HSLIC News

March 31^st is Transgender Day of Visibility, a day dedicated to celebrating transgender people while also raising awareness of the discrimination faced by this community. According to the Trans Legislation Tracker, 87 anti-trans bills were passed in 2023 and 15 have been passed so far in 2024. These bills have real-world, harmful consequences for trans kids, teens, and adults. Misinformation through media coverage or negative rhetoric from lawmakers often misrepresents or ignore transgender perspectives and voices. It is crucial that we listen to these perspectives. Here are resources that center trans youth, leaders, activists, and elders as they share their experiences.  

Projects

NYC Transgender Oral History Project in collaboration with the New York Public Library: an archive dedicated to preserving and sharing trans histories. Features audio interviews and transcripts about a variety of topics and from transgender folks of all ages and backgrounds.

Trans Aging: A Legacy of Visibility from Sage Advocacy & Services for LGBTQ+ Elders: A virtual gallery celebrating six transgender elders. Each image is accompanied by a short narrative from the elders to share their experiences.   

TransGenerational: Trans Lives Across Time from THEM: A collection of eight interviews with transgender elders who discuss their lives in law, fashion, acting, activism, and burlesque.

TRUTH Storytelling from Gender Justice Leadership Programs: Collects interviews of trans and gender-nonconforming youth from around the country. “GJLP organizes youth-led programs for trans and gender nonconforming young people to build public understanding, empathy, and a movement for liberation through storytelling and media organizing.”

Trans Talks Series from the Human Rights Campaign: “Across the country, we have seen violence against our trans community and for too long other people have spoken for us. With Trans Talks, we are coming together to grow our trans community and define our future using out own voices.” 

Something to Talk About from PFLAG: episodes on demand that focus on fighting misinformation, voting rights, anti-trans legislation, nonbinary topics, and more.

Articles

The 19^th News: Trans students and their parents ask Education Department leaders to help them fight anti-LGBTQ+ bills

Yale Medicine News: What Does Medical Care Look like When You’re Transgender?

Teen Vogue: What Hight School is Like for Transgender Students

 The Washington Post: “I’ve always known I was different”: Four trans people share their stories

On March 30th each year, National Doctors Day honors physicians for their dedication and contributions to society and the community.

First observed in 1933, the community in Winder, Georgia mailed greeting cards and placed flowers on the graves of deceased doctors. Since then, it has grown into a national event recognized and celebrated by health care organizations and institutions across the United States. The red carnation is commonly used as the symbolic flower for National Doctors Day.

If anybody has earned a day of appreciation, it is our doctors! Physicians play a pivotal role in safeguarding and improving the well-being of patients. Their extensive education, training and expertise are essential in diagnosing and treating a vast array of medical conditions. Beyond their clinical roles, doctors contribute significantly to medical research, innovation and the continuous improvement of health care practices.

This day offers an opportunity for health care institutions and patients to express their gratitude and appreciation for the tireless efforts of physicians.

HOW TO OBSERVE NATIONAL DOCTORS DAY

• Take the opportunity to thank your physician for responding to late-night phone calls, working long hours, and providing unswerving care. Today, more than ever, we know the sacrifices they make to put the health of their communities first. 
• Share your experiences being a doctor. Your story may inspire someone to medicine as a career path.
• Use #NationalDoctorsDay to post on social media.
• Check out these great physician biographies, autobiographies, and narratives:

  • A black physician's struggle for civil rights : Edward C. Mazique, M.D.

  • Empathy : real stories to inspire and enlighten busy clinicians

  • In her own words : oral histories of women physicians

  • Kitchen table wisdom : stories that heal

  • La clínica : a doctor's journey across borders

  • Latino leaders speak : personal stories of struggle and triumph

  • Lessons learned : stories from women physician leaders

  • Narrative psychiatry : how stories can shape clinical practice

  • On doctor[i]ng : stories, poems, essays

  • The Blood of Strangers : Stories From Emergency Medicine.

  • The city of refuge : the collected stories of Rudolph Fisher

  • The doctor stories

  • The wind doesn't need a passport : stories from the U.S.-Mexico borderlands

  • What I learned in medical school : personal stories of young doctors

Interested in publishing Open Access? Don’t want to pay a fee or an article processing charge (APC)? Consider publishing in one of The Company of Biologists journals:

• Development
• Journal of Cell Science
• Journal of Experimental Biology
• Disease Models & Mechanisms
• Biology Open

HSLIC and University Libraries have a Read & Publish agreement with The Company of Biologists. This means that University of New Mexico faculty, staff, and students can publish Open Access in any of the above journal titles without paying a fee. For more information, see the Guide for Corresponding Authors at Institutions with Read & Publish Agreements. This will walk you through the process of submitting to the journal title you choose and how to create a Bench>Press account to track your manuscript.

If you have any questions you can email the relevant journal or feel free to reach out to Robyn Gleasner.

