UTSW South Campus Library re-opens May 1st

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.

New acquisitions at UT Southwestern Archives

October is American Archives Month. This year at the UT Southwestern Archives, we have been busy acquiring new collections related to the institution’s history. We continue to actively collect and preserve materials that highlight the contributions of faculty, staff, students, administrators, and organizations to the social and academic life of the university. New collections always reveal unknown or obscure facts about the campus’ history, its people, and its culture. Some of our new collections include:

The Donald W. Seldin Papers:

The Donald Seldin papers document the life and career of UT Southwestern professor and physician Dr. Donald W. Seldin. The collection consists of 18 linear feet of correspondence, photographs, collected writings, speeches, and scholarly works produced by Seldin during his lifetime. His papers provide insight into the evolution of the Department of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, his impact in the field of nephrology, his interest in medical ethics, and his professional relationships with colleagues nationally and internationally. Dr. Seldin’s career at UT Southwestern started in 1951 when he was recruited from Yale University, where he graduated from medical school in 1943. In 1952, he became Professor and Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine. He led the department for 36 years where he recruited distinguished physicians and researchers and guided the development of his students into Southwestern Medical School faculty.

The Jo Ann Carson Papers:

The Jo Ann Carson papers document the career of UT Southwestern professor and dietitian Dr. Jo Ann Carson. The collection consists of 4 linear feet of correspondence, photographs, writings, notes, reports, ephemera, minutes, and research created and collected by Carson as an educator of Clinical Nutrition in the School of Health Professions for 45 years. Carson’s papers display the growth of the Department of Clinical Nutrition at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, her scholarship on nutrition, her studies on cardiovascular risk and obesity, and her work with organizations such as the American Cancer Society and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Carson began her career at UT Southwestern in 1974 as an Instructor in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics (now named the Department of Clinical Nutrition) and served as its Chairman from 1985-1986. She received her Ph.D. in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Texas at Austin.  

The Dean of UT Southwestern Medical School Records:

The Archives is currently embarking on processing the presidential records of UT Southwestern’s first president Charles S. Sprague (1972-1986). When the project began, it was assumed that the records were only related to the administration of Sprague. However, records created during the administration of previous Deans of UT Southwestern were found hidden within the Sprague records. Records from the tenures of Tinsley R. Harrison (1944-1946) and Atticus J. Gill (1954-1967), both Deans of the Medical School before the Office of the President was created, were discovered. A few of the highlights that have been uncovered so far include documents related to the university’s early relationship with the military; UT Southwestern’s relationship with the Dallas medical community and Southwestern Medical Foundation; and the growth and development of the medical school.

The Faculty Women’s Club Records:

The records of the Faculty Women’s Club (formerly the Faculty Wives Club) document the history of the organization and its affiliation with UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. The organization was founded in 1943 by wives of full-time faculty at UT Southwestern. The purpose of the group was to welcome newcomers to UT Southwestern and to promote fellowship among the campus community through events and programs. The collection largely consists of 5 linear feet of scrapbooks, photographs, newspaper clippings, newsletters, meeting minutes, and directories created by the organization during its 76 years of existence. The records display the activities of the Faculty Women’s Club which included providing scholarship money for UT Southwestern students, hosting events for patients at Parkland Hospital, and planning social gatherings for the UT Southwestern’s faculty and students.

The UT Southwestern Archives is open to the UT Southwestern community and external researchers. We are available, by appointment only, Monday – Friday from 9 am to 5 pm. Please email archives@utsouthwestern.edu for questions or to make an appointment to view any of our collections.

Visit the UT Southwestern Archives for more information.  

New changes to Library printing

The Library Printing system has undergone some major changes highlighted below:

