personnel. I’m also part of the Welcome to HSLIC project to enhance the space outside the library, and I hope you complete the short survey we sent.

Ingrid Hendrix, (she/her) MILS, AHIP, Division Head, Research, Education and Clinical Information Services

What is unique about your role? As Division Head, I am privileged to work with an outstanding team. My role is to support the faculty in RECIS and foster a collaborative community of practice. Being open to new opportunities while ensuring the sustainability of services is key to my role.

What is a current project you’d like to highlight? Streamlining and codifying existing service models such as our systematic review service and statistics tracking. Also, I am working with a national team of physical therapists to develop a clinical practice guideline on idiopathic toe walking, providing literature searching and information management.

Kelleen Maluski, she/her, MLIS, Student Success and Engagement Librarian

What is unique about your role? My role is about ensuring students have the resources they need to meet their goals. I really love that this places more emphasis on our students empowering themselves. My role is about listening and responding to what you all say is important to you!

What is a current project you’d like to highlight? I was extremely honored to work with our Peer Information Partner, Zohie Cardenas. Although consultation services for our Peer Information Partners were not taken advantage of, it was an amazing learning experience, and Zohie did so much to improve student access to resources. Right now, Zohie is working on Quick Tip videos that we will be releasing soon to help you become more familiar with the library's resources.

Deborah J Rhue, MLIS (she/her/hers), Clinical Services Librarian

What is unique about your role? My primary duty is to support the clinical and research needs of HSC’s physician residents and fellows.

What is a current project you’d like to highlight? My research interests include the GME Milestones and health literacy.  Currently, I am working on a research project about ways to help librarians organize the systematic review process.

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There is always more to every story, but especially behind the scenes at HSLIC. Have you ever wondered how a book makes it to the shelf for you to check out or how you are able to access the full text of an article with a few clicks? Have you ever wondered about the history of the health sciences or the UNM Health Sciences Center (HSC)? Have you ever wondered what the best practices for storing your research data are or where you should share your publications and presentations?

If so, meet Resources Archives and Discovery (RAD) – the HSLIC unit responsible for these processes and many more. Laura Hall is the Division Head for RAD, which includes Robyn Gleasner – Resource Management Librarian, Moses Moya – Metadata Specialist, Kaylee Nauer – Course Reserves Manager, Jonathan Pringle – Digital & Scholarly Communications Librarian, Abbie Weiser - Archivist, Lori Sloane – Data Manager, and our students Brianna Mize and Maxx Harrison.

So how does that book get in your hands or that article at your fingertips? Laura and Robyn follow guidelines set in the HSLIC Collection Development Manual to select and acquire resources that are relevant to the HSC.  Moses then catalogs those resources to make them discoverable and accessible in HSLIC’s catalog. The New Materials Guide lists new resources at HSLIC. Kaylee pulls out required textbooks for courses, places them on reserve and on the Course Reserves module, and promotes the resources to faculty for easier access to students.

Laura, Jonathan, and soon Abbie, actively seek new personal collections to add to HSLIC’s Special Collections to preserve the historical record of the HSC and history of health in New Mexico. They, along with Brianna and Max, process the collections and create finding aids so that the community can easily find and request access to the collections. Some popular resources are the Oral History Collection and the Native Health Database.

Another important resource and platform is the Digital Repository. Lori and Jonathan work to ingest publications, theses and dissertations, administrative records, as well as other research and scholarly outputs from HSC faculty, students, and staff into the UNM Digital Repository for the public to view. See the presentation included in the repository that explains this process. Lori also provides information sessions on the NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing and assists researchers with data management planning. These endeavors support and promote Open Access and Open Science. Keep an eye on the HSLIC Event Calendar for future workshops.

Thank you all for helping us celebrate National Library Week and allowing us to tell you our stories. As mentioned above, there is always more to every story, including this one. If you would like to learn more about RAD, please see the Resources Archives & Discovery Guide.

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Today is National Library Outreach Day. We congratulate all the faculty and staff at the Health Sciences Library & Informatics Center (HSLIC), past and present, for helping us achieve HSLIC's mission to advance health and health equity as New Mexico's only publicly accessible health sciences library. This is a commitment we take very seriously, and we continue to invest in our outreach efforts. Today, we are delighted to announce the new Patricia V. Bradley Native American Health Research Award.

