View from the 5th – September 2015
September 2015 – Fall Colors Highlight an Evolving HSL
“We are impressed with the HSL’s innovative resources that are above-and-beyond the typical offerings of a university’s library, such as the standing desks, laptop rental, the accessibility of librarians and research support, and the general positive atmosphere of the HSL. We can literally feel the good vibes as soon as we enter the door!” – Team of Allied Health students after completing an HSL scavenger hunt
Starting a new academic year comes with an unmatched sense of excitement, unlike any other time of year at Carolina. We’re inspired by our new students, like the first year Allied Health students quoted above, who are just learning about the wealth of resources and services available to them at the HSL.
So much goes into our “good vibes” at the Library — we work every day to create a welcoming environment that offers exactly what our students need for their work. We constantly aim to be relevant to changing technology and practice. To that end, you might have noticed subtle changes to our building, which are part of a larger, forward thinking building plan. We are able to be both flexible and responsive to our users’ immediate needs because of the generosity of donors like you. This fall, we’re thrilled to join the University’s new “Food for All” theme with an exhibit on the nutritional history of North Carolina. Finally, our commitment to inspiring creative thought in our spaces continues with new art, available now and coming soon.
View photo slideshows of our current exhibit and art featured in the Library. (Photos by Robert Ladd)
At the HSL, we’re dedicated to providing the spaces and tools that our users need to excel in their work, today and in the future. We’re grateful for the commitment of our donors, whose support drives us further in this mission.
Sincerely,
Christie Degener
Interim Director, Health Sciences Library
Rethinking our spaces, an update on HSL building improvements
“Feeding a Healthy North Carolina” exhibit joins UNC’s “Food for All” theme
Rethinking our spaces, an update on HSL building improvements
Every year, our future nurses, doctors and health care practitioners of every profession are being taught in more collaborative and interdisciplinary classrooms. Technology and methodology for teaching change so rapidly, it can be hard to keep up.
At the HSL, we constantly strive to provide the resources and services that align with our students and practitioners’ work, to help them meet their ever-evolving goals. In the past year, we’ve conducted research and had thorough discussion with our users, advisers and staff to inform our long-term building plan.
In the meantime, we’ve worked to make minor improvements to our building, so that we can be both responsive to users’ expressed and anticipated needs. We’re fortunate to have worked so diligently in our last renovation, completed in late 2004, to build a space that was both forward thinking and flexible. Today, we’re able to easily and inexpensively make non-invasive improvements to our spaces that bring a high return on investment for patron use, resulting in higher satisfaction among our users.
Student driven enhancements
The Student Library Advisory Board (SLAB) allocated some of their funding for a water bottle filling station and three new standing desks. In our application, the HSL promised to match SLAB’s desk donation, effectively tripling the amount of standing workstations available in the Library. These are heavily in demand by students as more research comes out about the harmful effects of sitting and the benefits of standing desks.
Adding more student study space
In several areas of the Library, we were able to remove underused shelving and rearrange furniture to dedicate more space to individual and group study. On our fourth floor, we have redistributed our print journals to take up less space. The fourth floor is a highly coveted space for quiet, individual study, and the additional seating is being well used.
Added consultation spaces
HSL librarians regularly have one-on-one consultations with students, faculty and patrons – sometimes several times a day. Finding space to have in-depth conversations with students and provide instruction on how to carry out their research and manage the results is often a challenge. Earlier this year, we added two new consultation spaces in our second floor staff area, particularly for Research Hub work, but available for patrons to work with Library staff one-on-one or in small groups on any topic.
Online tutorial and data visualization studio
As higher education in the health affairs evolves, technology and visual expression of data have grown increasingly more important. Our librarians are regularly asked to assist faculty with online educational technologies, fair use and copyright questions, finding and creating classroom materials, and tutorials and guides. Many times, HSL librarians create custom guides and tutorials locally and teach part of the content in person or online. The tutorial and data visualization studio features a dedicated computer with software and hardware needed to create online tutorials, classes and the like.
“Feeding a Healthy Carolina” exhibit joins UNC’s “Food for All” theme
HSL is proud to debut its latest exhibit, “Feeding a Healthy North Carolina,” in the first floor, S. Columbia St. cases, on display until mid-December. This exhibit highlights images, recipes and cookbooks that display the rich food culture throughout the history of North Carolina and fits with the new campus theme, “Food for All: Local and Global Perspectives.”
View photos of the exhibit. (Photos by Robert Ladd)
The 2015-2017 “Food for All,” theme follows the 2012-2015 “Water in Our World” focus on global water issues. The new theme encourages every area of the University to consider the theme related to some aspect of their academic work, applying a wide-range of topics like nutrition, history, economics and sustainability.
All images in the Columbia Street cases are from the newly launched, North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection, which was recently added to the Medical Heritage Library, a digital curation collaborative among some of the world’s leading medical libraries. The flat cases near the User Services Desk on the first floor have a variety of recipes and cookbooks submitted by HSL staff members. Special thanks to staff members for their exhibit contributions: Karen Crowell, Jim Curtis, Bob Ladd, Diana McDuffee, Pam Roberts, Steve Squires, Monica Samsky, Susan Swogger, Barbara Tysinger, Dee Stuckey, Mary White, and John Wysor.
Art at the HSL
“It is the tension between creativity and skepticism that has produced the stunning and unexpected findings of science.” – Carl Sagan
Thanks to HSL art committee members Karen Crowell and Bob Ladd, the HSL has been dedicated to bringing new creative works of art to the Library. The HSL is currently featuring William W. Knauth, a student in the School of Information and Library Science; Jeff Kiefer a local artist from Hickory, North Carolina; HSL’s Bob Ladd; ArtBrake! artists Linda Anderson, Richard Seed, and Carol Kroll; and participants in the 2015 Scientific Art Competition.
View a sampling of the available art below (Photos by Robert Ladd):