  • No more print cards!
    Library print cards will no longer be used going forward. Over the past three months, we have been slowly removing swipe card functionality from our print system.
  • New print release station 
    The new print release station is directly opposite the old swipe station. You can now release your print job with your UT Southwestern username and password. When UT Southwestern Information Resources disables someone’s UTSW account, the print account will also be disabled. (Note: The old release station will remain available for another few weeks for card holders to use up their balances and only reflect account cards issued in the last six months.)
  • Adding funds?
    You may add funds via the cash box to your print account that is now connected to the new print station. The process is the same as it was with the old station.
    Users can also call 214-648-2626 to add money to their account with a credit card.
  • Secure printing
    Users can now only see their own print jobs when they log into either the new release station or PrintCenter, which is the website used to release print jobs.
  • No more print job passwords!
    When you submit a print job, you will no longer be asked to provide a print job password along with the print job name. Your UT Southwestern username and password will now be used. Upon logging in, select the print job, and select the print button to release your job to the printer.
  • Need a print account?
    Currently, this is a manual process while our staff finalizes the automation process. If you require a new account, please send an email to Charles.Robinson@utsouthwestern.edu. Charles reviews all system transactions daily and adds anyone that has attempted to use the system but received an account error.

Library moves to card-free printing

The Health Sciences Digital Library and Learning Center is upgrading its printing service and will no longer require cards. The system will now be administered through the campus active directory, allowing users to login with a UT Southwestern username and password.

Additional value can be added 24/7 with a $1, $5, $10, or $20 bill and/or coins at the designated South Campus (main) Library Printing Account Station and Cash Box (E2, Station #1). There are no refunds once funds have been added.

If you wish to pay by personal credit card, IDR or check, please call x82626 (214-648-2626) or visit the Library Administration Office at Bass Center (BL5.500), Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Any balance remaining on a Library Card may be transferred to the new system upon request before January 1, 2018. Please email Charles Robinson with the  information below to request your card balance transfer before the card system is permanently retired.

  • Your full name
  • Library print card number
  • UT Southwestern username

What is an archives?

by Catherine Miller, CA, Digital Archivist, UT Southwestern Library

What comes to mind when you hear the word “archives”? Do you immediately picture your email “archive” or an “archive” that you see on a blog site? Or do you think, “Hmmm, archives says to me dust, old stuff, attics, or basements”? Or do you say to yourself, “I have no conception of what that means”? If any of the above is true, then this is an exciting opportunity to introduce you to what an archives is.

To understand what an archives is, it is useful to compare archives and libraries. Indeed, my favorite analogy for explaining the difference between archives and libraries is the following:

“Libraries are to restaurants – AS – Archives are to grocery stores”

When you visit a restaurant, you select a meal from the menu, and the meal is prepared for you: you receive the meal at the restaurant table as a finished product. When you visit a library, you browse the shelves and select a book to read: the book you choose is the synthesized finished product of research from various sources that have been interpreted for you and presented to you in the neatly bound book you hold in your hands. Conversely, when you go to the grocery store, you are getting the raw materials to assemble a meal yourself. For example, the ingredients for an awesome spaghetti dinner include pasta, tomatoes/tomato sauce, onion, green pepper, ground beef, etc. Just as you have to bring together the various materials to make this awesome spaghetti, archives are all about bringing together records from various creators to tell an awesome story. Working in archives, you become the aggregator of information (the cook, so to speak) who is piecing together the records of history so as to tell a story. With archives, you are the interpreter of records, unlike with reading a book, where the information presented has already been interpreted by the author.

Archives contain unique records that a researcher will not find anywhere else. This is a main distinguishing factor between the work of librarians and the work of archivists. Generally, librarians work with published, widely distributed books that you can find in any library.[1] Archivists generally work with non-published materials such as an individual’s personal papers that you will only find at one institution. For example, the UT Southwestern Archives has the records of Dr. Alfred G. Gilman in our Alfred Goodman Gilman Collection. It was donated by Dr. Gilman in December 2012 and contains records which a researcher will only find by visiting the UT Southwestern Archives. The international impact of research is illustrated in one way by the following document that you will only find in the Archives here at UT Southwestern:

Now that you have an idea of what an archives is and how they differ from libraries, here’s a brief introduction to the UT Southwestern Archives. The UT Southwestern Archives is responsible for collecting, processing, preserving, and providing access to the records essential to documenting the administrative, intellectual, and social life of UT Southwestern Medical Center. The Archives is dedicated to documenting:

  1. The mandated functions of UT Southwestern Medical Center and our University Hospitals: education, research, and healthcare delivery
  2. The governance and administration of UT Southwestern Medical Center
  3. The lives of faculty, staff, students, and alumni of UT Southwestern Medical Center
  4. Parkland Memorial Hospital, which has been UT Southwestern’s long-time teaching hospital

The Archives has both institutional records and manuscript collections that contribute to telling the larger story of UT Southwestern’s history. You can learn more about the Archives’ holdings by visiting our webpage. The Archives holds many photographs documenting UT Southwestern’s built environment, research activities, faculty, students, etc. Over 700 of these photos have been digitized and are available to view online in the UT Southwestern Image Archives.

