School of Medicine’s new Dean, Melina Kibbe, MD, visits Health Sciences Library

Melina Kibbe, MD, is the 17th dean of the UVA School of Medicine.

This post was written by Kimberley Barker.

     
     Members of the Health Sciences Library’s Leadership Council were pleased to host the University of Virginia School of Medicine’s new Dean, Dr. Melina Kibbe, and members of her administrative team for a tour of the Library, on November 12, 2021. When Dr. Kibbe reached out to Bart Ragon, Ed.D, MLIS, Interim Director of the Health Sciences Library, to request a tour he was happy to arrange it. 

             “It’s always a pleasure to share the fantastic work that our colleagues do every day,” Ragon explained. 

        Important to the Library staff attending the meeting was the opportunity to explain how their work (individually and collectively) supports UVA Health’s Mission, Values, and Goals. One of the most high-profile examples is the way in which the Library’s physical space and services changed in response to the pandemic; as CDC guidance and UVA Health rules about physical distancing, masking, and disinfection developed, so did the Library’s innovative responses to, for example, the changing needs of General Medical Education (GME) and ensuring that Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) had greater access to the Library’s space 24 hours per day. 
     And, just as adjustments were made during the pandemic, further adjustments have been made as UVA Health changed rules and requirements in the face of COVID-19’s moving from pandemic to endemic. While some changes will remain (the expansion of the Library’s 24-hour spaces, for example), others will eventually shift back to their pre-pandemic states, such as staff returning to onsite work. 
     Beginning their tour at the Library’s main entrance, Ragon explained that the lobby space, with its booths, tables, and other seating areas, is heavily used by students and is not quiet space. The Library’s extensive quiet space, though, was next on the tour (through the sets of double doors that lead to the section over Jefferson Park Avenue), with six study rooms and large open space with tables and chairs, the “spaceship”, and comfortable seating with electrical outlets added to the middle of the space in a small renovation several years ago. Also included in the quiet space are a small conference room, more rooms with comfortable seating, and a room dedicated to Health Information Technology computers. 
 

 
Dean Kibbe admires Medical Education Librarian Karen Knight's 2021 Pet Parade display.

The tour gave Ragon and the Executive Team the opportunity to explain how the Library strives to ensure that its space, services, and resources support its diversity of patrons, which include the School of Medicine, the School of Nursing, MC, as well as the areas of education, patient care, and research.
         Karen Knight, the liaison to the School of Medicine, discussed her work as well as shared the 2021 Pet Parade display (the Pet Parade is an annual event which showcases SOM students’ pets and is a highlight of the holiday season).
         When the tour reached the MILL (Multipurpose Innovative Learning Lab), Ragon and Knight escorted Dean Kibbe and her team to one of the 13 group study rooms that are owned by the School of Medicine and which are popular for classes, group study, FCM, and with SOM students who book them for residency interviews.
            Kyle Bowman, Administrative Service Manager, described the Library’s ongoing greening efforts via collaboration with UVA’s Delta Force, which involves (among other projects) upgrading the Library's HVAC and lighting. As Bowman shared with Dr. Kibbe, these changes are projected to save the Library 15-20% on its utility bill over the long-term.
Dan Wilson, Associate Director for Collections & Library Services, wears many Library hats: in his role as the School of Nursing liaison, Dan explained that he helps SON students of all levels with their research assignments, which includes teaching them how to do a systematic search using professional databases, citation managers, and other research tools.  He also serves on research teams with SON faculty members. Dan also oversees the operation of the Service Desk, the Interlibrary Loan service, and Collections. Further, Dan supervises the two librarians, Elaine Attridge, Quality and Performance Improvement Librarian,  and Kate Joshua, Clinical Librarian, who are dedicated to assisting employees of UVA Health with systematic reviews, quality improvement projects, and bibliographic instruction in the Nurse Residency Program.

Research & Data Services (RDAS) Manager Andrea Horne Denton described her department’s work which includes providing data about UVA publications, including Impact Factors and other metrics, to various groups and individuals including the School of Medicine, departments and teams, and individuals. The Library’s support in providing these data to SOM faculty going up for promotion and tenure is especially welcomed. The RDAS team includes HSL data specialists Marieke Jones, Ph.D. and David Martin, Ph.D., who provide a wide array of services related to data and statistics, from one-on-one consultations to workshops in topics such as R and SPSS. The workshops attracted over 700 attendees this year, with many workshop attendees returning to RDAS for additional assistance and consulting.

            “Our collaborations with these scientists and clinicians range from consultations on experimental design and statistics during the initial stages of research, to advice on data analysis and best approaches to visualizing data for inclusion in a publication,” Denton said, adding, “The team’s contribution to UVA scholarship is a most rewarding aspect of our work.”

