Alternative Spring Break

Reflections

Caitlyn Epley

Through the Alternative Spring Break program, I had the opportunity to work with the Historical Collections Librarian and Metadata Librarian from the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s Health Sciences and Human Services Library on a metadata remediation project. The goal of the project was to make the metadata for the materials available in the “Dental Illustrations” portion of UMB’s digital archive more accurate and complete. There were approximately seventy items in the collection, and many of them had confusing and/or misleading metadata, such as multiple authors when there should have been just one or descriptions that quoted a book that the library did not have direct access to. During the week, we were able to address the metadata for over half of the collection.

From this project I gained more of an understanding of the process of metadata remediation and how to make records clear, concise, and correct for library patrons. An important step in improving a metadata record is to research the material that the record describes. For art pieces, image search tools like Google Lens are useful, because you can directly search for instances of the art piece across the web, even if the title of the work is uncertain or unknown. If there is an identical copy of the piece on another archive or museum’s website, it can be useful to compare the metadata listed there with the metadata for the piece being edited. It is also important for the metadata across records in a digital archive to be consistent. For example, if one record in the archive lists the author using the Library of Congress’ syntax for their name, all authors in the digital archive should follow that model.

Outside of the work on the project, I also had the opportunity to meet with many of the librarians at UMB’s library. The other participants and I learned about the responsibilities of the different positions and what education and skills they had. We were also given advice from various librarians on applying for and interviewing for jobs, as well as continuing to develop as professionals throughout our careers. From this experience, I feel more prepared to advance in my career and I have expanded my professional connections. I am so grateful that I was able to participate, and I appreciate all of the work that went into making this program happen.

Jack Jenkins

For the 2025 Alternative Spring Break Program, I worked with the University of Maryland’s Health Sciences and Human Services Library (HSHSL). Under the guidance of Amy Yarnell, the Head of the Data and Bioinformation Services Department, I collected and organized information about various data visualization tools and software to develop a guide for students and faculty.

One of the most rewarding things from this experience was seeing how many of the concepts and theories that I have learning about in the program come into play. For instance, many of the tools and software I was researching were ones that I am currently working with in my LIS 662 Data Analysis and Visualization class. In fact, the week after spring break, we began working on an assignment that utilized one of the tools I had just done research on. I was also exposed to LibGuides which is great due to my LIS 629: Introduction to Health Informatics class having a final project concerning the creation of a health science guide. Again, I cannot stress how beneficial it was to be able to connect course concepts with that of practical hands-on work.

It was a great experience to talk to the various librarians at HSHSL and hear their insights on librarianship. Their input on the job market and what their career paths have been like offer insights that one cannot get from simply reading a book or online article. I hope to become a health/medical librarian once I graduate from the program, but I have always had an interest in data as well. Getting to see the fields of health and data combine in this project was wonderful to see and helped solidify just how broad and expansive the world of librarianship is. I highly encourage MSLS students to take advantage of the Alternative Spring Break Program at UK, it provides an experience that will help you learn and build valuable skills for the future.

Sara Neahring

As someone interested in health information and data literacy, I was really excited to have the opportunity to work on a project with the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) and the University of Baltimore’s Health Sciences and Human Services Library (HSHSL). My project involved visualizing data related to the Region 1 members of the NNLM. These are the questions I was tasked with exploring:

• What is the distribution of active members across each state?
• What is the distribution of organizations across each state?
• Which states or organization types show potential need for increased outreach efforts?

I worked with Christine Hislop, the Data Services Librarian at the HSHSL. We met first thing each morning to discuss plans for the day and reconvened each afternoon to debrief about my progress and address any issues I had encountered. At the beginning of the week, I explored different data visualization tools. Eventually I settled on Tableau as it was very easy to figure out in a short period of time. I ended up creating nearly 30 visualizations that explored the data in different ways. It was a great way to apply some of the knowledge and skills I’ve gained through my LIS coursework to a real-world experience.

 Although the project was the main focus, it was not the only activity of the week. Throughout the day, three other interns and I had Zoom meetings where we were introduced to different positions within health science librarianship. We were even able to meet with the library dean. I also had the opportunity to attend a Scholarly Communications Committee meeting, which gave me a glimpse into a presentation project being collaborated on by a few of the librarians.