HSLIC’s Evidence-Based Practice Librarian and Professor, Jon Eldredge, has published a peer reviewed, open access resource. Evidence Based Practice: A Decision-Making Guide for Health Information Professionals can be accessed at no charge at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/hsc_facbookdisplay/66/

Evidence Based Practice guides readers through a four-step process of question formulation, searching for the evidence, critical appraisal, and making a decision. The intended audiences are students in schools of information, fellows in clinical informatics programs, health sciences librarians, and practicing informaticists in the US. Portions of the work have relevance to health sciences archivists.

Dr. Eldredge received the Donald Lindberg Fellowship sponsored by the Medical Library Association to author Evidence Based Practice. Dr. Lindberg was an informaticist and director of the NIH National Library of Medicine. It took 18 months to research, write, undergo the concealed identity peer review, copyediting, and layout to complete the online book.

Dr. Eldredge hopes that the new book will fill a previously-unfilled niche for health information professionals.

March 24 is World Tuberculosis Day. According to the CDC, “This annual event commemorates the date in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch announced his discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacillus that causes tuberculosis (TB).”

Before antibiotics were created, tuberculosis was a deadly disease and many people “chased the cure” by moving to locations, such as New Mexico, with high altitude, clean and dry air, and frequent sunshine.

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, New Mexico health and healthcare were shaped by the influx of tuberculosis patients and healthcare providers to the state and the advent of tuberculosis sanatoriums.

Some notable people who came to New Mexico seeking treatment for tuberculosis (and stayed) include:

• Architect John Gaw Meem
• Physician William R. Lovelace (founder of Lovelace Clinic)
• Senator and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Clinton Anderson
• Senator Bronson Cutting
• New Mexico First Lady Carrie Tingley
• Dr. Carl Gellenthien (longtime director of the Valmora Industrial Sanatorium)

Because of the importance of tuberculosis to the history of New Mexico, HSLIC Special Collections contains many sources about the disease. Some examples are:

• Spidle, Jake W. Doctors of Medicine in New Mexico: A History of Health and Medical Practice, 1886-1986. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1986.
• Oral history collection 
• Valmora Industrial Sanatorium records [finding aid and select digitized images]
• New Mexico Tuberculosis Association records
• New Mexico State Tuberculosis Sanatorium collection
• New Mexico Public Health Association records
• New Mexico Department of Health scrapbooks
• Greenfield, Myrtle. A History of Public Health in New Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1962.

Booklet, Southwestern Presbyterian Sanatorium: In the Heart of Health Country, circa 1935.

Dining Hall at Valmora, Valmora Industrial Sanatorium records. TB patients were prescribed calorie-rich diets as a treatment.

Patient draining lungs, Valmora Industrial Sanatorium records. Other pre-antibiotic TB treatments included heliotherapy (sunbathing and directing sunlight into the back of the throat), rest, lots of food, and moving to a sunny, high altitude climate with clean air and low humidity. 

March 21^st marks World Down Syndrome Day and is part of Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. The theme this year is End the Stereotypes.   Stereotypes arise from lack of knowledge or experience with a group of people and are often reinforced by images in the media or cultural norms.  People with Down Syndrome are increasingly vocal and visible, from campaigning to end the use of the R word, to appearing on film, television and runways.  The video below speaks to assumptions people may have about those with Down syndrome and the effect of assumptions on people with disabilities.

Down syndrome, also known as Trisomy 21, is a condition in which a person has an extra chromosome. It is a natural occurrence, affecting about 1 in every 800 babies and has no known cause.  This condition causes a range of intellectual and physical disabilities as well as associated medical issues.

UNM’s Center for Development and Disability’s Library is a wonderful resource for both providers and patients and their families to help locate services throughout the state and provide information on a wide variety of disabilities. Their Medical Home Portal has information for professionals and families.  

HSLIC also has resources on Down syndrome which can be discovered through our wide range of databases and our print and ebook collections. Examples include: Bunt CW, Bunt SK. Medical Care for Adults With Down Syndrome: Guidelines From the Global Down Syndrome Foundation. Am Fam Physician. 2022 Apr 1;105(4):436-437. PMID: 35426638 and Rubin IL. Health Care for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Across the Lifespan. Springer International Publishing; 2016.

Inclusivity and equity are key HSLIC values.  Through education and celebrating the abilities of all this March 21^st we build and support our broader community. 

Authored by Ingrid Hendrix (HSLIC's Division Head, Research, Education and Clinical Information Services); Emily Roberts (UNM CDD Library Services Coordinator) and Deirdre Caparoso (HSLIC's Outreach & Community Engagement Librarian)

National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is a national mobilization effort designed to encourage American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians across the United States and Territorial Areas to get educated, get tested, get involved in prevention, and get treated for HIV. It is held on the first day of Spring and reflects the changing of the seasons as a time for balance and new beginnings. The NNHAAD organization has a variety of fact sheets available for different topics and communities, as well as a list of resources.   

HISstory, HERstory, THEIRstory, OURSTORY: Storytelling as Resilience continues oral tradition and storytelling, to share knowledge from Indigenous and Native communities about their experiences with HIV/AIDs. Follow the link to hear personal stories from Brad Lum (Native Hawaiian and Two-Spirit) and Lisa Tiger (Muscogee Nation and Creek, Seminole, Cherokee, and Irish).   

