Our popular space . . .

New Study Cubicles on the 4th Floor

The new study cubicles will be delivered to the library on February 14 or shortly after.  Installation has not been scheduled but shouldn’t be too far behind.  I will let you know as soon as I get a date.  Carpenters started disassembling some study carrels yesterday in order to make room on the 3rd floor for twelve of the new cubicles.  Some of the carrels will be moved up to the 4th floor.

EPIC Training Project         

The University Administration has asked us to re-examine all options to accommodate the need to train 6,500 people in 9,000 training sessions between April and October.  I will be meeting with a group of people on the 14th to discuss various options.  In the meantime Facilities Management is helping us to figure costs and strategies in order to find the best outcome for the library.

H2O and a search

Construction work in the library
We are getting new water fountains on the second, third and fourth floors of the library.  Not only should they be more reliable but they will also have a spigot for filling water bottles.  This is something that the students lobbied for.  Work has already begun on the fourth floor.  You will see the old fountains taken out, a Corian backsplash added to the wall and the new fountains hung on the backsplash.  We’re not sure how long this will take.

Search for new Dean of UA Libraries

I think most of you have seen the announcement that Carla Stoffle, Dean of the University Libraries will be retiring at the end of June.  I have been appointed to serve on the search committee for the new Dean along with nineteen others representing the University Library faculty and staff, the library school, the Pima County Public Library, the University Press, UITS, the UA faculty and various other groups.  We purchase many information resources jointly with the University Library, work on several joint projects and share many common interests so it is important that we have a voice in selecting the next University Librarian. - Gary

The Phoenix Library

Javad had the opportunity to visit the new Health Sciences Education Building and the AHSL-Phoenix this week.  He was favorably impressed with the building and will be happy to tell you about it.

A New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone!  I hope that you enjoyed the winter break.  Thank you to all those who kept the library open during the university closure.

Thanks to all of you for your many accomplishments last year.  Every department and committee made contributions toward improving our library and our services.

I’m looking forward to the installation of our new study furniture on the fourth floor, which should happen later this month.  We are also eagerly awaiting a response from the university administration to our request for some budget relief.  We will be continuing to explore the possibility of creating a space for faculty and students to record podcasts, online tutorials or narration for Powerpoint presentations.  We’ll be reviewing and updating our strategic plan and looking to see how recommendations from the Library of the Future Task Force can be implemented.  It promises to be an interesting and exciting new year!

Writing and recording

News Articles

Yamila published two news items in the RML Newsletter, Lattitudes.  The first is about her trip to Chicago for the Radiological Society of North America conference on behalf of the Pacific Southwest Regional Medical Library.  You can read it at:

http://nnlm.gov/psr/newsletter/2012/12/13/reflections-on-the-rsna-2012-annual-meeting-in-chicago/

The second is a report on the 10th Annual Promotoras and Community Health Workers Conference, called, "Reflecting on the Essence of a Promotor."  You can read it by following this link: 

http://nnlm.gov/psr/newsletter/2012/12/20/reflecting-on-the-essence-of-a-promotor/

Recording studio?

Last summer during the meetings of the Library of the Future Task Force we heard that faculty members are being asked to create more and more online content, either for distance education students or for their on-campus classes.  Most often this is audio in the form of podcasts or tutorials with voice over screen shots or Powerpoint presentations.  After meetings with technical and educational staff from all of the AHSC colleges and BioCommunications, we are exploring the possibility of creating a small recording studio in the library for the use of AHSC faculty and students.  The most likely location would be one of the three rooms across from the IT Help Desk that used to be audio-visual listening/viewing rooms.  Don’t expect anything to happen quickly as there are a lot of details to work out.

Building, Money & Announcement!

4th floor progress

Workers from Facilities Management have almost finished clearing out the old dividers on the fourth floor.  Work was stopped during the exam study period.  I think the room already looks more inviting. The new study furniture for the floor was ordered this week.  We are waiting for a confirmation from the vendor to find out when it will be delivered.  I expect it to arrive in late January.  We hope to have a small ribbon cutting in early February.

Budget

No real news to report yet.  However, as I mentioned at the All Staff meeting, the Library Administrative office staff and Collection Services all contributed to putting together a notebook of budget information for the University Administration.  Yesterday Cindy, Anoma Phanthourath and I met with three of the senior financial officers of the university to discuss strategies for improving our budget situation.  Although they could not provide immediate answers they were very open to our presentation and promised some action in the next month or two.  We are “cautiously optimistic”.

Promotion!

Many of you remember Sandra Martin who visited us for several weeks a few years ago.  Sandra was participating in the National Library of Medicine/Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries Leadership Fellows program.  Sandra has just been appointed Director of the Shiffman Medical Library at Wayne State University in Detroit.

Webinar, 4th Floor, Food!

AHSL broadcasts to the world – well the region

On Wednesday Annabelle, Jennifer, Ahlam and I presented a webinar sponsored by the Pacific Southwest Regional Library of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine.  Our presentation was titled, “Embedded Librarians at the Arizona Health Sciences Library” and was intended to describe our efforts in the Colleges of Public Health, Pharmacy and Nursing to other librarians in the Southwest.  The talk was well received and we had a lot of questions after we finished.  You can hear us and watch our slides at: 

http://nnlm.gov/psr/services/webmeeting/archives.html

4th Floor

Our new furniture for the 4th floor won’t be arriving until late January or early February.  However, beginning on January 2nd we will post a sign that says the 4th floor is for the use of AHSC students only.  We hope that this will help with the noise level up there in the evenings.

Thanks to all for the Thanksgiving goodies!

It sounds like the potluck was a great success.  Thanks to everyone who contributed!  I’m sorry that Jeanette and I couldn’t attend.  We had a luncheon meeting that we couldn’t miss.