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University of Nebraska Medical Center

McGoogan News

Keeping the Library and the Landfill Clean – Campus Sustainability Month

Written by Kelly Gonzalez

Libraries, by definition, are sustainable spaces by promoting the use, return, and reuse of materials, but McGoogan Heath Sciences Library is taking it a step further. 

The library provides white board markers and highlighters for students to use, and while they aren’t quite reusable, they can be recycled! On any regular day, roughly 205 white board markers are available for use around the library in study rooms and on mobile white boards. AskUs staff make regular rounds throughout the library to replenish supplies and tidy the space. During this process, old, dry markers are identified, collected, and diverted from the regular trash. 

So far, the library has saved almost 8 lbs of old markers and highlighters from being thrown away! These expired items will be sent to the Office of Sustainability to be recycled through the TerraCycle program. The library also provides microfiber erasers and cloths for white boards that are washed and reused, further preventing waste from entering the local landfill. These efforts are keeping the library, campus, and the community just a little cleaner during Campus Sustainability Month and all year long.

UNMC Published Journals in Digital Commons: An Open Access Week Conversation with the Editors 

Man silhouette looking up at nighttime sky lit up with stars and open access logo.

By Heather Brown

On October 22 from noon – 1 p.m., McGoogan Health Sciences Library will host a panel discussion of UNMC based journal editors in observance of International Open Access Week. The editors will discuss their experiences starting and maintaining an open access scholarly journal. Panelists will represent three journals that are hosted in the McGoogan Library’s DigitalCommons@UNMC repository.  

  • Graduate Medical Education Research Journal (editors: Chandrakanth Are, MBBS, MBA, FRCS, FACS and Premila Leiphrakpam, MBBS, DGO, PhD) 
  • Innovations in Health Sciences Education Journal (editors: Elizabeth Beam, PhD, RN and Maha Farid, MBBCH, MS, PhD) 
  • Translational Science in Occupation (editors: Nancy E. Krusen, PhD, OTR/L and M. Nicole Martino, PhD, OTR/L) 

This panel will be presented via Zoom.
Registration (https://unmc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_N-HPK4-KTnGJ3rS_73bViA) is required. 

DigitalCommons@UNMC is an institutional repository provided by the McGoogan Library. Scholarly works of UNMC faculty, staff, and students are represented in this open access platform that is searchable in Google and Google Scholar. The journal platform within DigitalCommons@UNMC contains full editorial and peer review management, as well as an analytics dashboard and is available to the UNMC community members wishing to publish a recurring open access journal. For more information, contact Heather Brown at hlbrown@unmc.edu.   

Meet Our Newest Team Member!

Image of Savanna in navy suite and light purple shirt

By Courtney Kilroy

The McGoogan Library team is excited to welcome Savanna Falter as its most recent addition. Savanna began her position as Collections Specialist in August. She works primarily with the College of Nursing collection as a part of our Special Collections and Archives department.

“I’m excited to help manage the College of Nursing collection and help preserve and share the legacy of nursing at UNMC,” Savanna said. “It’s a meaningful opportunity to make these materials more accessible and engaging for students, faculty and researchers.”

Savanna comes to the library with plenty of previous experience in archives and the arts; she has held prior roles with the Christian Petersen Museum, Iowa State University Special Collections and Archives, Joslyn Art Museum, Pottawattamie Arts, Culture, and Entertainment, and Omaha Performing Arts, as well as with private art collectors. Savanna holds BAs in Anthropology and Art History from Iowa State University, where she also minored in Classical Studies.

“I enjoy curating and creating exhibitions that highlight diverse and underrepresented stories,” Savanna said. “I’m passionate about uncovering and amplifying lesser-known histories, especially in the areas of history, identity, and cultural memory.”

When she’s not doing collections work, Savanna enjoys writing, visiting museums, and watching vintage films.

Welcome Savanna!

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Writing Center supports UNMC students, faculty and staff each step of the way 

Man writing on paper with silver pen

Written by: Courtney Kilroy

Whether you’re writing your first research proposal, having trouble finding the right words for your resume or searching for just one more set of eyes to go over your dissertation, the trained consultants who staff The Writing Center @ UNMC are exactly the right people to help.  

A collaboration between the McGoogan Library and the University of Nebraska at Omaha Writing Center, The Writing Center @ UNMC is available to all UNMC students, faculty, and staff for assistance with all types of writing, from class assignments to publication manuscripts. The staff are eager to help you with your writing, no matter where you are in the process.  

You can book an appointment online by heading to the Writing Assistance page on the McGoogan Library website and selecting “The Writing Center @ UNMC” as your appointment location. 

The Writing Center is housed in the library’s Design Hub space on the sixth floor of Wittson Hall, right next to the AskUs desk. The Center also offers virtual hours so you can get help from wherever is convenient for you. See their full fall schedule and make an appointment here

ACS Read and Green and Discounted APC Agreement 

Turquoise background with laptop open that morphs into a book

Written by: Heather Brown, MA

The McGoogan Health Sciences Library has an agreement with the American Chemical Society to waive article development charges in its hybrid journals. This fee is required for depositing an accepted manuscript into a repository like PubMed Central without an embargo. This agreement fulfills the requirement for NIH funded articles. Additionally, for authors who wish to publish their article fully open access, a discount on the article processing charge is available. The joint agreement was negotiated by the University of Nebraska Consortium of Libraries for all University of Nebraska authors. It is available for manuscripts accepted between August 1, 2025 and December 31, 2027. The submitting and corresponding author must be the same. More details are available in the library’s Open Access Publishing Discounts online guide. Direct questions to Heather Brown, hlbrown@unmc.edu, Scholarly Communications Librarian.