Patricia Vickie Bradley was born October 9, 1950, at Travis Airforce Base in Fairfield, CA, into the Bit’ahnii (Folded Arms People Clan), born for Kinyaa’áanii (Towering House Clan). Pat was a proud member of the Diné (Navajo) Nation. She received a Master of Library Science (MLS) from the University of Arizona. Pat's career in medical librarianship spanned more than 40 years in places that included the Navajo Health Authority in Shiprock and the Gallup Indian Medical Center (Indian Health Service) as a Medical Librarian. She then served as the Native and Distance Services Librarian at the Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center (HSLIC) for 15 years. Her positive impact was honored in 2014 when she received the Michael E. DeBakey Library Services Outreach Award, which was established by Friends of the National Library of Medicine to honor outstanding service and contributions to rural and underserved communities. Pat passed away in 2019 after a brief illness.

To honor her legacy in outreach to the Indigenous communities of the Southwest, HSLIC has begun the Patricia V. Bradley Native American Health Research Award. This Award will be given annually to a member of the UNM community who is conducting research in the area of Native American health using resources at HSLIC, which may include the Native Health Database, the largest collection of information related to the health of Indigenous North Americans.

An anonymous donor has generously offered to match donations received with the goal of endowing this fund in perpetuity.

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The Public Services desk is the first place you see as you enter the library. You may have checked out books, a charger, dry-erase markers, or even a laptop, but did you know there is so much more to what we do in Public Services?

The Health Sciences Campus (HSC) does not have a student union, so many times, our desk serves as a general information hub where people stop in on a regular basis to get directions. We assist by verbally giving directions or walking people out of the library to show them which way to go. At times, we need to look up directions online because websites do not include a physical address for the building where people need to go. Also, we have campus maps available if you need them.

Another part of our job is to help our users with technology. We troubleshoot when issues arise with the Wepa printers, assist library users with printing documents, fix paper jams, and keep the printers filled with paper. If any of the public computers are not working, we send requests to IT behind the scenes, so they can come and resolve the problem.

Loading the filament on the 3D Printer

Public Services is also responsible for managing the exciting new and emerging technology available at the library. We currently have a 3D printer, a 3D anatomy table, and Oculus virtual reality headsets. On Wednesdays from 1:00- 3:00, you can stop in for Tech Time and learn all about these incredible tools to enhance your studies. The Public Service’s student employees conduct our Tech Time sessions and are super knowledgeable. We also assist various groups who would like to come in and use our Virtual Reality Lab located on the 4th floor. Visitors who schedule time in the VR Lab vary from current HSC students to high school students who have an interest in healthcare professions.

Retrieving a journal from the annex

In addition to our technology, Public Services is responsible for HSLIC’s Interlibrary Loan service (ILL). This allows library users to obtain articles and books, even when the library doesn’t own them. Thanks to ILL, other libraries across the country will send us articles via PDF or mail their books to us for your use. Also, the library keeps a collection of hard-bound journals in our annex, which is located in the Health Sciences and Service Building. Both Public Services staff and student employees regularly go to the annex to retrieve journals. We then scan and send them to our users via PDF. This service is provided free of charge to HSC students, faculty, and staff.

As you can see, there is more to the story of Public Services. We encourage you to stop by and take advantage of all the services we have to offer.

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HSLIC, in collaboration with CTSC, University Libraries, and EPSCoR, is introducing researchers, learners, and novice programmers to the R software environment in an upcoming workshop from May 15-19.

R is a powerful tool for working with research data and is commonly used in many scientific disciplines for statistical analysis. This workshop emphasizes building a foundation on the fundamentals of R and teaches best practices for scientific computing: breaking down analyses into modular units, task automation, and encapsulation. We will provide this active, hands-on training session to introduce you to these tools to help you create reproducible code for wrangling and preparing your data for analysis. The last two days will focus on logistic regression.

The R for Reproducible Scientific Analysis workshop is designed for the novice. No prior knowledge of R, RStudio, or RMarkdown is necessary. We step through the process of working with data, followed by a formative assessment exercise. Helpers assist those in-person and virtually to keep pace with the instructor. It’s not about teaching specific skills but building confidence and self-efficacy.

You can sign up for this workshop here or scan the flyer’s QR code. More detailed information about the workshop is posted at the UNM Health Sciences Center Software Carpentry Workshop

You can direct any questions to Lori Sloane or Harry Snow.

The Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center has been in its current location since 1977. The building has undergone numerous renovations over the years as we have adapted to the changing needs of our community. From safety and maintenance to comfort and technology . . .  there’s more to the story. 

