Category Archives: Library Staff

Answers to October 2024 Library and Archives Trivia Contest

Posted on by

Out of the 423 entries received, we had one perfect score! Congratulations Ishrat Durdana! We had a tie for runner-up, Teri Lipscomb and Austin Matheis both only missed one. Thanks to all who participated! 

  • The UT Southwestern Library was founded in 1943. 
  • Southwestern Medical College was started by Dr. Edward H. Cary. 
  • The UT Southwestern Library’s Website can be accessed by all of the above. (Services Tab, Education & Training Tab on UTSW website, UTSW Clinical Portal, Google search by name)
  • You can get help from all of the above. (Ask Us link, Library FAQs section, and In Person Library assistance M-F, 9AM-4PM)
  • There are 9 librarians on staff at the UT Southwestern Library. 
  • The services offered by the library were all of the above. (Interlibrary Loan, exam proctoring, classroom reservations, and on-campus print services)
  • The oldest book in the Archives was published in the 16th Century. 
  • There were 1733 article requests for our Interlibrary Loan Unit that were filled in FY2024. 
  • The temperature setting of the archives is 63 degrees Fahrenheit. 
  • Our ILL Unit borrowed 485 items from other institutions for our patrons in FY 2024. 
  • Our library ILL services invoices can be paid by all of the above methods. (Check, Interdepartmental Request, and Credit Card)
  • We had 1436 document delivery requests filled for patrons in FY 2024. 
  • Writing a Literature Review is the most popular Library class.
  • In FY24, the Library had 920,437 books in all formats(e.g., print, electronic, audiovisual, etc.).
  • As an author, I can create profiles to manage my publications and scholarly activities in all of the above. (My Bibliography, ORCID, Scopus, and Web of Science)
  • Violet Baird began the Archives for the University. 
  • The Library’s most popular point-of-care resource is UpToDate. 
  • The Library subscribes to all of the above USMLE and Board Preparation resources (BoardVitals, StatPearls, and USMLE First Aid).
  • All of the above were new additions to the Library this year (Privacy Pods, Acoustic Tiles, New Carpet, and New Patterson Exhibit Space).  
  • The Library’s most popular subject guide in FY24 was the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Guide. 

Answers to the October 2023 Library Quiz

Posted on by
  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

Posted on by
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!

Are you feeling anxious about AI and ChatGPT? You are not alone!

Posted on by

Currently, there is a paralysis taking hold regarding Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools including ChatGPT. Your librarians recognize this and are diligently working to provide information, education, and guidance about this topic. The primary challenge we are encountering is the rapid rate of changes occurring while developing supportive content for our users. In attempting to meet the education needs about AI, we quickly find that our content is outdated before we can get close to completion.

However, with the enormous efforts by the Library’s AI/Chat GPT Work Group, we are excited to announce the newly published Artificial Intelligence Guide. Additional thanks are directed to University of South Florida Libraries for allowing use of their content, as well as the many librarians on staff at UTSW who reviewed and edited the guide.

Several of our library leaders and librarians attended the South Central Chapter, South Chapter, and Medical Librarian Association Joint Meeting in New Orleans on September 21-26, 2023. During the meeting, it became clear we are not the only ones struggling to address the topic of AI and AI tools like ChatGPT. Recognizing the scope of the needs surrounding AI, a new collaborative effort formed called the AI Response Coalition (AIRC). This group is led by RaeAnna Jeffers, RN, BSN, MS-IS, Services & Partnerships Unit, UT Southwestern Health Sciences Digital Library.

Rae is soliciting multidisciplinary participation in AIRC from professionals with expertise in many domains of knowledge. The aim is to reduce duplication of efforts contributing to waste of resources, creation of educational content, and to organize a collective response to AI development and implementation. The AIRC welcomes your participation and expertise as we work toward better solutions. Those who are interested can provide their contact information on the AIRC Contact List. Questions can be directed to: airesponsecoalition@gmail.com

As educational content is developed, offerings from our librarians will appear in the Library Events and Classes Calendar and cross-posted in other communications. Thank you for your patience.