For local care, the UNM Truman Center offers testing, primary and specialty care, counseling, and other health services for folks with HIV/AIDS. The Albuquerque Area Indian Health Board is a nonprofit organization that serves tribal communities in New Mexico, and established the Circle of Harmony (COH) conference in 1999. The COH is a conference focusing on HIV/AIDS prevention and substance abuse prevention from a Native American perspective and provides space for attendees to share experiences and reflect. Conference presentations focus on sharing resources, information for treatment options, and approaches that are specific to tribal communities. 

Academic resources can be found on the library’s LGBTQIA+ Health Resource Guide, including access to the AIDS Research and Treatment Journal.

Join us in celebrating the 22nd National LGBTQ Health Awareness Week, March 18-22. 

The National Coalition for LGBTQ Health, founded in 2000, represents LGBTQ individuals, health care/service providers, researchers, and advocates. The Coalition created the National LGBTQ Health Awareness Week 22 years ago to raise awareness about timely and relevant issues impacting LGBTQ health care.

This year’s theme is VITAL VIBRANT VOICES, speaking to the VITAL need for VIBRANT and diverse VOICES to address LGBTQ health issues.

For resources and information regarding LGBTQ health, contact the UNM LGBTQ Resource Center at (505) 277-LBGT (5428) or visit the Human Rights Campaign Page on Resources for LGBTQ+ Patients.

For library resources, visit our LGBTQIA+ Health Resource Guide, which has information on patient support and resources for research support. The library has access to a variety of LGBTQ journals including Transgender Health, the Journal of Gay and Lesbian Mental Health, and the Journal of GLBT Family Studies. You can also find links to external research organizations including the NIH Sexual and Gender Minority Research Office and the Pride Study Research, among others.

The library also purchases books and ebooks focused on LGBTQ health topics. You can view some of the titles on our New Materials guide under the Justice, Equity, and Inclusivity sections. If you have a resource you’d like to see in the library’s collection, use our Request a Library Purchase form to submit a recommendation.

During the summer of 2021, HSLIC employees developed a new strategic plan for the library. Consultant Janice Jaguszewski facilitated 18 listening sessions with UNM HSC faculty, staff, students, leadership, and HSLIC employees. HSLIC faculty and staff used findings from these listening sessions to identify strategic directions for HSLIC over the next 3 years. All HSLIC faculty and staff participated in this process. 

As a result, they developed 4 strategic goals:

1. Champion inclusivity, equity, and accessibility: Build an organization that cultivates and values diversity, recognizing the strength that it brings to our community and operations. 
2. Empower our communities to engage with health information: Advance the missions of the academic health center by implementing innovative and inclusive programs and reimagining our collections. 
3. Advance scholarly impact: Evolve spaces, programs, and technologies that facilitate innovative approaches to creating, analyzing, preserving, and openly sharing research. 
4. Prioritize a balanced, learning-focused workplace: Foster a healthy work-life balance and a community of continual learning and growth. 

With FY2024 in the final stretch, HSLIC has completed most of the strategies and tasks on the FY2022 – FY2024 HSLIC Strategic Plan. Accomplishments include:

• Hosted 15 trainings and 5 events for HSLIC employees and the broader UNM HSC community to enhance HSLIC’s efforts around equity, inclusion, anti-racism, and justice.
• Created a wellness room; built a new universal restroom; hung welcome signage in different languages; offered free menstrual products in all library restrooms; hosted virtual and physical exhibits; and purchased many new titles toward creating an inclusive, visible, accessible and engaging environment for the UNM HSC community.
• Increased the scope of the Native Health Database, and updated the library’s collection development manual and special collections policies.
• Began mapping curricular competencies for each UNM HSC educational programs to library instruction, identifying gaps and expanding instruction within the curricula.
• Increased the number of UNM’s transformative agreements and offered open access programming to campus.
• Restarted HSLIC’s outreach program by hosting an outreach-focused National Library of Medicine Fellow and hiring an Outreach and Community Engagement Librarian. Increased the scope of HSLIC’s outreach events and activities.
• Expanded the number and variety of instructional offerings available to UNM HSC related to research, scholarship, publishing, data, and open science.
• Offered new resources and increased support to faculty and students interested in conducting systematic reviews.
• Implemented an internal seed funding grant program; provided resources for faculty librarians to obtain their Academy of Health Information Professionals Certification; and hosted an event showcasing HSLIC employee scholarship.
• Developed and administered 4 workplace culture surveys and implemented new programs toward creating a healthy work environment.
• Provided more resources, including funding, to employees seeking professional development.

Over the next few months, HSLIC faculty and staff are evaluating the 4 strategic goals to determine new strategies and tasks. They are also investigating new goals for the next 3-year cycle.
Visit HSLIC’s Strategic Planning page for more information. Copies of previous strategic plans for HSLIC can be found in the UNM Repository.