Author! :-) Flood :-(

Congratulations Carol

Carol is the co-author on a paper recently published in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society.  The article is titled, “Medical decision-making for older adults without family” and proposes a new type of professional – a health fiduciary – who would be “trained and certified to act as a surrogate decision-maker for individuals who are unable to make decisions for themselves.”

Hurricane Sandy

Here is an email the Neil Rambo, library director at New York University Medical Center, sent to other health sciences library directors last Friday.

“Hi all. I know many of you have been wondering what in the world is going on at NYU in light of Hurricane Sandy that swept through our area on Monday night. The big story is, essentially, that the storm surge was 14 ft. That's a lot of angry water and about 3 ft beyond the maximum that had been forecast. The surge knocked out back-up generators and flooded the lower levels throughout the medical center. The lower level of the library is one of those that was flooded, to the ceiling. That's where our onsite print collection was shelved and many of our faculty and staff work areas were located. It remains completely submerged today even though emergency pumps are working 24/7. The level above that — the main library area — was flooded by about 1-2 ft of water, moving heavy objects around in a pattern indicating a dramatic surge.

All medical center power and network infrastructure has been knocked out. Twice in a little more than a year, all patients were evacuated in very short order. Research samples are being carted out from labs en masse to freezer trucks surrounding the medical center. Recovery is becoming more organized and picking up speed.

Medical center email and basic web services have recently been restored. We hope that rudimentary online library resources will be available in a few days. Our tremendous library faculty and staff are eager to re-establish service from off-site or wherever and we are pulling together to begin planning a very positive way forward. In the meantime, the NN/LM MAR is graciously providing back-up clinical reference and document delivery service.

Sorry not to be joining you all in San Francisco. As I know you will understand, we've got a lot to do here and the next few days will be particularly important. Thanks for your good thoughts. We will come through this in great shape.

Best,

Neil”

On the walls

Sometime in the next month or two the Arizona Telemedicine Program (ATP) will be installing some nice posters along the north wall of the first floor hallway.  The posters will highlight their activities and accomplishments.  Dr. Ron Weinstein, Director of the ATP, has offered to defray part of the cost of a matching set on the south wall that would highlight the library.  We are looking into this idea!

Ups and Downs

Elevators

Elevator #1 (on the left as you face them) has now been upgraded, refurbished and inspected.  

Elevator #2 and the buttons are still being worked on but should be finished soon!

Budget and Study Space

Budget

Several weeks ago we received notification of our budget cuts for the year.  I reported this to you in the August 31 update.  I worked with the Provost’s office to make a case for a lower cut but was unsuccessful.  However, we will be able to take the cut this year without harm to our personnel or collections budgets.  I am covering the cut with funds we would normally use for renovation, painting, repairs, etc. (not all of the funds, but most of them) and with “salary savings” that occur when we get grants or have alternative funding for positions.  However, our budget situation for next year is very dire as we have used up all of our reserve funds from endowments, gifts, etc.   I will continue to work with the Provost, the President and the University Libraries to find a solution to next year’s (and future years’) budgets.

Fourth Floor

There continues to be a lot of talk and no action on the fourth floor.  I will be meeting with Dean Goldschmid, COM Deputy Dean for Education, Kevin Moynahan, Angie Souza, AHSC Facilities Management and Anoma Phanthourath, Provost Representative on November 8 to try to find a resolution.  Our goal is to place study carrels on the floor in place of the tables and chairs and dividers.

Yamila's latest trip

Yamila leads panel discussion

Last week Yamila attended the 2nd National Joint Meeting of Librarians of Color in Kansas City, MO.  She participated in (and at the last minute was asked to facilitate) a panel discussion titled, “Focus on Minority Health: Initiatives and Challenges to Accessing Health Information.”  Other panelists included representatives from Pima Community College, Virginia Commonwealth University and the Department of Health and Human Services. Yamila’s presentation was very well received and she has been getting many requests for her slides.

Addition, gathering, readiness

New exhibit space

Thanks to the addition of sliding glass doors, the three built-in bookcases in front of the videoconferencing room in the entryway are now beautiful exhibit spaces.  They are currently being used to display some of the older medical instruments from our special collections and some prints depicting historical medical practice.

Successful reception!

Although some came late to the party, I counted about fifteen AHSC authors who attended our reception on Wednesday.  Most had something to eat or drink and many thanked us for our efforts and for the recognition.  Thanks to committee members Hannah, Mary Holcomb, Nga, Mary Riordan and Jeanette who did an amazing job of compiling the list of books and authors and creating the beautiful banners now hanging in 2101 and to Nicole who provided the underlying database for the web list of authors.

Be prepared!

I encourage you to watch the online recording of a presentation given Thursday on what to do if you are caught in a situation where someone is shooting.  If you can only spare 10 minutes, watch the short film at the beginning (I had to turn up the sound on my computer almost all of the way).  However, the rest of the presentation by a UAPD officer is very informative.  You can view the presentation at: http://streaming.biocom.arizona.edu/home/

It’s called: “Active Shooter: How to confront the unthinkable.”

A warmer light

We’ve added two floor lamps to the administrative conference room on the first floor.  This will give us the option of having a warmer, softer light than the built-in fluorescents.  Since the lamps are movable they can also provide focused task lighting.