Meet Jill Whitfill, MS, MSHI

Posted on by

On April 1, 2023, Jill Whitfill returns to UT Southwestern as Research Librarian. Most recently, Jill was the Library Director and Medical Sciences Librarian at Bethel University in McKenzie, Tennessee. She also serves as an Adjunct Instructor, Health Informatics Curriculum, at the University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Biomedical and Health Information Sciences. During her first time at UT Southwestern, Jill was in the Department of Family and Community Medicine. In her new role, Jill will provide and grow our library services by developing innovative information solutions to serve the faculty, staff, and students at the new University of Texas Southwestern School of Public Health as well as other areas of the University.

October is National Medical Librarians Month and American Archives Month!

Posted on by

In fiscal year 2021, Library staff partnered with clients to discover and apply information for clinical, health care, educational, and research purposes, including:

  • Answering over 2,600 reference questions
  • Teaching 374 educational events attended by 1,799 clients
  • Processing over 4,800 interlibrary loans and document delivery requests

Thank you for using the UT Southwestern Health Sciences Library and Digital Learning Center!

Interview with Chianta Dorsey, University Archivist

Posted on by
University Archivist Chianta Dorsey

In honor of American Archives Month, we are interviewing UT Southwestern’s University Archivist, Chianta Dorsey.

What are your principal duties as Archivist, and in which of these duties do you invest the majority of your energy?

My main mission is to collect, preserve, and provide access to the institutional history of UT Southwestern Medical Center. Most of my duties are devoted to physically preserving these materials but also to making them available to the UTSW community and external researchers. Accessibility is so important because, for all the work we put in to preserve materials, we want people to use them for education, instruction, and research.

What do you enjoy most about being an Archivist?

I enjoy the many people that I get to meet and the stories that they tell. There is this misconception that archivists only spend time with the materials, but I spend a lot of time engaging with people across UTSW’s campus and outside of it.

What are some unique or interesting items that you have in the UTSW Archives?

There are many, but I’ve found Edward Cary’s patient book, from his residency at Bellevue Hospital in New York during the 1890s, to be pretty interesting. Cary meticulously described his patient’s habits and symptoms and even drew charts and data that must have taken a lot of time to write. We have a book related to biomedical research performed during the Voskhod space flight that was led by the Soviet Union from 1964-1965. We have the only known copy since the others were ordered to be destroyed. Lastly, we have essays written by Donald Seldin during his time studying at New York University. It’s very interesting to see his interpretation on some classic works of literature.

What are some projects that the Archives is working on now?

We’re working to roll out our first archives management system. This will be an online portal where people will be able to search, find, and request our materials more easily. I’m also working to organize the Dean of the Medical School records, which provides a nuanced look into the first 40 years of UTSW’s history. While the records detail our immense growth in the fields of medicine and science, it also provides insight into how broader social issues penetrated the campus.

Are there any new directions in which you would like the Archives to go?

I hope to work more with instructors who teach medical humanities electives on campus. I’ve partnered with two medical humanities classes to present materials from the Archives related to the history of medicine, so I would like our role to expand in that area.

We’ve also been working to build our digital preservation program. Much of the materials being generated is born-digital so we want to ensure that we are able to preserve records and documents being created in various digital formats. Our COVID-19 collection, which documents the institution’s response to the pandemic, is our first complete born-digital collection. As of today, none of it consists of physical documents or materials.

How can materials in the Archives be accessed?

If someone would like to view materials in the Archives, they can make an appointment to access them. You can contact us through our email at archives@utsouthwestern.edu to set up an appointment or inquire about any of our materials.

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

Posted on by

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.

UTSW South Campus Library re-opens May 1st

Posted on by

As the UT Southwestern campus transitions to Phase 3 on May 1, 2021, the Library is excited to welcome our UT Southwestern users back to the Health Sciences Digital Library & Learning Center!

Our ability to remain open depends on you – the users – following the new Phase 3 guidelines. These guidelines have been developed to protect the health and safety of you and others.

  • All Library spaces are individual study and by reservation only.
  • UT Southwestern continues to strongly encourage – but no longer require – the wearing of masks by students, faculty, staff, and guests in nonclinical areas of our campus.
  • Maintain the standard 6 feet of physical distance between yourself and others.
  • Practice hand hygiene.

Together we can safely transition to Phase 3 and remain open. Thank you for helping ensure the health and well-being of yourself and others.

To reserve your study space, go to the Library Reservation System.
A UT Southwestern Library Space Reservation Tutorial is available to walk you through the steps.

For more information, visit the UT Southwestern Library Re-Opening Guide.