As the only publicly accessible health sciences library in the state, HSLIC supports a large community that extends beyond UNM. It takes a dedicated team of administrators, vendors, UNM staff, and funding to keep our facility safe, comfortable, clean, and updated. Just over the past three years, we have made the following improvements to our building: 

• New Wellness Room – A space provided by HSLIC meant for mental, physical, and emotional support.  It’s a space for library users to take a break, meditate, pray, and more.  
• Individual Study Room Remodel – An upgrade to our individual study rooms to better allow ease of access for users and provide a better study environment with fresh paint and the addition of artwork on the walls. This project also included updates to our Lactation room. 
• 24/7 Access – Allowing HSC students, staff, and faculty badge access to the building and its amenities 24/7. 
• Recarpeting Study Rooms – New carpeting for better cleaning and maintenance within all group study rooms on the 3rd floor.  
• Universal Restroom (Coming Soon!) – New single-occupant restroom facility for all library users that more fully meets ADA standards with accessible sink, soap dispenser, and paper towel dispenser, grab bars, lift, and space for a wheelchair to fully move around, as well as a diaper changing station for families. 

But how do these improvements impact our community? Here are just a few examples! 

24/7 badge access provides UNM HSC students, staff, and faculty with round-the-clock access to individual and group study spaces, anatomy models, books, computers, printing, and Wi-Fi! Despite going 24/7 in 2021, our electricity usage remains similar to 2019 when the building had more limited evening and weekend hours.  

Research has shown that unclean/uncomfortable spaces can negatively affect our stress and anxiety levels. That’s why our wonderful custodial, recycling, police, and maintenance staff work hard to keep our patrons safe and our spaces clean. When there is an issue, we fix it fast!

We pride ourselves on having an inclusive/accommodating environment! HSLIC has adjustable tables in its individual study rooms and student computing area, a universal bathroom, lactation room, wellness room, walking treadmills, and free menstrual products in all bathrooms! 

Being inside buildings and behind a screen all day can be exhausting. That’s why we strive to bring the health benefits of the outdoors indoors! From our wall of windows letting in natural light to our indoor trees and other real/live greenery scattered around the building, the biophilic design of our library can help boost mood, alertness, concentration, and energy levels.  

HSLC understands how a well-maintained building can help lead to student success. We are listening and have even more amazing plans for the future! 

So next time you’re in HSLIC, take a minute to look around, see what’s new, and remember . . . there’s more to the story!  

Co-authored by: Wendell Billingsley, Sally Bowler-Hill, Brandon Carroll, George Hernandez, and David Lucero

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April 22, 2023, is recognized annually as earth day. It began as a national day for action in the 1970s and has now grown not only to reach a global audience but to be a large day of awareness, celebration, and observance.

Environmental health and our climate are linked to our individual and community health outcomes. In celebration of Earth Day 2023, I would like to highlight an exciting partnership. Since the spring of 2022, I have been able to have a role in the Interprofessional Education course, Climate change and public health preparedness. It will be offered again this summer, and I am also currently a part of a multi-disciplinary teaching team that is piloting a planetary health and systems thinking course. I’m thankful for the work and collaboration opportunities with Heidi Honegger Rogers, DNP, FNP-C, APHN-C, Caroline Scruggs, PhD, PE, Megan Tucker, MS, PhD Student, Claudia Pratesi, PhD, MCRP, MWR, & Amanda Dunn, DNP,RN,FNP-C. Most importantly, the work of our UNM students engaged in these classes continues to be inspiring and hopeful.

Selected resources regarding our environment available at our library:

Environmental Health Literacy

Planetary health : human health in an era of global environmental change

Community organizing and community building for health and social equity

Learn more about earth day:

One Albuquerque: Earth Day Guide

Earth Day

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

"The theme of Sexual Assault Awareness Month 2023 is “Drawing Connections: Prevention Demands Equity.” This April's campaign calls on all individuals, communities, organizations, and institutions to change ourselves and the systems surrounding us to build racial equity and respect. "

You can find more information about this important topic and how to build awareness and draw connections on the National Sexual Violence Resource Center website. You can also participate in the Youth Advocacy Corps presented by the Women's Resource Center on April 24th to learn more and engage with this dialogue!

Click the image or go to the registration form directly to learn more and register. 

Need to talk to someone about this topic or experiences you have had? To reach an on-call confidential advocate, you can call LoboRESPECT at 505-277-2911.

Congratulations to Varina Kosovich, George Hernandez, and Kaylee Nauer, winners of HSLIC’s 2023 Annual Employee Recognition Awards!