 At the end of the week, all of the interns gave five-minute lightning talks about our projects. It was really great to see what everyone else had been working on throughout the week. All of the projects seemed really interesting. I would highly recommend this experience to other LIS students. It was a great way to get to know librarians working in the field, gain professional experience contributing to a project for a reputable information organization, and get advice about job searching, ways to build up a resume while in school, and opportunities for continued professional development. This experience will certainly be a very memorable part of my time in the MSLS program.

Ashley Schappacher

Over this past spring break, I worked with the Network of the National Library of Medicine Region 1 on communication content. This project included looking at social media statistics, newsletter and blog content, webinars, measures of reporting, and social media post creation. This experience was a crash course into the world of non-profit organization and medical librarianship.

I worked very closely with Faith Steele to create over seven weeks of new social media content for Region 1 to post and utilize. Throughout the week, I gained hands-on experience analyzing engagement metrics, understanding audience trends, and tailoring content to enhance outreach. I reviewed past social media performance to identify what resonated most with followers and applied these insights to craft impactful posts. Working alongside Faith, I learned the importance of strategic communication in nonprofit organizations, particularly within the realm of medical librarianship. I saw firsthand how social media and digital content play a crucial role in connecting healthcare professionals, researchers, libraries, and the public with reliable medical resources. One of the most valuable aspects of this experience was understanding the balance between data-driven decision-making and creative content creation. I became more proficient in using analytics to refine messaging strategies while also ensuring posts remained informative and engaging.

This opportunity deepened my appreciation for the impact of health information access and reinforced my interest in effective communication within nonprofit settings. I am grateful for the chance to contribute to Region 1’s outreach efforts and walk away with a stronger skill set in digital content strategy and engagement.

On a personal level, this experience boosted my confidence in navigating professional settings and collaborating on meaningful projects. I felt empowered contributing to an organization with such a critical mission, advancing health information access. Professionally, I strengthened my communication, project management, and content strategy skills, all of which are transferable to future roles. I also gained a clearer vision of how I can merge my interests in health, information, and outreach. This week was not only educational, but also truly inspiring and affirming for my career goals. 

Jay Stringer-Vaught

I knew going into my internship at the Music Division in the Library of Congress from March 17-21 that I would be walking the halls of a legendary space and, therefore, would likely be introduced to some of the United States’ most precious artifacts; however, I had no way of anticipating the possibility of seeing so many exclusive items in one day!

My first day I was overcome with excitement getting the chance to see everything from locks of Beethoven’s hair (yes, you heard me right), Irving Berlin’s handwritten “God Bless America” manuscript—a love letter to the United States for his 1918 show, “Yip Yip Yaphank,” and, my personal favorite, the complete collection of Marvin Hamlisch’s PEGOT awards (Pulitzer, Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony). The latter was especially surreal for me as a die-hard fan of Barbra Streisand, whose creative collaborations with Hamlish have received national and international acclaim. I even had the opportunity to visit the Library’s Flute Vault that houses the piccolo used to premiere the famous piccolo solo in Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” There, I spotted the poster where Lizzo had drawn hearts next to the flutes she tried on her visit—an act that shows the Library is a living, breathing thing and its lore continues to grow. Some of the most knowledgeable people in the world have introduced me to enough stories and songs from the past to fill my lifetime. Yet, the marvelous thing about it all, is that I have only seen a minute fraction of the offerings here.

My week aligned with a particularly incredible moment as the Music Division had just acquired newly donated boxes of Stephen Sondheim’s works. This collection is extraordinary—not just because of what is in it, but because of the fact it still exists at all. A fire broke out in Sondheim’s home in 1995 and, though the boxes containing the scores were scorched by the flames, by some absolute miracle this music survived. I saw original manuscripts for my favorite Sondheim musical, “Sweeney Todd,” with original lyrics that never made it into the final versions of his shows. The best part for me was seeing his writing process–on a humble legal pad there are scribblings of rhyming words in the margins where he drafted his unforgettable songs. This was not some grand, polished piece of history—it was a simple, deeply transformative insight into the human experience we all share with those we consider as the greats.

I wrote in my application that spending my spring break at the Library of Congress would be more than a mere work opportunity for me, but a sort of pilgrimage as a proud, American librarian. For me, my Library of Congress reading card is a right-of-passage. Sure, history is preserved here–in folders, behind glass, sometimes in temperature controlled vaults–but it is also held in people’s hands, regularly shared with visitors such as myself, and made to come alive. It was an honor to be part of that, even for a short time. I am leaving this experience with deep gratitude, a renewed sense of purpose, and an even stronger belief that libraries are not just about books or music or artifacts—they are about keeping history alive.

