HSLIC News

All of Us Tech Days Presentation

Lori Sloane and Deborah Rhue from HSLIC joined Todd Quinn and Karl Benedict from CULLS to present a talk about the All of Us Research Program at the annual University of New Mexico’s Tech Days on Friday, April 26, 2024.  The talk, entitled “All of Us: Using Big Data to Study Factors Affecting Health and Health Impacts,” was well- and enthusiastically received. 

Deborah, Lori, Todd and Karl have been working to promote awareness and enrollment in the NIH-sponsored All of Research Program since 2023 when the University of New Mexico became one of the Program’s officially enrolled research participants. 

The All of Us Research Program is an effort funded by the National Institutes of Health to gather health data from one million or more people in the United States.  The All of Us Research Program encourages individuals from communities historically left out of biomedical research studies to enroll and share their health data and make that data available to researchers through the All of Us Research Program platform.

   "All of Us: Using Big Data to Study Factors Affecting Health and Health Impacts":  Tech Days Slide Presentation

    For more information about the All of Us Research Program:  All of Us Research Program 

National Collections Preservation Week, April 28 – May 4, 2024, raises awareness about the need to preserve cultural heritage materials whether in personal and family collections or libraries and archival institutions. Sponsored by Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures, a division of the American Library Association, Preservation Week “inspires action” and “raises awareness of the role libraries and other cultural institutions play in providing ongoing preservation education and information.”

Since its start in 2010, Preservation Week, in particular, draws attention to problems and gaps in the long-term care of culturally and historically-relevant materials. These problems include a lack of proper staffing to oversee collections, improper storage of materials, and the absence of emergency and disaster preparedness plans. As Core states, "personal, family, and community collections are equally at risk."

This year’s theme, Preserving Identities, emphasizes how cultural heritage materials contribute to the preservation of group and individual identities.

To support the sharing of preservation knowledge, ALA offers free resources including webinars, handouts with quick tips, and preservation guides.

Another good source for preservation advice is Gaylord Archival. They offer free webinars and preservation tutorials on book, document, and photograph preservation. Connecting to Collections is another useful website that offers hundreds of free webinars on preservation and collections care topics. 

Additional questions about preservation and collections care? Schedule a preservation consultation. 

And be sure to pick up a free preservation advice bookmark at the HSLIC public services desk and at the Happy Heart Bistro during Preservation Week!

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. 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, fidget toys, 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! 

Congratulations to Wendell Billingsley, Jonathan Seyfried, and Robyn Gleasner, winners of HSLIC’s 2024 Annual Employee Recognition Awards!

Wendell Billingsley – Outstanding Performance

Wendell worked on numerous projects with UNM Facilities Management (FM) staff to keep the HSLIC building in order. From making sure badge readers and door closure mechanisms were in working order to updating building signage, Wendell is committed to keeping the HSLIC building accessible, safe, and in the best shape it can be. He is conscientious and listens to the needs of the people who use the building and the FM staff and vendors who maintain it. He helps out both HSLIC personnel and HSC CIO staff on their building issues, sometimes working after hours to address urgent problems. He enthusiastically takes on new projects and is eager to learn new things about facilities, emergency response, and project management. He even does some basic maintenance on his own, from time to time, to make sure everything in the building works.

His commitment and dedication to maintaining and improving spaces in the library, especially this year, has made it a better place to be in many different respects.

Jonathan Seyfried – Outstanding Customer Service

Jonathan has worked diligently and thoughtfully to implement and improve the process for students and faculty to access the library's technology. After the 3D printer was purchased, Jonathan figured out the workflow to allow students to reserve time with the printer and also developed a comprehensive LibGuide with all the pertinent information for someone to get started. This has made the process easy for beginners interested in 3D printing, the VR headsets, and the anatomy table. Not only has he developed the system for our users, but he has also trained the student employees in Public Services how to use and troubleshoot library technology. This has created an environment of learning, exploration, and creativity! Jonathan is also extremely helpful when asked about the technology; he has often dropped everything to help our users get started. At every technology addition, he has adapted quickly to learn the ins and outs and then to teach others what he has learned. He is a warm and patient person who makes our technology accessible. Kudos!

Robyn Gleasner – Outstanding Project

Robyn has done exemplary work updating the HSLIC Collections Development Policy. Robyn's inclusive and thoughtful approach ensured everyone had a chance to participate, and she actively listened to comments that were shared during meetings. Her keen attention to detail was foundational to the success of this project. The policy was updated to reflect new HSC programs/endeavors (such as medical humanities), as well as incorporate new library trends. New additions to the policy included reconsideration procedures as well as clarification of responsibilities (who does what).

The updated HSLIC Collection Development Policy saves time and resources with its clear statements of scope, procedures, and explicit parameters that lead to efficient decisions and minimizes uniformed acquisitions.  

The purpose of National Minority Health Month is to "raise awareness about the importance of improving the health of racial and ethnic minority communities and reducing health disparities."