Curious to learn more about the UT Southwestern Archives and about the work that archivists do? Send us your questions at archives@utsouthwestern.edu!

[1] There are exceptions to this rule in the library world, with rare book libraries and special collection libraries being two immediate examples.

“We’re on the move!”: Library relocates archive and history materials

St. Paul Hospital on Harry Hines Blvd., babies in incubators being moved into new building (1963)

Like the St. Paul nurses in the photo above, Library staff will soon be moving some precious cargo of our own! The UT Southwestern History of Medicine and Archives Collections are in the process of being shifted to different locations. The archives’ records are currently stored in multiple library locations. This move will result in most of the UT Southwestern Archives being consolidated into one storage space, which will provide easier records processing and reference services. (Quick archival education side note: “Processing” is the arrangement, description, and housing of archival materials for storage and use by patrons.) Additionally, a local area is being renovated for other materials.

In preparation for the move, Library staff have been re-housing archives materials into acid-free folders and placing these folders in acid-free boxes. It is general practice in archives to house unbound documents in acid-free, lignin-free, buffered file folders, which are then stored in chemically-stable document storage boxes. These improvements are important steps toward ensuring a better preservation environment for the thousands of records that document the institutional history of UT Southwestern.

During the move, reference services for the archives will be temporarily placed on hold. While our physical archives are moving, don’t forget about the access you have to the archives via various online resources.

  • Our UT Southwestern Image Archives collection has over 700 photos documenting the history of UT Southwestern and 300 photos detailing Dallas’ medical history.
  • The UT Southwestern Institutional Repository is an amazing source of information for accessing some Medical Student Research Forum posters and other student publications, historical UT Southwestern documents, Grand Rounds materials, and much more!

Other activities requiring the archives may also be suspended or delayed; we will keep you updated via social media and through the Library News blog. Stay tuned, however, for we will be holding an archives grand “re”-opening for UT Southwestern faculty, researchers, students, and staff once the move is completed.

Questions? Contact the archives at archives@utsouthwestern.edu.

“National Clean Off Your Desk Day” + “National Clean Out Your Inbox Week” + records management = fun!

Credit: Highsmith, Carol M.,

Credit: Highsmith, Carol M., “Cluttered desk at the historic Harrison Brothers Hardware Store, Huntsville, Alabama,” Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540, http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/highsm.16835

I know what you’re thinking…how could the combination of cleaning off your desk, cleaning out your inbox, and managing records be fun? Well, I’m here to tell you!

Spring cleaning is not just for straightening up your house – it can be for the office, too! And it doesn’t have to be done in the spring! The month of January is a busy month where “spring” cleaning of your office records are concerned.

January 9, 2017, is National Clean Off Your Desk Day, and January 23-27, 2017, is National Clean Out Your Inbox Week. Now, you may think these days are solely about being able to see the surface of your desk again and not having thousands of emails bulking up your Outlook account. However, they also provide a wonderful opportunity for records management and archives professionals to talk about the importance of managing records and archives.

What is “records management”? The Society of American Archivists defines it in its glossary as “the systematic and administrative control of records throughout their life cycle to ensure efficiency and economy in their creation, use, handling, control, maintenance, and disposition.” All records have a life cycle that ends with either the record’s destruction or the record’s transfer to an institutional archives.

Records management can be overwhelming. Thankfully, UT Southwestern’s Materials Management Department, who manage administrative records retention on campus, has some helpful resources to which we can refer. The Open Drawer newsletter provides essential information about how to manage your UT Southwestern administrative records, including email. The June 2015 issue is especially relevant to this month’s “National Clean Off Your Desk Day”, as it provides useful hints on how to analyze the records you have to help you dispose of them and organize them into a filing system that allows you to efficiently and effectively locate records. As the newsletter notes: “Regularly decluttering unnecessary papers will pay off in time savings the next time you are searching for a document.”