Varina Kosovich – Outstanding Performance

“Varina is yet another example of HSLIC staff taking leadership of much-needed efforts and doing work that is for the betterment of HSLIC and the HSC community. Last year, she pushed for HSLIC's JEI committee to prioritize the provision of menstrual products at HSLIC, and these advocacy efforts have paid off. Varina researched other institutions providing these products in their restrooms, and from this research forged an equitable plan that would provide these products to transgender, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming people - in both the 'men's' and 'women's' restrooms. Varina also supported this work by pointing to connections between gender equity and social justice--including emphasizing the concept of period poverty--and how HSLIC can position itself as a library that provides access to products in a comfortable and dignified fashion.”

“No matter what project she's working on, she goes above and beyond in terms of organizing, planning, and most importantly sustainability. Her willingness to not only collaborate but to create extraordinary work and projects is extremely admirable.”

George Hernandez – Outstanding Customer Service

“George goes above and beyond to provide exemplary customer service to HSLIC faculty and staff. During 2022, George volunteered to serve as the lead for the Winter Social, helped organize Welcome Back Days, Fuel for Finals, and HSLIC's 45th Building Anniversary, as well as helping facilitate events for the JEI committee. In each of these, George sought to learn more than just the business services end. He wanted to understand the why and how of HSLIC's activities for which he processed accounting paperwork. This enabled him to provide a higher level of customer service and get to know more about what other HSLIC employees do within the library.”

“George is an absolute pleasure to work with on anything related to fiscal matters/purchasing at HSLIC. He helped me uniquely with a much more complex and unusual purchase this year and was always on top of it along the way. He has overall been an excellent addition to the HSLIC team and we are lucky to have him.”

Kaylee Nauer – Outstanding Project/Process Improvement

 “[Kaylee] consistently looks for ways to improve processes and make workflows more efficient. She manages course reserves and communication with faculty and keeps an open mind for changing the service to make it more beneficial for users.  She continues to seek opportunities to promote the service to both faculty and students.  She also managed the 2022 Offsite Bound Journal Shift, in which over 37,000 print serials across 5,000 linear feet were shifted to allow for more equal weight distribution on the shelving bays used for offsite storage. This project not only will extend the lifetime of the shelving, but will also better protect the material, and the employees accessing the material.  This project showcased Kaylee’s project management skills and her tenacious approach at completing a project that involved both physical and intellectual heavy lifting. 

Kaylee also contributes to HSLIC beyond her assigned job. This year she volunteered to be a member of the Welcome to HSLIC Project Team, a funded project to improve the area in front of HSLIC by making it a more attractive and engaging space. Since the project falls outside of routine responsibilities, all of us involved value Kaylee's contributions, leadership, and motivation.”

Are you looking for study resources for an upcoming test? Check out our research guide, Board Review & Test Prep Resources at HSLIC. It provides students with helpful study resources in both print and online formats. These resources can help you prepare for upcoming board exams and other tests. You will also find general tips for your next study session and strategies to help reduce test anxiety.

We wish everyone luck on their upcoming tests! If you have any questions or want to chat with a librarian, please be sure to take advantage of the Ask a Librarian page.

Ha Can is a Student Assistant in Public Services who has worked at the library for about five months. She is studying Medical Laboratory Sciences and would like to go to medical school one day. Ha would also like to travel around the world and help people who don’t have as many opportunities as others. She has a strong faith and would like to share that with others as she travels.

One accomplishment she is really proud of is that she has had the chance to come here and study in the United States. She has not only gained academic knowledge but has learned about American culture and beliefs as well.

Ha’s favorite about working at the library is meeting and helping different people every day.  She feels a sense of purpose when she is working at HSLIC. Ha says that sometimes she encounters challenging situations, but it helps her to grow and gain knowledge that she did not have before. She really enjoys Tech Time, saying, “It teaches me a lot every time we hold it.”

When Ha is not at the library, she enjoys singing and playing her keyboard. She appreciates all foods (except for spicy), and she likes to bake apple pie which she just learned to do when she came to this country.

