Fire alarm system components in the library and Wittson Hall will undergo scheduled maintenance from September 14 through mid-October. Work will take place Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. During the maintenance, workers may need access to study areas and other library spaces for short periods of time. We expect minimal disruption to library users, but there may be brief periods of light construction noise.
The library will remain open and available for studying and other activities throughout the project. Thank you for your patience while this work is completed. Please contact AskUs@unmc.edu with any questions.
Clothes might not make the person, but they tell us stories about people’s lives and what roles they play in society. An upcoming Health Sciences History Hour lecture will share the stories of UNMC nursing students through what they once wore.
McGoogan Library Collection Specialist Savanna Falter will deliver the talk, “Stitches of Identity: Nursing’s Story through the Uniform,” online from noon to 1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25.
The lecture reaches all the way back to World War I and through to the 1990s, displaying how nursing uniforms teach us about “shifting expectations of training, professionalism, gender roles and patient care,” Falter said in a description of its scope.
“Stitches of Identity” examines everything from “early starched dresses and caps that signaled discipline and hierarchy to later, more practical and individualized attire,” she added.
Falter will seamlessly guide the audience through issues of identity, authority, practical purposes and more over nearly a century’s worth of daily work and wear by UNMC College of Nursing students. Hear more during this online-only lecture during the noon hour on Sept. 25.
Healing at Home: Midwives, Households, and Everyday Medicine is on rotation from Aug. 24 to Oct. 26.
The history of American medicine cannot be told through hospitals and clinics alone. Its stories extend into the familiar confines of home, where resilient and resourceful women led the way, serving as nurses, midwives, and everyday healers in rural and newly settled communities. In the Healing at Home: Midwives, Households, and Everyday Medicine rotation, explore how women assumed authority over community and family health through rare books on domestic medicine, midwifery manuals, infant care texts, and artifacts from the McGoogan Library collection.
The “From Colony to Country: Medicine in America’s Founding Era” exhibition at the Leon S. McGoogan Health Sciences Library celebrates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Stories and artifacts provide opportunities to examine different topics related to health, illness and healthcare during the colonial period, the Revolutionary War and the early American republic.
The exhibit, located on Level 8 of the library, rotates every two months, highlighting different topics through rare books and artifacts.
The exhibit is also accessible online, and we welcome requests for tours by emailing history@unmc.edu.
A recent refresh of the McGoogan Library cataloginterface will provide users with a “cleaner … less cluttered” experience.
That’s how McGoogan’s Alison Bobal describes the new look, adding that the update is more visually appealing and intuitive and created with accessibility in mind.
Visitors to the catalog today will meet an image of the library’s colorful “spine” of books and journals, along with a simple search bar and five boxes that address frequent user needs, such as reserving study rooms, anatomical model pickups and more.
Bobal praised Library IT Systems Coordinator Beau Billings’ work leading the implementation, a job which literally began on Day One of his tenure. Billings, Bobal and others worked to preserve and carry over the best, most functional aspects of the previous interface; received input from teams across the library on how the catalog should work; and surveyed library staffers on color schemes and design elements.
Catalog users will more immediately be able to find the information they seek. And an update to the search functionality allows for more natural language if the user is unsure which exact keywords to use.
On the library’s end, the system allows for quicker, easier changes to the interface.
On the whole, the catalog feels more welcoming, Bobal said, which should satisfy users looking for the best information along the best timeline possible.
As library users interact with the refreshed site, they can contact the library through AskUs with any questions or feedback.
Courtney Kilroy at the AskUs desk // photo illustration by Carli Cominoli
Ride an elevator or take the stairs. However you reach Level 6, you’re likely to encounter a friendly, knowledgeable face ready to help you make sense of McGoogan Library’s many resources.
Staff at the AskUs desk not only exist as a sort of front door to the library, they’re also the eyes and ears of the space. The AskUs team notices student needs and identifies patterns in the use of library services.
With the pendulum swinging back toward the fall semester, it felt right to check in with the eyes and ears of McGoogan Library: Tyler Hamilton, Courtney Kilroy and Durrett Winter. While answering at separate times, the trio fielded the same set of questions, building perspective on what to know and think about when entering the library.
What is one thing you’d like students, incoming or returning, to know about the library?
“The space is meant for you,” Hamilton said.
This means students should feel freedom to rearrange the furniture in a given area “to make the space more effective and comfortable for your studying”—without moving anything out of the library, of course, Hamilton added.
Also, “there are no bad questions—please just ask us,” Winter said. McGoogan librarians work from a desire to match students with the resources they want and need, Winter added.
Toward that end, “your librarians want so badly to help you that they got degrees in it,” Kilroy noted.
“Build a relationship with your liaison librarian, especially if you’re planning on doing any original research this semester,” they added. “They give the best advice when it comes to how the library and our resources can and will work for you specifically in your time at UNMC.”
Is there one misconception or FAQ about the library you’d like to identify and answer or address?
You don’t have to know anything about the library before using it, Kilroy emphasized.
“Many folks approach us under the impression that they should already know everything about the library and what we offer,” Kilroy added. “Some seem to feel a level of embarrassment for not already knowing the ins and outs, even if it’s their first time in the space or using a resource! That feeling makes sense, but I really don’t want it to get in folks’ way of asking for help.”
Echoing Winter, there are no “silly questions,” Kilroy said, reminding patrons that what librarians don’t know, they will find out.
The most common question encountered by AskUs staff, Hamilton said, has to do with “searching for and accessing articles.” That process is a sort of “art,” Hamilton added, “between which journals and publishers we have access to and during which time range as well as the technical difficulties that can occur.”
Not least of student concerns: how to use the space itself, Winter said. Knowing where to study (anywhere on Levels 6 and 7), which is the more collaborative level (6) and which is the quiet level (7) goes a long way, they said.
What is one library resource or offering you’d like to see students take advantage of during this school year?
Hamilton hopes students will make use of research guides created in-house.
“We have so many covering so many topics, and I feel like many could be a game changer for schoolwork,” they added. “It is common for us to offer or reference a research guide when answering questions.”
Similarly, Kilroy touted the use of interlibrary loan.
“You ever find the perfect article for your paper and then lose all hope once you hit a paywall? No more with the help of our interlibrary loan service,” they said.
Through interlibrary loan, students can request such articles “and we will try to find a library somewhere in the world who can loan you a copy,” Kilroy added—often “within a day.”
And Winter wants students and librarians to engage in a help us-help you sort of relationship. Making use of AskMac, an after-hours, human-created and -informed chatbot, will help librarians improve the service, they said. Similarly, checking out—and requesting new items—from the library’s collection of anatomical models, one among many available collections, will ensure students have the tools they need to learn and grow, Winter said.
What is your favorite physical space, big or small, within the library?
These in the know identified areas such as the “little nook we have under the stairwell” to Level 7, as Hamilton did.
“We have study buddy plushies, foldable lamps, foot pedals, and fans that students can use while studying,” Hamilton noted.
Winter appreciates the leisure reading area along that same stairwell, a “low-key” place to read and/or enjoy library architecture. The Connection Corner on Level 6 also offers a quiet reading spot—or chances to enjoy sky peering through the windows—while still remaining connected to the hum of other people, Winter added.
And, Kilroy said, “there are days where I need to sit in the pitch darkness and utter silence, and nobody’s got me like the reflection rooms on those days.”
“They’re wonderful and worth seeking out when you need to decompress,” Kilroy added.
Find the AskUs desk and its thoughtful staff on Level 6, just off the elevators, outside the writing center, online via chat from the library website or at askus@unmc.edu.