Reflections

Zoë Blackwell

This past week was a complete whirlwind, and I learned an abundance of information about collection development at the National Library of Medicine.  First, Ariah Long was a great organizer and was supportive the entire week and before the program started.  She helped me out with completing my paperwork and gave an overview of what the program would consist of a week before it even started.  During the program Ariah reached out regularly and scheduled several meetings.  These meetings were with the collection development and web archiving team at NLM and with Dr. Jeffery Reznick, the senior historian for the History of Medicine Division at NLM.  

The first day consisted of an introductory meeting where Lydia, Lauren, and I met the project sponsors that we would be working with over the week.  Lydia and I’s sponsor was Caitlin Sullivan the Technical Information Specialist with the NLM’s web archiving team, and she better explained the steps of the project in detail.  Lydia and I were going to do the following:

1. Research the NLM and NIH research initiatives and choose a topic.
2. Research the NIH and NLM research initiatives related to that topic.
3. Create a collection development proposal for that topic consisting of web links.

I decided to research LGBTQ+ health resources as my topic and found many NIH and NLM initiatives related to that topic.  Over the course of the next three days, I wrote an introduction for my collection development proposal, researched NIH and NLM initiatives regarding LGBTQ+ health, discussed the collection development policy of the NLM, discussed the scope of this proposal, and found and documented websites for the collection proposal that were both government and organizations/advocacy groups.  On Friday, I created a short PowerPoint presentation to present my proposal to the collection development team via Zoom.

During the week we also had an informative meeting with Dr. Jeffery Reznick, in which he discussed his background, working for the NLM, and the process of obtaining government jobs as soon to be graduates.  We had to come up with questions regarding the readings that he had sent us several weeks before the meeting and I asked the following:

1. How do you determine what materials to archive?
2. How do you emphasize the importance of medical archives to the general public?

His answers were thorough and enlightening, specifically in how to convey the importance of medical archives.  Medical archives show us a snapshot of our history and the NLM is attempting to collect more materials relating to marginalized and underserved populations in the field of medicine such as BIPOC and women.  He briefly mentioned the Tuskegee experiments and the impact of having those archives today as well.

Overall, the alternative spring break program was a fantastic opportunity, and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in and studying library science at the University of Kentucky.  I am incredibly grateful for all the help and support that was offered by the entire collection development team, Dr. Jeff Reznick, and Ariah Long.

Patsy Carruthers

I spent an Alternative Spring Break working on the Historic Class Notes project for the University of Maryland, Baltimore, Health Sciences and Human Services Library (HSHSL). During the week, I met daily with my supervisor, Historical Collections Librarian Tara R. Wink, MLS, who not only provided resources for my participation but also engaged in an ongoing dialog with me about library work in general and specifically at HSHSL.

My primary assignment was to transcribe the lecture notes of Dr. John C.S. Monkur, who lectured at Washington University of Baltimore Medical School in the 1840s and 1850s. I selected Lecture 22nd: Broussais Theory of Fever, which I was able to complete over the course of the week. Learning to transcribe was quite an adventure: first I needed to learn about the history of Washington University and Dr. Monkur, then see another similar lecture to understand how to format my transcription. What do you do when you cannot decipher a word? How do you represent words that are scribbled out? How many rabbit holes do you go down to determine spelling and meaning? The answer is: all of them. All of the rabbit holes.

The lecture was filled with antiquated spellings and handwritten script details. The most time-consuming and interesting part of the project was hunting unfamiliar words, phrases, and names so that I could understand the context of the lecture. When completed, the lecture itself was a fascinating historical view of a time when medicine and its study was advancing, with Dr. Monkur discussing concepts that I recognized were in a growth phase of contemporary understanding. At the same time, Dr. Monkur made clear to his students what was known, what was unknown, and what he considered completely wrong about any of the topics being discussed. He chose his words carefully, and I could almost hear his voice as I typed.

Because I had a particular interest in public transcription projects, such as the National Archives’ citizen archivist project, my supervisor asked me to develop a couple of project outlines for a potential future effort by HSHSL. I had been collecting information about similar projects at smaller libraries, and after gathering a few more details, I assembled outlines for a public participation project and another project driven by artificial intelligence (AI) handwriting recognition software.