I am excited to announce that the Society of Southwest Archivists (SSA) will host its annual meeting, "Respect for Hybridity: Creating Inclusive and Accessible Archives," on April 26-29 in Albuquerque. As the name suggests, this will be the FIRST meeting SSA is hosting, where nearly every presentation and workshop will be provided synchronously for both in-person and virtual attendees. We are using the OWL technology to create collaborative spaces where both virtual and in-person presenters/attendees can engage with each other in a truly inclusive and accessible manner. The program/sessions for 4/27 and 4/28 are now online; some of the offerings include:

• Diversifying the Archives: Archival Projects Delivered Through a Diverse Lens
• Hybrid Archives: Expanding Access While Building Our Skills
• Shining a Light on the Opioid Industry Using Digital Archives
• Creating More Inclusive Minimum Description: Implementing Inclusive Practices at Accessioning
• D.I.Y. Feminism: Utilizing Special Collections as Spaces for Creative Activism
• Community Archiving Workshop and Audiovisual Collections Care in Tribal Archives

...and many more! Consider attending in person in beautiful Old Town Albuquerque ($100 for students/retirees; $200 for members; $250 for non-members) OR participating virtually for a flat rate of $50 (members/non-members, right up to the last minute). 

Hope to see you in person OR via Zoom!

Since 2001, the United States has celebrated National Minority Health Month (NMHM) in April.   Its purpose is to increase awareness of the importance of improving the health of racial and ethnic minority populations and reducing existent health disparities. 

This year’s theme, "Better Health Through Better Understanding," focuses on improving health outcomes for racial and ethnic minority and AI/AN communities by providing them with culturally and linguistically competent healthcare services, information, and resources. When patients are provided with culturally and linguistically appropriate information, they are empowered to create healthier outcomes for themselves and their communities. (Credit: HHS National Minority Health Month website)

As the state’s only publicly accessible health sciences library, UNM’s Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center (HSLIC) strives to support the health and health equity of all of the people of New Mexico, one of the United States’ only majority-minority states.  This is reflected in the library’s consistent dedication to collaborative partnerships and its support of the spaces and materials needed for health information learning.  HSLIC is engaged in this work year-round. The library's Native Health Database embodies critical and culturally-relevant resources for North American Indigenous populations. Its recent platform upgrade embeds concepts of Indigenous Data Sovereignty into the exchange of information between creators and communities, ultimately elevating communities to become decision-makers about what is appropriate to share and with whom. 

Further information on the library’s engagement with the community can be found here. UNM-HSC's Center for Native American Health specializes in student and workforce development, community engagement, community-based participatory research (CBPR), community health assessment capacity building, program planning, and project management. CNAH is a frequent collaborator with HSLIC in their mutual goals to improve health outcomes for Indigenous populations. 

All are also encouraged to explore the OMHRC (Office of Minority Health Resource Center) database, the nation’s largest depository of information on the health of minority populations.  A highlight is the availability of consumer health information in over 40 languages. Furthermore, the National Library of Medicine provides a helpful website (Health Disparities & Minority Health Information Resources) that has several links to federal government and private organizational resources that speak to the health needs of underserved populations. 

Authored by Deirdre Caparoso (HSLIC's Outreach & Community Engagement Librarian) and Jonathan Pringle (HSLIC's Scholarly Communications & Digital Librarian)

Many in the Autism Community prefer identity-first language, which places autism as inherent to an individual’s identity. Because this community is not a monolith, some folks prefer to use person-first language. Learn more about language and identity from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network.  

April is Autism Acceptance Month. The Autism Society of America changed the language from “Autism Awareness Month" to be more inclusive of the community. The goal is not just for awareness and education but to respect differences and promote progress toward equal rights and access to resources.

According to the Autism Society, “Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex, lifelong developmental condition that typically appears during early childhood and can impact a person’s social skills, communication, relationships, and self-regulation.” Though autism may be apparent in early childhood, some folks are not diagnosed until they are adults.

Autism is a spectrum, and everyone’s experiences are different. Artist Olivia August Nied writes, “Autistic struggles are often discussed, but rarely do I see a lot of discussions about autistic joy. For me, autistic joy comes out in playfulness. I play with makeup, I create characters, and I walk about this weird world as those characters […].” Learn more about individual experiences with autism with these first-person narratives: AANE First Person Accounts  and The Autism Program Resource List

Here are some resources available if you are student, staff, or faculty at UNM:

Autism Goes to College: available through the Health Sciences Library, this documentary follows five students on the autism spectrum as they navigate attending college.  

Wellness Room: Located on the third floor of the Health Sciences Library, this quiet space has low lighting/soft lighting options, relaxing sound machines, fidget toys, a weighted blanket and plush, and a place to lay down. No reservation is required. (Directions: enter the library and use the stairs or elevator to go up one floor. Turn right at the top of the stairs/off the elevator and go straight past the long tables and pod seating. The Wellness Room is on the right with the frosted sliding door).   