April 2015’s Open Drawer speaks right to “National Clean Out Your Inbox Week” as the entire issue is dedicated to email management. UT Southwestern employees will also find that reviewing the resources linked from the Records Retention webpage on the Intranet and the Records Retention Schedule will be helpful in guiding them to make decision about the records they have created and how long they need to be retained.

Regarding email management, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission’s The Texas Record blog has several posts UT Southwestern employees may find informative at the following link: https://www.tsl.texas.gov/slrm/blog/tag/email/. One post of especial relevance to “National Clean Out Your Inbox Week” is the FAQ on how to set up an email filing system. And no blog post discussing records management would be complete without a records management comic:

recordsmanagementgetsautomated1-colour-32

Credit: Lappin, James, “Automated Records Management,” Thinking Records blog, https://thinkingrecords.co.uk/2013/09/24/automated-records-management/

So what does all this talk about managing the records on your physical and virtual desktop have to do with archives, you ask? Isn’t this just records management, plain and simple? Well, that is the magic of records management – it is uniquely tied to the goals of archives management! An effective records management program results in an effective archives management program because you have ensured that records of temporary value are disposed of when their designated retention period ends while records of permanent, historical value to the university are preserved and maintained so that they may be accessed far into the future. This is why records retention schedules are so important and abiding by them cannot be stressed enough: they are the roadmap that ensures that temporary records are destroyed when needed while permanent records are transferred and preserved in the archives. Ensuring that the records of long-term, historical value are maintained in an institution’s archives is a necessary component to that institution being able to tell its story to future generations.

Need more help getting advice about clearing your desk off? For records management related questions, you can find contact information on the Intranet’s Records Retention page. Curious to learn more about UT Southwestern’s archives? Email us at archives@southwestern.edu.

May 20 Rare Book Room Open House: Women in Medicine

PLEASE NOTE: The previous title had incorrectly stated the event as May 29.

From patient to practitioner, the compelling history of women in medicine includes Metrodora, Fanny Burney, Mary Eliza Mahoney, Ruth Sanders, and more. Stop by the Health Sciences Digital Library & Learning Center’s Rare Book Room (E3.314D) on Friday, May 20, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for “Women in Medicine“. Books, letters, photographs, and other materials in the library’s special collections featuring women in medicine will be on display, and Library staff will be available to show relevant highlights in the digital collections. For more information, email archives@utsouthwestern.edu.

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April 29 Rare Book Room Open House: Spotlight on Tuberculosis

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On Friday, April 29, 2016, stop by the Health Sciences Digital Library & Learning Center’s Rare Book Room (E3.314D) from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for “Spotlight on Tuberculosis”. Learn more about books, reports, journals, artifacts, stamps, and other materials in the library’s special collections that illuminate the history of tuberculosis in medicine. Additional resources will highlight connections to the disease in literature, music, and art.

The Library offers a monthly series of open house events to the UT Southwestern community that feature different topics of interest from the special and digital collections. If you want more information about this event or others in the monthly series, please contact archives@utsouthwestern.edu.

Images courtesy of Images from the History of Medicine (IHM), a collection of digitized images from the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s (NLM) Prints and Photographs collection.

January Open House Event at the South Campus (main) Library: "Medical Eponyms"

ArchivesJanv6

The Health Sciences Digital Library & Learning Center will offer a monthly series of open house events to the UT Southwestern community that feature different topics of interest from the Library’s special and digital collections. The first event entitled “Who Named It?: Medical Eponyms in the Collections” will be held in the Rare Book Room (E3.314D) from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. on Tuesday, January 12.

Medical eponyms offer a fascinating window into medical history. They can also be contentious, controversial, or inaccurate. Despite these drawbacks, medical eponyms are sometimes catchy, easy to remember, and can prove remarkably enduring, long outliving their namesakes. Not all are biographical. Alice in Wonderland syndrome (AIWS), Mozart ear, and Henry V sign are a few from literature and music.

Drop by the open house event on January 12 and explore the connections between medical eponyms and their namesakes. Items by or about Baron Guillaume Dupuytren, Moriz Kaposi, William Osler, and many more will be on display from the special collections. Staff will also be available to also show relevant highlights in the digital collections.

Need more information about this particular event or others in this monthly series? Contact archives@utsouthwestern.edu.