Health Sciences Libraries

Key Activities and Accomplishments FY 17-18

1.Innovation Services 

a. Innovation Space staff, led by Patrick Lyons, have designed, developed and promoted a suite of innovation services focusing on 3D design, 3D printing, user education and support for health sciences faculty, students and staff.

b. Created partnership with the president of GLITCH, the LKSOM student technology club. GLITCH presented a PC building event program (March, 2018) in the IS. GLITCH also holds regularly scheduled meetings there. Patrick Lyons serves as the faculty mentor for the club. c. Held a grand opening event, a MakerFest, in October, 2017.

2. Education and Outreach Services 

a. REO staff created a Love Data Week education series held in March, 2018. Health sciences libraries staff collaborated with Tariem Burroughs from the Center for Bioethics, Urban Health, and Policy, and Dr. Mark Weiner, LKSOM Assistant Dean for Informatics to present workshops in the library. This was the second time Dr .Weiner had presented on RedCAP, a secure web application for building and managing online surveys and databases. Mr. Burroughs presented on GIS for Health, based on education for medical students.

b. REO staff worked with the Anesthesiology residency director to design a research curriculum for Anesthesiology residents that includes interactive workshops on Evidence Based Healthcare, Searching Databases and Evaluation of Resources/Critical Appraisal. In collaboration with Jenny Pierce, the Anesthesiology residency director and head residents, Natalie Tagge reevaluated the Anesthesiology library education collaboration. In order to include resident input, she created an evaluation survey and distributed it to residents through the head residents. This evaluation data coupled with the input from the evaluation group will mean that the classes will be recorded, repeated and condensed to best meet the educational needs of the residents.

c. Outreach to Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine faculty resulted in an invitation to present at the TUSPM's Community Health seminar for all 3rd year Podiatry students. Greg Laynor gave a presentation on library resources for evidence-based medicine and community health statistics.

3. Diversity and Inclusion 

a. Natalie Tagge serves on the Diversity and Inclusion committee for the Libraries.

b. Representing the Temple Health LGBTQ Alliance Task Force, Jenny Pierce worked with Temple IDEAL to get a second SAFE Zone Training at the Health Sciences Center for task force members and other Health Science campus staff. IDEAL has completed two trainings at the Health Science Center for more than 25 people.

4. Partnerships and Community Engagement 

a. Barbara Kuchan has developed a working relationship with Felicia Boccuti, the Director for Information Technology at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine. They have established monthly meetings to exchange ideas, discuss mutual concerns and share information.

b. Jenny Pierce and Natalie Tagge serve on the LKSOM Well-Being Advisory Committee. This is a collaboration between faculty, the Student Affairs Office, a student group (Our Wellness Liaisons - the OWLS), and LKSOM student government. The group meets once a month to discuss initiatives geared toward promoting wellness in medical students. The wellness programs are intended to address burn-out, relationship issues, and stress reduction.

c. In early May 2018, librarians and LKSOM students worked together at Kenderton Elementary School to clean up and organize their school library. Prior to the event, the library was in a very serious state of disrepair. Fortunately, Stephane Roth, a former school librarian, was able to put her expertise to use assessing the collection and creating a project plan. While there is much more to do, students catalog over 300 books using LibraryThing.

5. Organizational Effectiveness and Environmental Review

a. Lauri Fennell coordinated an observational study of activities that occur at the information desk at the Ginsburg Library.

b. Natalie Tagge has taken on the role of project coordinator for the weeding of older monographs in the Ginsburg Library. The process started in FY2017/18 and is continuing into 2018/19.

c. Stephanie Roth and Natalie Tagge developed and deployed an education program for health sciences librarians to establish a team approach for providing systematic reviews that assigns librarians to different levels based on comfort/expertise in this specialty area.

d. A team of Ginsburg Library staff (Jenny Pierce, Natalie Tagge, Patrick Lyons) are working with Nancy Turner to coordinate a 10 year review of the Ginsburg Library environment -- focusing on spaces and technology needs.

Strategic Actions Supported by the Health Sciences Libraries in FY 18-19

Designing and building a dramatically new library environment to serve as a catalyst
for academic enterprise at Temple.

Enriching the environment for learning and student success.

Developing programs, services, and resources to enhance intellectual productivity,
scholarly infrastructure, new modes of research, and clinical care services.

Seeking partners in innovation and experimentation to add value to library programs
and to identify new avenues for economic support.

Building a world-class staff for leadership in the research library enterprise.

Sharing the vision, making connections, broadening support.