One last item I was able to squeeze in was a blog entry about the UMB Hospital’s Women’s Auxiliary, which should post at some point on the HSHSL Updates page. It offered a dive into another interesting area of the UMB Digital Archive, stretching back to the 1880s.

The value of the week has gone far beyond learning to transcribe historic documents. I’ve had the opportunity to work with a professional who allowed me to explore areas of interest while contributing to the real work being done in her library. I came away with broadened horizons and a great sense of personal accomplishment.

Miranda Cheatham

My week-long internship with the NNLM Region 1 office was full of new and exciting information. My main project for the week was to choose 3-5 health observances and create bibliographies of ten items for each health observance. The 5 health observances I chose were “Native American Health,” “Black Maternal Health,” “Alzheimer’s Disease,” “Suicide Prevention and Recovery,” and “Teen Dating Violence.” I used various databases, like WorldCat, ISBNDB, and Google Books, to search for materials that provide information about the aforementioned observances. A few of the books I chose were Through the Eyes of the Eagle by Georgie Perez for Native American health, Pregnant While Black by Monique Rainford for black maternal health, The Last of His Mind, A Year in the Shadow of Alzheimer’s by John Thorndike for Alzheimer’s disease, and Project Semicolon: Your Story isn’t Over by Amy Bleuel for suicide prevention and recovery.

Whenever I wasn’t working on the bibliographies, I was attending meetings over Zoom. I shadowed a meeting between the NNLM and the VA State Library about a future webinar series. The representative from the VA State Library demonstrated a presentation on dementia that could be used as part of a webinar series for libraries in region 1. During this meeting, I learned a lot about how librarians plan for future programs. I also sat in on a meeting about a NNLM region 1 funding opportunity. In this meeting, the executive director of region 1 explained how the funding worked and how to apply for it. The meeting was then opened for questions for first-time appliers. I learned what type of funding the NNLM offers and who can receive it. I also helped moderate a webinar hosted by the NNLM. During this webinar I dropped important links

into the chat of the webinar, and I helped keep track of questions and comments made by the viewers. I was able to peek behind the curtain and see what makes a successful webinar. The final meeting I was able to attend was an education exchange meeting with all regions of the NNLM. During this meeting, each region explained what they achieved or their progress on plans made the previous month. It was interesting to see the outreach each region accomplished.

I started the internship not knowing anything about medical librarianship. I now know a little about the outreach portion of medical libraries. It is something that I’m now interested. It was suggested by the executive director that I should take a consumer health course and I believe I will. This internship gave me another career choice to think about. I would recommend the ASB program to everyone. It was a lot more fun than I thought and I learned a lot about a type of library I had very little knowledge of previously.

Laila Johnson

During spring break, I had the opportunity to work with the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) in Region 1. This experience was insightful as I collaborated with professionals that are dedicated to improving health information resources and services. My primary goal from this experience was to create a list of resources focused on environmental health in marginalized communities. This involved getting material from genres such as film, young adult literature, and graphic medicine.

Through this process I gained a better understanding of environmental health issues impact on marginalized communities and the importance of providing resources that address these issues. The research process was enlightening as I discovered a variety of resources that shed light on environmental health.

Throughout the week I learned a lot from professionals from the webinars I attended. These webinars touched on topics surrounding environmental health. One of the most notable webinars I attended was on emergency preparedness and the roles that librarians play in it. I heard from several librarians from different organizations about their techniques and strategies. Another thing I enjoyed was discussing with other librarians or information professionals how libraries can contribute to the environment with their communities. It was enlightening to see the significant role in times of crisis, providing information to support their communities.

From this experience, I learned about the roles of different librarians. It was eye-opening on how they can contribute to their communities in various ways. One of the most rewarding parts of this experience was the networking opportunity it provided. I had the pleasure of meeting many professionals who were not only knowledgeable, but welcoming and supportive. I feel encouraged to reach out in the future for guidance and opportunities, which is comforting.

Overall, it was a great experience and I believe it has benefited my personal and professional development. It has deepened my understanding of the library profession and connected me with a network of professionals that I can turn to for support and advice.

