Science and space

Science Fair!
On April 3rd Yamila and Kathleen exhibited at the Arizona Science and Engineering Fair. This event brought together students from grades 5-12 from all over the state. Our librarians used an iPad to give demonstrations of PubMed and MedlinePlus and publicize the AHSL. For more details (and photos!) see Kathleen’s blog entry at:
http://ahslphoenix.wordpress.com/2012/04/04/ahsl-exhibits-at-azsef-2012/

4th floor?
Dr. Bootman has asked us to work with Facilities Management to propose some layouts for flexible study and meeting space on the 4th floor. This is exactly what the Space Committee proposed. I will be sharing proposals with you to hear your ideas and responses. It’s not definite that this will come to pass but we are moving in the right direction.

New Building?
You may remember that a new education building has been announced. It is planned for the parking lot diagonally across the traffic circle from the library – between AHSL and the Medical Research Building. The only guaranteed tenants for the building are Interprofessional Education and some classroom space. Facilities Management is brainstorming other potential uses for the building. We have raised the possibility of moving the AHSL into this space. This is just in the “what if” stage. The Administrative Team has just started talking about the implications of a move like this. We will be coming to you for your ideas as we think about what a future library might look like.

Front door project

The installation of our new front doors is tentatively scheduled for late in the week of April 16. There will be some noise associated with this work but it should only last for a couple of days. These new doors should accomplish three goals: replace the aging and broken sliding gate that currently secures the library when we are closed, cut off noise from the new lounge area outside the library and reduce the necessity to purchase another expensive security gate. Once the doors are completed we can push the old gate back into the wall for the last time!

No Smoking? Streetcar!

Cough, Cough
Now that the UA Health Network has adopted a smoke free policy, the AHSC Deans are considering doing the same for the health sciences campus. This is still in the discussion stage.

Streetcar
As previously announced, the ground breaking for the “Modern Streetcar” project will be on April 12, east of the Keating/Bio5 building. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is expected to attend. The Warren St. underpass (under Speedway) may be closed a few days ahead of this event. We can expect construction on campus along Helen St. over to Warren.

AHSL at the Tucson Festival of Books

Anyone going to the Tucson Festival of Books on Saturday morning? If so, you may see familiar faces at the Arizona Health Sciences Center booth! Annabelle and Yamila will be staffing the booth on Saturday morning and focusing on bones, featuring MedlinePlus, Kid’s Health, and BAM.gov (from the CDC), and involving folks in creating their own member of the Skeletoni family.

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z

SiestaLife
The SiestaLife team has been busy last night and today getting the purple room transformed into their business pilot project. This has given us the chance to see the room “opened-up” without all of the study carrels, etc. We are starting to consider installing study tables in this area in place of carrels. In addition, the room now has locks on the doors, which may give us some flexibility in future use.

Jacque, Nicole and Darla

Congratulations Jacque!
The Marcia C. Noyes Award is the Medical Library Association’s highest honor. I’m very excited to tell you that Jacque has been selected as this year’s recipient. Jacque is being honored not only for her past and ongoing contributions to the MLA but also for her work with new and developing health sciences libraries across the country as they establish a model for the twenty-first century. The award is presented at the conclusion of the annual MLA Awards Luncheon at the annual conference. This year’s meeting will be in Seattle, Washington, May 19-23.

Congratulations Nicole and Darla!
Darla Anderson, Clinical Education Librarian, has had a paper accepted and Nicole has had a poster accepted at the 2012 AAMC Western Regional WGEA/WGSA/WOSR Conference in Asilomar, California, March 31 – April 3, 2012. This is a regional meeting of several of the divisions of the Association of American Medical Colleges. Darla’s paper is on a joint project with the Phoenix campus to tag College of Medicine curriculum with subject headings in order to better track what is being taught in which portions of the curriculum. Nicole’s poster is on the use of cloud computing to gather and track accreditation information for the College of Medicine.

Please welcome Kathleen Carlson to the UA College of Medicine Phoenix

Effective Monday, February 6, Kathleen joined the AHSL Phoenix library faculty as our first education librarian! We are most happy to have her here, as she brings superb experience as a health sciences librarian, most recently as the health sciences librarian at the downtown Phoenix campus of ASU, and prior to that as a hospital librarian at John C, Lincoln Hospital. A UA AHSL "Clinical Education Librarian" since 2007, Kathleen is an active member of the Medical Library Association, with several scholarly papers and posted at its annual meetings, including one forthcoming at the 2012 meeting in Seattle. Kathleen can be reached at KNCarlso@email.arizona.edu and at via phone 602-827-2340.