David Moody, the Library’s Information Technology Director, in addition to showing the Presentation Studio and Audio Booth, described the services provided by his team through examples of three recent projects:

Service #1: Technology Innovation and Educational Support 

Example: Jefferson Trust Grant 2021, “VR In Medicine” 

Implementation of a new model of medical case observance training that has never been offered in medical schools before using VR captured live medical procedures. To be implemented in 2022 Internship Readiness Program (4^th-year medical student course). 

Grant Educational Team: 

1. Dr. Kathryn Mutter, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine. 

2. Dr. Margaret Sande, MD, MS, MSHPEd, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine. 

3. PA. Samule Beishline, Department of Radiology 

4. David Moody, IT Director ,Claude Moore Health Sciences Library 

Service #2: Technology Investigation and Grant Support 

Example: Hospital Wayfinding Project – accessible mapping solution for UVA & UVA Health. 

Implement new UVA and UVA Hospital wayfinding resources utilizing 3D Lidar technology and MazeMap.com, https://use.mazemap.com/?campusid=50 

Project Team: 

1. Project Executive Director – Maitri Patel (2^nd year medical student) 

2. Student Support – Lena Nguyen, Nora Dale, Susannah Cutler (School of Engineering) 

3. Staff Support/Leadership – Anson Parker (UVA Medical Library), Derrick Stone (HIT) 

Service #3: Video Production and Multimedia Presentation Services 

Example: Clinical training, patient education, & research submissions 

The Claude Moore Health Sciences Library averages over 100 video and multimedia production consultations every year assisting nearly every department across the School of Medicine. Recent Patient Education examples include: HPV, “Ask the Doctor” series, Diabetes & Menopause, Colonoscopy, Lung Series, UVA Oral History, Thyroid Ablation with RF. Recent Clinical Training examples include: Anesthesiology Series, PNSO Clinical, Heparin Dosage, Trauma Cap, Restraint training, Pyxis, Transplant Ed for Nurses, Nursing Resiliency. 

During her tour of the Historical Collections Department, Dr. Kibbe admired the Iron Lung. In the MILL (Multipurpose Innovative Learning Lab), she took the opportunity to experience a 360-video created for a class via the Library’s VR headset.
 

     Dan Cavanaugh, Alvin and Nancy Baird Curator of Historical Collections, was pleased to offer Dr. Kibbe and her team a brief tour of the department’s space and share some of its work. While the department has a small staff- employing only two full-time professional archivists (Dan, and Emily Bowden), it is responsible for a wide range of duties, including:

• Supporting education in the history of medicine across the University of Virginia and the local community through exhibits, lectures, and instructional assistance
• Acting as stewards of special collections and archives in the Health Sciences Library. These include rare medical texts dating back to 1493, over 1,000 medical artifacts, Walter Reed's papers, and the permanent records of the UVA School of Medicine and UVA Medical Center. Except for a few items whose access is restricted by law, Historical Collections make all of its materials publicly available to benefit students, faculty, staff, and community members.

In recent years the department has focused its work on three areas:

• developing the tools to preserve historically significant digital records (e.g., websites, email, office files, digital photographs, and video) 
• growing the collections that document the history of UVA Health
• addressing a lack of material in our collections that document the experiences and work of individuals who belong to historically underrepresented groups.

Currently, Historical Collection’s time is spent on an initiative to document the local history of the pandemic at UVA and in the local community. With limited resources, the department is focusing now on preserving ephemeral online resources (web pages, videos, etc.) that are at the most significant risk of being lost. At some later date, Historical Collections hopes to gather resources that will likely exist for at least a few years after the pandemic (oral history interviews, personal records, physical artifacts).

       Kimberley Barker, Librarian for Digital Life, works to educate members of the Health System about contemporary health-related issues such as net neutrality, climate change, artificial intelligence, and reputation management. Barker is also responsible for the Library’s marketing efforts, and serves as Chair of the Library’s IDEA (Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility) committee. It was about these topics that Barker spoke, sharing information about the committee’s accomplishments since its establishment in 2020 and its goals for 2021-2022.

       The Library employees involved in the tour were grateful for the opportunity to share not only their work, but also their enthusiasm, plans, and hopes for the Library’s future. It was a pleasure to host you and your team, Dean Kibbe; we hope that you’ll come back soon!
 

The Library’s physical space is open 24 hours per day and is staffed between 8:00 AM-5:00 PM, Monday-Friday. The website, with its LibGuides and electronic access to databases and ebooks, is always open: https://guides.hsl.virginia.edu/

Are you intrigued by what you read in this article? If so, and you’d like to learn more about the Library and how we can assist you, ask us!