Health Sciences Libraries

One of the reasons people advocate for open access publishing is the idea that the article will receive more citations — and thus the author will be able to show a greater scholarly impact. Three University of Minnesota librarians decided to investigate whether the evidence supported this idea. They ended up winning a Medical Library Association Award for their work.

Learn more about the vision for the Health Sciences Library, located in the new Health Sciences Education Center from Library Director, Janice Jaguszewski, which was built upon one key question: “How can we bring together librarian expertise, digital content, flexible spaces, and new technology to advance teaching and learning and really help prepare our students to become the next generation of health care providers?”

Del Reed’s first job in the Libraries was a two-week stint moving furniture. About 40 years later, he recently retired from the Health Sciences Library as liaison to the Center for Bioethics, the Medical Division of Physical Therapy, and the Center for Allied Health. He says: “I don’t have any regrets about the career that chose me.”

By supporting campus researchers and by doing their own research, U of M librarians carry out key roles on campus and in their profession.

The Data + Visualization Lab is one of the new services offered through the new Health Sciences Library. Shanda Hunt, Public Health Liaison and Data Curation Specialist, says it fits well with other libraries activities. To better promote its use, Hunt is offering workshops and an online guide to help users get started.

When COVID-19 was starting to spread earlier this year, fourth-year medical student Elle Newcome asked herself how she could be helpful outside of the clinical space. Since she had been sewing since she was young and had a personal design business, "I saw my piece fit in the puzzle,” she says, deciding to make cloth face masks. But she also decided to do research on the efficacy of cloth masks worn by healthy individuals in a community setting.

Research Services Liaison Caitlin Bakker recently won an Affiliated Teaching Award from the University of Minnesota Medical School for her work last year with the Family Medicine Collaborative Scholars Intensive Course.

Health Sciences Library’s move into the state-of-the-art Health Sciences Education Center supports interdisciplinary education across the health sciences. “This is really a new set of services and a new set of expertise we’re getting ready to share with the University,” says the library's Emerging Technology Strategist Jonathan Koffel. He wants to get the word out about how tools like virtual reality can influence physicians’ practice and training, data visualization can help public health practitioners to tell their stories, and how the Makerspace can support innovation among health providers.

The staff of the Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine are back in the kitchen to try their hands at making cheesecakes from 1540! This time - taste testing support comes from the Lisa’s of the Libraries - including our new Dean of Libraries, Lisa German.

In this student reporter post, history major Kaylee Morlan shares why she loves working at the Wangensteen Historical Library while taking classes that feature the library’s collection, and how she uses her ever-growing knowledge of the collection to help her fellow classmates contextualize course concepts.

The Libraries' Policy and News Media Impact Service helps health faculty measure the impact of their work — from media coverage to changes in health policy.

Nicole Theis-Mahon, Librarian Liaison to the School of Dentistry & Health Science Libraries Collections Coordinator, was recently promoted from Assistant to Associate Librarian with continuous appointment (similar to tenure).

Escape rooms have been gaining popularity nationwide, and with the move of the Wangensteen Historical Library to a new location, escape rooms are being used to share the little-known world of the history of biology and medicine!

UMN Pediatrics residents Kate Policht and Heidi Moline wanted to find a way to provide meaningful, actionable information for busy medical residents at the University of Minnesota and beyond. This resulted in the creation of the MN TotDish podcast, with content developed in collaboration with Medical Librarian Caitlin Bakker and technology support from the Libraries.

Curators Lois Hendrickson and Emily Beck of the Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology of Medicine are always sharing their collection and expertise with historical materials with students, faculty, researchers, and scholars. And while no day is typical, it is not surprising that they are typically busy. In this post, we’re looking back fondly to March 2, 2020 when our buildings were open and bustling with people – detailing the events of a single hour during an “average” day in the Wangensteen Historical Library.

The University of Minnesota Libraries and the MLA Academic and Research Library Division (ARLD) are pleased to announce a free professional development activity on library assessment. Join us on Zoom Wednesday, July 8 from 1:00 p.m. — 3:00 p.m. to learn about the Project Outcome for Academic Libraries surveys and resources. Project Outcome is a free toolkit that provides academic libraries the means to easily measure outcomes and use data for improvements and advocacy. The survey covers instruction, events and programs, research, teaching support, digital and special collections, space, and library technology. Free. Registration required.