Category Archives: Library Facilities

Introducing the St. Paul Hospital Alcove 

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This section of the library is dedicated to the 118-year history of St. Paul Hospital. Originally named St. Paul Sanitarium, the institution started out on Bryan Street in east Dallas. First operating out of a small cottage in 1896, and opening its new hospital doors in 1898, the sanitarium was established by the Daughters of Charity with the intent to help maintain a base level of care for Dallas’ growing population. In 1900, St. Paul’s School of Nursing was opened on the hospital grounds. Early on, sisters would visit patients in their own homes and bring items like food and clothing, in addition to medicine, to improve their overall quality of life. Free clinics were later opened as extensions of the hospital in other neighborhoods in Dallas. These clinics continued the work started by the sisters, providing food and clothing to those in need in addition to routine medical care. 

St. Paul Hospital was at the center of several historic events. The institution was a key defense during the 1918 influenza pandemic. Forty-five tents were erected on site to facilitate a larger reach of patient care, primarily of the sick soldiers from nearby Camp Dick. Later, the hospital was the first facility in Dallas to integrate their facility, admitting an African-American intern in 1953, and giving black doctors courtesy privileges as early as 1954. This was followed by the admission of black students to the School of Nursing in 1955, staffing of black physicians in 1956, and full de-segregation in 1959. 

In 1963, a new facility was opened on Harry Hines Boulevard and all 112 patients were moved in only five hours. A feat that mirrored the great fire of 1951, when all 250 patients and employees present were evacuated from the old hospital successfully. The move to the new facility was in part due to the growing partnerships in the Medical District along Harry Hines, and at UT Southwestern Medical Center. After decades of growth and collaboration UTSW bought St. Paul Hospital in 2005, fully cementing St. Paul’s place as part of UTSW’s Medical Center. After all of their innovations and historic firsts, St. Paul Hospital ended it’s time in Dallas in 2014. That year patients and staff were transferred to the new William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital and in 2015, St. Paul University Hospital was demolished.

St. Paul Exhibit
St. Paul Hospital Alcove in South Campus Library

New Additions to the Library’s Permanent Exhibits

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Next time you’re on South Campus, stop by the Library (E2.200) and view the Special Collection and Archives’ additions to the Library’s permanent exhibits. Depicted in the image below are:

(A) Disease Case Studies Ledger from Bellevue Hospital by Edward H. Cary, M.D. 1898-1899. MSS0032. History of Medicine Collection.

(B) Draft sketch for the David Novros fresco in Gooch Auditorium. MSS0067. Medical Artifacts Collection. – Note: This is one of Library’s newest additions, which came from the Dallas Museum of Art.

(C) Ernest Poulos, M.D., bust, portrait, and a group picture and letter from the dedication of the bust. MSS0068. Department of Surgery Collection. – Note: The bust was made in 1996, and the photo features the chief residents who were under Dr. Poulos in 1989.

(D) Edward H. Cary, M.D., bust. MSS0067. Medical Artifacts Collection. – Note: The bust was made in 1929 and presented to Dr. Cary by the Baylor University College of Medicine.

(E) Painted and glazed fireplace tiles. 1890. MSS0030. St. Paul Hospital Collection. – Note: When the hospital was built in the late 1890s, heat was provided by both radiators and fireplaces.

(F) Assorted ceramic apothecary jars. 1930-1959. MSS0077. Leon A. Harris Apothecary Jars Collection.

