Many thanks to all who have participated over the last several months in our “Answer for a K-Cup” patron satisfaction survey. Your feedback is much appreciated, and has been thoughtfully considered and incorporated. Our survey comes to an end this Sunday, May 27^th, at which time we will no longer give away K-cups. Don’t despair, though, as the Keurigs will remain in place in the Library. We also hope to introduce another K-Cup giveaway in the future. Thanks so much!

(Photo by Sabri Tuzcu on Unsplash)

Welcome to the fifth 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. The last installment described the Library's collaborations and partnerships; this week's installment focuses on how the Library supports patient care. Future installments will focus on space improvements and metrics. Please find previous installments by clicking on each part: Part 1 here, Part 2, Part 3.

Like most academic health sciences libraries, ours is largely a digital library, and yet physical space is one of the Library’s most critical and unique assets. As print collections were reduced, space was repurposed in order to provide more study or collaboration space.  Recognizing that the Health System’s Situation Room (in which clinical team members meet daily to review key patient care metrics and incidents) was woefully too small, the Library offered a space which was underutilized.  Now, over 100 clinical leaders stream into the Library for their huddle.  Chief of Quality and Performance Improvement officer Tracey R. Hoke, MD, MSc, FAAP had this to say: “The Health System Leadership is grateful to the Library for having recognized the value of these sessions and offering (and refitting) a space for us to meet that is both close to the clinical enterprise and is steeped in the research and teaching missions.”

Support for the information needs of the Health System has always been critical to the Library.  Many other medical libraries offer clinical librarian services where a librarian works directly with clinical teams in the hospital.  This is a wonderful model but it does not scale easily. Our Library decided to rethink this service and redesigned it as a Quality and Performance Improvement librarian.  This new position works directly with clinical service line directors and department quality improvement teams to find and develop the best practices for patient care.  Often these standards have not reached the traditional publications so our expertise in mining gray literature and social media has been valuable.

Patients and family members are often faced with health conditions that seem overwhelming.  One way the Library can help with this is through the Patient and Family Library’s innovative “Information Prescription”.  With this service, health professionals can order, through EPIC, a request for in-depth and specific health information.  This request is routed to the Patient and Family librarian who then searches and customizes a collection of information on the requested topic.  Our goal is to embed this service throughout the entire care delivery system.

Welcome to the fourth 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. The last installment described the Library's work with research; this week's installment focuses on its collaborations and partnerships. Future installments will focus on patient care, and also discuss the Library's space improvements, and metrics. Please find Part 1 here, and Part 2 here.

“Libraries have a central role to play in the new data to knowledge society.  Seems to me in my brief time at UVA that our Health Sciences Library is on top of contributing in a way of great benefit to our community. I look forward to continuing our great collaborative start.” 

Philip E. Bourne, PhD, FACMI,
Stephenson Chair of Data Science,
Director of the Data Science Institute,
Professor of Biomedical Engineering

The Library values its role as a collaborator and partner.  We know that pooling resources and expertise with others increases opportunity and success.  Libraries in general understand process and standardization.  We have experience with information systems, from early catalogues and databases, to the Internet.  We also understand the role of disruptive innovation, and the inevitability of changing business models.  Further, the Library also understands the cycle of development, where these systems will (or should) ultimately be, and how this will impact the Health System.

We have a long-standing and successful partnership with Public Health Sciences that has continue to expand because of increasing demand.  Daily “office hours” offered by PHS staff in the Library have provided valuable assistance in research design and statistical support.

Our work with the UVA Data Science Institute and CADRE (Computation and Data Resource Exchange) continues to be mutually beneficial.  Being knowledgeable about what these groups offer in the way of data and high performance computing resources provides the Library with the ability to communicate this to our users. 

Library staff have also worked with the Office of the Vice President for Research on a number of initiatives that aim to improve UVA’s data, and systems that support research. 

“The HSL provides expertise in the rapidly evolving landscape of research intelligence and informatics, has helped UVA select and license funding discovery tools, and has played an important role in helping UVA better understand its complex research ecosystem.  We looked forward to continuing this valued partnership.” 

Jeffrey J. Fox, PhD, Director, Research Development.