Visitors, Space Committee, Archives

4 Corners Directors
Last Thursday and Friday the directors of the health sciences libraries at the universities of New Mexico, Colorado and Utah visited the library. We met to discuss issues of mutual interest and to learn from each other. The group toured the library and the AHSC. Some of the topics discussed were a renovation at Utah, an upcoming Tribal Connections 4 Corners meeting, and an Evidence-Based Scholarly Communication (EBSC) Conference in Albuquerque in March designed to highlight strategies promoting open access publication at Clinical and Translational Science Award- minded (CTSA) institutions. Thanks to our Liaison Librarians who met with the group. The other directors were VERY impressed with the work of the liaisons and with the presentations that they did.

Space Committee
The Space Committee had its second meeting on Thursday, 12/3. Each of the visiting 4 Corners directors gave a brief presentation and answered questions. They all stressed the need for a variety of meeting and classroom spaces in the library of the future or in education buildings. The next meeting will concentrate on the practical aspects of renovation and reuse of library space with a presentation by Facilities Management. I have asked Javad to join the space committee because of his knowledge of the use of the building.

Digitizing archives
The AHSL is home to the archives of the STARPAHC project. The collection, consisting of reports, correspondence and photographs, details the workings of a NASA telemedicine project on the Tohono O’Odham reservation during the 1970’s. Early next year staff members from the Tohono O'odham Nation Cultural Center & Museum in Sells will be in the library to digitize portions of the archive for their own collection. The AHSL will get digital copies of these documents. The museum hopes to build an exhibit based on these materials and has agreed to share the exhibit if possible.