Answers to the October 2023 Library Quiz

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  1. You can access the UT Southwestern Library’s Website from the Services Tab on MyUTSW site, Education & Training Tab on the UT Southwestern website, UT Southwestern Clinical Portal, and Google Search by name.
  2. The Library has 555,806 books in all formats in FY23(e.g., print, electronic, audiovisual, etc.).
  3. The most popular Library class is Writing a Literature Review.
  4. As an author, I can create profiles to manage my publications and scholarly activities in My Bibliography, ORCID, Scopus, and Web of Science.
  5. The Library’s most popular point-of-care tool is UpToDate.
  6. The Library subscribes to the following USMLE and Board Preparation resources: BoardVitals, StatPearls, and USMLE First Aid.
  7. The Library’s most popular subject guide is About the Library.
  8. Nine librarians staff the UT Southwestern Library. 
  9. Interlibrary loan, exam proctoring, and classroom reservations services are offered by the Library.
  10. The Interlibrary Loan Unit filled 2285 article requests in 2022.
  11. The Interlibrary Loan Unit borrowed 684 items from other institutions for our patrons in 2022.
  12. There were 899 document delivery requests filled for patrons in 2022.
  13. Our library ILL services invoices can be paid by check, interdepartmental request, and credit card.
  14. The UT Southwestern Library was founded in 1943.
  15. The oldest book in the Archives was published in the 16th century.
  16. The temperature setting of the Archives in 63 degrees.
  17. Violet Baird began the Archives for the University.
  18. Dr. Edward H. Cary started Southwestern Medical College

Congratulations to our winner Katarina Yaros who received the top score!

CORRECTION: In-person service by Library staff resumes November 1

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Effective November 1, 2023, the Library’s Services & Partnership Unit resumes in-person service from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday (excluding holidays). We are excited to return to the physical space now that we are in a post-COVID environment and construction of the new O’Donnell School of Public Health is complete.

Your “Librarian on Duty” consult area is in room E2.304 located across from the O’Donnell School of Public Health’s Dean Suite. Directional signage will appear soon, and a librarian will circulate through the physical space throughout the day to connect with all our users.

As always, you can request assistance or services in the following other ways:
– The Ask Us link.
– Looking up common questions in our FAQs.
– Calling 214-648-2001.
– Searching though the vast educational support offerings contained in our Subject
Guides. 

Your librarians appreciate and support the work you do with our community and each other! Thank you!

New Artifacts on Display at the Library

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Just in time for National Archives Month, we are proud to tell our community that the Library has exhibits again! The mini exhibits consist of artifacts from the various collections that are housed at the UT Southwestern Special Collections Library and Archives. This first round of materials includes travel surgery kits, microscopes, a medical book from Dr. Edward H. Cary, and more. In addition to the new items in the display cases, we are redoing the permanent exhibit on St. Paul Hospital. Stop back for more on that soon!  

A Big Library Welcome and New Guide for Peter O’Donnell, Jr, School of Public Health

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The Library would like to welcome the new Peter O’Donnell, Jr. School of Public Health and all its faculty, staff, and students.

A Public Health Research Guide has been specifically created to assist with work and studies. Within the guide you will have easy access to state, national, and global public health resources, access to notable electronic resources, information on Evidence-Based Practice and Evidence-Based Public Health, as well as general information on EndNote, Responsible Searching, and more. There are also quick links to many library services.

For assistance, please contact Jill Whitfill, Research Librarian, either by email at jill.whitfill@utsouthwestern.edu or on Microsoft Teams.

South Campus Library Construction Update

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6/13/2023 UPDATE

Please be aware of construction and likely disruptions in the library July 15th-16th. They will be working behind a barrier to install the glass wall and doors between the library and the School of Public Health. Please be aware and make alternate study arrangements, if necessary.

4/17/2023 UPDATE

The demolition and reconstruction of the central stairwell in the library space will be taking place after the last week of final exams. Starting around 3pm on Friday, April 28th and extending through the end of the day on Monday, May 1st.  Office of Medical Education confirmed that no classes or exams will taking place from 4/28/23 to 5/5/23. 

3/2/2023 UPDATE

Crews will be working in the back hall, room 300 and in group study rooms BG4, BG5, BG6 that are hall (next to the vending machines) adjacent this weekend. They will be doing duct work and some finishing. These rooms will be unavailable from Friday evening to Sunday evening. 

2/15/2023 UPDATE

There will be disruptive duct work and finishing construction in the back hall, room 300 and in group study rooms BG4, BG5, & BG6 (next to the vending machines) this weekend. These rooms will be unavailable from Friday evening (2/17) to Monday morning (2/20).

