Special Update

Congratulations to our AHSL Exhibits Committee!  Jeanette, Jose, Mary, Nga and Mikel were honored today with the U of A 2013 Team Award for Excellence.  The nomination and the letters of support sent to the awards committee remarked on the thought-provoking and educational nature of the exhibits that they have coordinated.  This group brought exhibits to campus that brought the community into the library and onto campus.  The exhibits have highlighted history, art, diversity, ethics and scientific progress among other topics.  The group will be honored at the Awards for Excellence Reception in the Student Union on April 25.  They also received a check for $1,500.  Congratulations to this hard-working group!

4th floor, fundraising and advice

EPIC Training Project

We are continuing to work with Facilities Management, others on campus and with UAHN to find a mutually beneficial solution to the need for training hospital staff on their new EPIC electronic medical records system.  We are proposing construction of training rooms that will be useful to us in the future as well as some additional student study space that will be necessary during the training project and very useful in the future.  It’s unclear at this point if there are any financially feasible solutions.

We have, however, allowed the EPIC project team to reserve our computer classrooms in the evenings and on weekends when we are rarely using them and when UAHN will need to train their evening shift workers.

New 4th floor study carrels

The new carrels have been delivered to the university but will not be installed until we conclude our negotiations with UAHN regarding the EPIC training space.  In either case some of the carrels will go into the SE and SW corners of the third floor.

Fundraising

Last week Jeanette and I met with all of the AHSC Development Officers.  We asked them to remember the library as they speak with potential donors.  We reminded them that donors who may not have fond memories of their College, might remember a librarian who helped them or remember enjoying a quiet place to study in the stacks.  Shaun Sommerer, VP for Development for the Health Sciences asked the group to keep their ears open for folks who might be potential donors.  We also answered some questions about access to the library and the current sources of our funds.

Advisors

Also last week we met with the Library Advisory Committee (LAC).  We heard a presentation from a representative of the AHSC Colleges who was proposing to locate a career advising center in the library.  The LAC felt the idea was worth exploring further.  The group will contact me in the near future to discuss the details of their proposal.  The LAC spent most of the meeting discussing the UAHN EPIC training needs.  The group agreed that it would be good to help UAHN as long as student study needs and library services are not compromised.

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.