On April 20, 2018, our own Dan Cavanaugh, Alvin V. and Nancy Baird Curator of Historical Collections, gave an invited talk at the 2018 Sage Assembly, entitled “Archivists and Algorithmic Science”.
 

Dan's remarks focused on the value of archives and archivists in the age of Big Data and algorithmic science, and offered two main takeaways:

• Archives around the United States are struggling to garner enough resources to preserve digital objects; if algorithmic science is to be preserved during this era, then it is crucial that those resources are located.
   
• Archives, often associated with historians and genealogists, have the potential to benefit a much wider population-including biomedical researchers.

Cavanaugh's talk was praised via social media, including tweets from John Wilbanks (Chief Commons Officer at SageBionetworks) who extended the speaking invitation, and Kristi Holmes (Library Director at Galter Health Sciences Library & Learning Center at Northwestern University):

Congratulations, Dan!

Welcome to the third installment of the series, " Building the Library of the Future",  from Library Director Gretchen Arnold. This series provides information about the Library's work, with each installment focusing on a different aspect of that work. Last week's installment described the Library's work with education; this week's installment focuses on its work with research. Future installments will focus on patient care, and also discuss the Library's collaborations and partnerships, space improvements, and metrics.

Healthcare and biomedical science are key areas in research for the University.  The Health Sciences Library staff has been working to build out a robust research and support service.  The Library’s Research and Data Services (RDaS) supports the work of researchers throughout the research life cycle, serving as “research navigators” who advise and assist researchers at all levels of experience.  RDaS staff work to find suitable university solutions for data-related needs, including computing infrastructure, licensed software, and statistical support.  These experts provide individual consultations and group workshops on data-related topics, finding scholarly information, funding opportunities, and assessing research productivity through bibliometrics.  In October 2017, the Library hired two full-time data specialists who are able to provide even more in-depth teaching and consultations in data science. 

Another growing area of support for RDaS is publication metrics, which includes research output and productivity.  RDaS staff have worked with School of Medicine faculty candidates for promotion and tenure, providing needed publication data on times cited, impact factor and journal category and rank.  In addition, they have worked with a number of divisions and departments to provide publication counts for annual reporting and specialized faculty recognition such as the School of Medicine MilliPub Awards.

The Library has been involved with the new pan-University institute called Translational Health Research Institute of Virginia (THRIV) whose focus is to use data to improve the health of people in Virginia and beyond.  A key focus of the Library’s effort has been to develop and implement a semantic web application that enables researchers and members of the community to connect with the vast expertise available at UVA.  The Library is also participating in the development of services supporting research methods and statistics. 
 

“The team in the Health Sciences Library plays an integral part in the Translational Health Research Institute of Virginia. As a developing cross Grounds Institute, the Library has been a key player providing expertise in research collaboration discovery, resource and technology development and coordination for our grant component development.  Bart Ragon’s leadership in developing a proposal for the support of tools for faculty reporting, collaboration and impact assessment have been invaluable for THRIV.  We look forward to a long term partnership with the library.”
                                          -- Sandra Burks, RN, BSN, CCRC.  Program Director, Translational Health Research Institute of Virginia.

Please make plans to visit the Library on April 19th, from 9 AM- 4 PM, for a veritable buffet of information technology goodness!

The Health and Information Technology Division of the University of Virginia Health System acts as a partner for care providers, staff and patients, and strives to "provide information for decision-making and to deliver high-value solutions." HIT offers the Fair as a way of conencting with members of the Health System, and the 2018 Fair is its fourth! As usual, the Fair will offer technology-related demonstrations, presentations, access to vendors, and much more. Please view the complete schedule at: https://hitfair.village.aws.virginia.edu/schedule

The Library is pleased to host the Fair, and to show off its own technology resources, which include: Virtual Reality services, a Film/Presentation Studio, teleconferencing space, a streaming classroom, a maker space, a sound-proof booth, and reservable event space. For more information on these resources and services, please visit https://www.hsl.virginia.edu/the-mill

We look forward to seeing you at the Fair!

On March 7, 2018, the Patient & Family Library (PFL) celebrated its third anniversary. Over the years, the PFL has provided service to over 5700 people, including patients, visitors, staff, students, and the general public.The graph below shows the distribution of needs people have had when contacting the PFL, whether they come in in person, write to us by online chat or email, or call us on the phone. This also includes requests for information that clinical team members make on behalf of their patients; nurses and LIPS – whether inpatient or outpatient -- did you know that you can submit a “consult order” via Epic, in order to connect with our “Information Rx (Library)” service?

Since our new tracking system was initiated in July 2017, we’ve logged over 1600 “encounters.” While our new system is more accurate than the previous one, this is still a low estimate; it equals about 10 each day we were open for service. Groups of people are typically logged all together in one encounter, so the actual number of individuals using the service or space is larger.

Although this graph only represents the past 8 months or so, the pattern has been much the same since we opened, revealing that the PFL meets a wide range of needs.

The PFL service desk, which is located in the PFL space in the main lobby of University Hospital, is staffed by ten Health Sciences Library team members, mostly medical reference librarians. In addition to the walk-in service in the lobby, the PFL manager, Lydia Witman, MLIS, also brings information to hospital bedsides, when requested by UVA team members. As a bedside nurse or LIP, you can order an “Information Rx (Library)” consult in Epic, just as you would order a PT or Social Work consult! You can tell us in the order what exactly you’d like the patient/family to have, and we will find it and bring it to the patient’s room.  

Whether it’s at the PFL desk or at the patient bedside we, as reference librarians, love digging for answers to medical questions. Some of our favorites from the past three years include: a husband who wanted to learn more about the inoperable cancer that was just discovered in his wife while she was having surgery for something else that day; a stroke education handout written in Serbian; and “What does ADL mean?” – we weren’t sure if it was some kind of new cholesterol but when looked it up, we were able to tell the person that it was, in fact, Activities of Daily Life. She had certainly found the right place to translate “medspeak” about what her husband should do at home.

Whether helping with MyChart, answering an urgent medical question, providing a quiet space, or meeting any of a myriad of needs, the PFL team provides a valuable service to patients, families, and others, at the UVA Health System and beyond.