Please post an update on the library site about the closure and the increased noise.   I have reserved them on the site so that they are offline and put signs up tomorrow. Just to be safe, they will be unavailable until Monday at 7am. 

12/29/2022 UPDATE

There will be disruptive construction in the E2 library entrance area on the weekend of January 6th. While the installation of the temporary doors took place around 2 weeks ago, they are not yet working.  The relocation of the door openers and closing of the current main entrance to the Library space will take place the weekend of 1/6/23.  After that, the recently installed temporary doors will serve as the primary entrance to the Library and the Office of Medical Education, as well as the stairwell to the Team-Based Learning.  At that time, the new vinyl construction barrier will go up between the current entry area and the Library space, making the current main entrance defunct.

12/7/2022 UPDATE

Group study rooms BG4, BG5 and BG6 will be closed over the weekend from 5PM on Friday December 9th until Monday December 12th at 8AM.  There will be disruptive demolition and construction in the E2 library entrance area on Saturday, December 10th.

12/5/2022 UPDATE

The contractors have now constructed the temporary and some of the permanent walls in the E2 space to separate the construction zone from the library space and the Office of Medical Education.  See the pictures below of the walls that were constructed this weekend.  They will be taking down all the vents/ductwork in the SOPH space on the other side of the walls, so there is a potential for noise this week.  There is a distinct lack of light in the stairwell entry now and Library Administration will be emailing our contractor and facilities/design about it.  Hopefully, they will have a solution.

11/30/2022 UPDATE

There will be loud/possibly disruptive construction taking place in the library space every Saturday for at least the next month.

Construction taking place on 12/3/22 will be the walls in front of the stairwell to the door of the OME and around the main entrance to the library doors.  Those doors will remain open and functional until a new entry door is installed.  They anticipate the new door will be installed on 12/10/22, possibly on 12/3/22, if time allows. 

The weekend following the installation of the new door, the opener/badge readers will be relocated to new door and entry will be relocated.  They anticipate the stairwell demolition and construction will take place at the end of December.   

Duct work construction on the ducts from E2.300 to across the hall will close group study rooms 200, 202, and 300 on 12/10/22. 

Library’s Normal Operations Restored

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As the Campus moves to restore near or essentially normal operations, the Library returned to full capacity on Monday, February 21, 2022. To protect the health and safety of Library users and staff, the following guidelines remain in place:   

  • Reservations are still required for Group Study Rooms, Individual Study Rooms, Tables and Library Classroom.
  • Reservations are encouraged for Computer Workstations with Specialty Software and the two Public Workstations.
  • UT Southwestern continues to strongly encourage the wearing of masks by students, faculty, staff, and guests in nonclinical areas of our campus.
  • Maintain safe distancing.
  • Practice hand hygiene.

A Year in Review: UT Southwestern Library’s Response to COVID-19

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As we welcome our UT Southwestern community back to the Health Sciences Digital Library & Learning Center space in May 2021, we’d like to reflect on what we have done to make it safer for you to come back over the last year. The Library Staff of 16 spent a combined total of over 2,250 hours on COVID-19 related projects in the past year. Our list of contributions is as follows:

  • Created the comprehensive COVID-19 Library Guide.
  • Conducted COVID-19 mediated searches with related clinical, research, and administrative purposes.
  • Created, maintained, and performed daily searches to maintain the Campus’s COVID-19 Funding Opportunities directory.
  • Selected and created the Library Reservation System for safe studying and contact tracing.
  • Instructed CME class related to searching for COVID-19 topics.
  • Processed Interlibrary Loan requests with safety precautions.
  • Planned and implemented the closing of the physical North and South Libraries and then the opening of South Campus Library, including publishing the UT Southwestern Library Re-Opening Guide.
  • Planned and made necessary changes to workflows and staff remote set-ups to allow full continuation of research and instructional services.
  • Had multiple discussions and made decisions for additional resources related to COVID-19 for inclusion the Library Guide.
  • Learned and networked about handling COVID-19 in medical libraries via professional organizations, webinars, and conferences.

Bitty Babu, the Library’s Database Analyst, complied our COVID-19 service hours and provided the following visualizations for our efforts.