UNM Accessibility Resource Center (ARC): find information about accommodations and support for your journey at UNM. Also includes resources for faculty about best practices to support students.   

There are also many resources available for both self-advocacy and for those who would like to learn more about how to support the Autism Community.

New Mexico Autism Society: local resources including a provider list and local events.

New Mexico Center for Self Advocacy Program: this program’s mission is to build and refine leadership abilities in people with diverse disabilities by providing learning opportunities, resources, and hands-on experiences

Autistic Self Advocacy Network : nonprofit organization run by and for autistic people. Find a resource library, action center initiatives, and way to get involved.    

Books from the Neurodiversity Network: a book list with titles about autism, neurodiversity, employment, and guides.  

Asperger/Autism Network: provides individuals, families, and professionals with information, education, community, support, and advocacy.  

Why Not to Donate to Autism Speaks: discusses the problematic organization and provides alternative organizations to donate to. Flyer from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network.

April 10th-14th is National Student Employee Appreciation Week. Join us in celebrating our student employees at the Health Sciences Library by recognizing their contributions to library services and their accomplishments as UNM students. Throughout the week, visit the library's Twitter page to learn about how our student employees support library initiatives.

We are so grateful to have such an amazing group of students working at the library. Your dedication improves library resources, projects, and services. You make the library a better place, and we couldn't do it without you. On behalf of everyone at HSLIC, thank you, student employees!  

April is Occupational Therapy Month – a time to celebrate this wonderful profession and all that its practitioners, faculty, and students contribute to the well-being, independence, and success of those they work with.  A consumer of occupational therapy services myself, I have benefited greatly from the dedication, passion, and creativity occupational therapists bring to helping people re-engage in the activities that are meaningful to them, whether that’s work, play, or family and community activities. 

As the American Occupational Therapy Association defines it, “occupational therapy is a science-driven, evidence-based profession that enables people of all ages to participate in daily living or live better with injury, illness, or disability. This is accomplished through designing strategies for everyday living and customizing environments to develop and maximize potential.” (AOTA,2023) Occupational therapists work with children to help them develop the essential physical, sensory and cognitive skills they need to thrive.  People of all ages who have experienced an injury or illness benefit from occupational therapy by discovering ways to make their activities less effortful.  Occupational therapists often employ assistive technology to support people’s independence, from a simple hack to complex driving equipment or communication devices. They work with people to reengage with work they love, such as farmers through the AgrAbility program http://www.agrability.org/.  Occupational therapy researchers engage with a wide range of topics, from self-management for people with scleroderma to mobile health assessments to improve community living outcomes for people with disabilities, just to name a few.

UNM’s Occupational Therapy Graduate Program currently offers an Entry-Level Master of Occupational Therapy (MOT), a 2.5-year full-time, year-round program “to prepare culturally competent, ethical, and compassionate occupational therapists and leaders who design comprehensive and viable models of service delivery in community and healthcare settings.” (UNMOTPG, 2023).  They will soon be offering a doctoral degree program.

Some recent highlights from the program include:

A 100% pass rate on the National Board Certification for Occupational Therapy exam for the class of 2021.  The class of 2022 who graduated in December are currently taking or have taken the exam.  Good luck to all of the students in the class of 2022!

The program received approval to offer a Post Professional Doctoral degree in Occupational Therapy (OTD) and will be accepting its first class of students in August 2023.  Details are on the UNM Occupational Therapy Program website. https://hsc.unm.edu/medicine/departments/occupational-therapy/content/admissons-otd.html  

Occupational Therapy (Principal Investigators Drs. Mark Hardison and Tim Dionne) received a 3.5 Million Dollar Grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to provide scholarships for disadvantaged students (131 scholarships awarded to 76 students over 3 years - totaling $1,925,000).   

Celebrate Occupational Therapists and Occupational Therapy students this month and all year long for their amazing contributions to the health and well-being of our communities!

Explore more about UNM’s Occupational Therapy Program here: https://hsc.unm.edu/medicine/departments/occupational-therapy/content/

Discover interesting facts about the history of the OT profession: https://otpotential.com/blog/occupational-therapy-history

References

American Occupational Therapy Association. (2023) Everyday Advocacy.  https://www.aota.org/advocacy/everyday-advocacy/marketing-and-promotion-of-ot

UNM Occupational Therapy Graduate Programs. (2023) https://hsc.unm.edu/medicine/departments/occupational-therapy/