This year's theme is Be the Source for Better Health, which fits right in with HSLIC's mission to advance health and health equity as New Mexico’s only publicly accessible health sciences library. HSLIC is a source for better health information, which we believe can lead to better health.

Health disparities are a significant problem, and the library provides resources about them. The OMHRC Knowledge Center Online Catalog (Office of Minority Health Resource Center) gives access to 75,000 documents, books journal articles, and media related to the health status of racial and ethnic minority populations. PubMed searchers will find the MeSH terms Minority Health and Health Status Disparities, which were introduced in 2008. Note that there are other terms available to search the concepts prior to 2008.

Datasets are increasingly important and available to researchers. The National Neighborhood Data Archive (NaNDA) contains physical, economic, demographic, and social information at the census tract, ZIP code, and county level. This dataset was used in a recent publication about the devaluation of assets in Black neighborhoods. As a minority majority state (with less than half the people being non-Hispanic whites), and home to 23 American Indian tribes, as well as Black and Asian people, minority health issues are important to New Mexico researchers, health care providers, and community leaders. The New Mexico Community Data Collaborative maps local health conditions and behaviors, as well as provides data about special populations, such as health care providers and rural vs urban designations.

Image from World Bank CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED

This year’s theme for National Library Week is “Ready, Set, Library!” This theme showcases how libraries promote connection and how we as librarians meet our users where they are. Where are HSLIC users? Where are you researching, studying, and making those connections? Meeting you where you are is especially import to us at HSLIC.

We listen to our users and do our best to acquire the resources that you request. For example, JoVE was requested by the Neurosciences Department. We listened and recently subscribed. JoVE is a unique resource that offers video based scientific content on subjects like behavior, biochemistry, cancer research, genetics, and, of course, neurosciences. You can take a look here: 

Part of National Library Week’s Ready, Set, Library! celebrates libraries and librarians meeting their users where they are. HSLIC librarians do this all the time, but it’s not always obvious when we do it. Our librarians are embedded in many HSC courses and teach several stand-alone courses. We would like to take this opportunity to highlight the courses our librarians are involved with.

Lisa Acuff helped develop and teach Introduction to Translational Evidence Informed Practice - NURS 701 and the DPT Capstone, she also co-taught the Geriatric elective in the Interprofessional Education program.

Dr. Jon Eldredge is one of the Instructors of Record for the Quantitative Medicine Block in the School of Medicine, co-teaches Foundations of Research Methodologies Physician Assistant course, co-teaches the Determinants & Equity in Public Health Master of Population Health course and co-teaches Dental Hygiene Research in the Dental Hygiene program.

Lori Sloane developed and taught a session on data management in the College of Population Health’s new Doctoral Seminar PH 690.

Leah Everitt updated and taught sessions on literature searching for evidence based practice in Aspects of Patient Care 713 and 753 in the College of Pharmacy.

Ingrid Hendrix taught a series of literature searching sessions to the University of New Mexico Hospital's Unit Based Educators. She also taught a literature searching session in Introduction to Research and Medical Imaging in the Radiologic Sciences Program. She also teaches in the Physical Assessment and Primary Care of Adults courses in the Family Nurse Practitioner program on the topic- Considerations in Caring for Patients with Disabilities.

Melissa Rethlefsen developed, taught, and facilitated the Rigor and Reproducibility Journal Club in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program and Leah Everitt helped co-facilitate. Melissa also taught an Introduction to FAIR Data, Bioinformatics, and Machine Learning in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, BIOM564/BME518.

HSLIC’s efforts in the curriculum and other aspects of HSC education are reported yearly in the HSLIC Annual Report. HSLIC also hosts their own workshops open to the entire HSC community.  Visit the Events Calendar to see upcoming workshops. HSLIC aims to meet their users where they are and being embedded in the curriculum helps us to achieve this goal, we look forward to continuing the partnerships highlighted in this post and gaining more!

Ready, Set, Library!

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. One of our celebrated outreach librarians was Pat Bradley, whom we honor today with the 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 began 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.

Tuesday, April 9, 2024 is National Library Workers Day, a time to recognize library professionals for their expertise and leadership in transforming lives and communities through education and lifelong learning. We would like to recognize our faculty librarians, staff, and student employees for their work and dedication to making HSLIC an invaluable resource to the UNM Health and Health Sciences Community!

National Student Employment Week is celebrated each year during the second full week of April. During the week of April 7th–13th, we would like to recognize and appreciate the vital contributions of our student employees.

A few of the tasks our student employees perform include: filling interlibrary loan requests, answering questions at the service desk, supporting users with a variety of technology, processing archival collections, helping to make resources discoverable and accessible, and assisting with preservation work.

Without our student employees, the library would not be able to run as smoothly as it does. We appreciate all the hard work and dedication from all of our student employees, and we thank you for everything you do!