Lauren Savage

It was a pleasure to have participated in the 2024 Alternative Spring Break program with the National Library of Medicine (NLM). It is difficult to overstate the benefits this week has provided me. My advisor/overseer for this assignment was Judith Eannarino, the lead for the collection development group. The primary goal of my project was to locate specific rare books available for purchase from a list of several materials pertaining to WWI women in medicine. I was provided a list of approximately 70 books which the NLM had expressed interest in acquiring. This task required the use of clarifying questions to come to a common understanding of the hierarchy of condition and publishing date/location preferred by the NLM. Some of the books might have already been in the NLM collection while others may only be available at a single repository elsewhere within the world. For copies of books that could be acquired, my job was to locate the highest quality version I could find and provide a weblink to the listing. I also included the approximate cost for the items found for sale and indicated when multiple reasonable purchases might be available for a single title.

So much was learned and experienced this week! First, my familiarization with reputable sellers of rare and vintage books profoundly increased. Prior to participation in this project, I was mostly familiar with secondhand book sales on Amazon and eBay. However, this week exposed me to Abe Books, Biblio, and World of Books among smaller and independent sellers of rare books. I also learned that sometimes you will find luck in locating and obtaining a copy of a book with the original publisher if not printed more than 20 years or so. Additionally, I became aware of the fact that rarity doesn’t always translate to high cost in the world of older book purchases. At about $125 average per item, the cost to obtain these rare and informationally rich tomes was not as high as expected. In fact, most of the books found listed for sale ended up costing somewhere between $20-$60 each. Finally, I discovered that on-demand reprints may not be preferred to add to a particular collection. Having learned this week that the NLM is considered a library of last resort, this entity is primarily concerned with the preservation of original articles whenever possible. However, it may be better to have a reprint versus no representation at all for a particular subject area or person of importance. Undoubtedly, these lessons learned will translate well into public librarianship and archives work, both of which I am interested in.

Charlotte Stephens

It’s hard to think of a more prestigious library in the United States than the Library of Congress, so I was thrilled to get to be part of it for even a short time. I worked under the supervision of Nicholas A. Brown-Cáceres, the assistant chief of the Music Division. My primary task was to create an exhibit for that week’s Live! At the Library concert featuring Sō Percussion and Dominic “Shodekeh” Talifero.

For my exhibit, I researched the artists performing the concert. I explored their history, their influences, and the pieces they’d be performing at the Library of Congress. I then began to dig through the Music Division collection to find connected materials that would be interesting to display in an exhibit. Once my supervisor approved the material I had selected, we pulled the items and I got to spend some time in the Performing Arts Reading Room to confirm everything would work. The day of the concert, we made labels for the exhibit and installed it outside of the Coolidge Auditorium in the main Library building. That night, I got to work the concert itself, directing patrons and answering questions. Because the concert was part of the Live! At the Library series, there was a lot going on at the Library that night, including a happy hour, book discussion, and trivia. It was so exciting to see so many people brought into the Library. On my final day, I helped with a mini version of the concert for a field trip, took down the exhibit, and wrote a post for the Music Division’s In the Muse blog about my experience.

Though I have installed other exhibitions in the past, I’ve never created one myself. So, this was an incredible opportunity to learn how to go about it. With guidance from my supervisor, I figured out a good approach to creating this exhibit—how to balance the content, how to tie material together, how to balance newer materials with more historic content. The biggest moment of pride for me was that artists really loved the exhibit. In a completely surreal moment, Sō Percussion gave me a shoutout for it during the concert.

Ultimately, this week was a good reminder of the deep impact a library can have—in the lives of patrons, stakeholders, and staff. In addition to the things I learned and experienced in this incredible week, I’m most grateful for making connections to the librarians and other staff at the Library of Congress. I got to spend a week alongside some amazing library professionals. It gave me the confidence in my ability to one day be one myself.

Lydia Tchividjian

During the week of Spring Break, I had the privilege of participating in the University of Kentucky’s Alternative Spring Break program with the National Library of Medicine (NLM). Specifically, I was tasked with helping the NLM Web Archive Team develop a collection proposal on a new collecting topic. The week began with researching the websites of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to identify current priorities in U.S. public health. I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the many integral topics being addressed by both agencies. Following this research and very productive dialogue with my NLM Project Sponsor, the development of a designated web archive about Cancer Research Initiatives seemed pressing and necessary. This was especially true given the current federal administration’s reignited Cancer Moonshot goals to further reduce the cancer death rate and to improve the experience of cancer patients and their families. The National Cancer Institute, other federal agencies, non-profit organizations, and advocacy groups are all striving to achieve these goals. My next task involved compiling a list of web resources representing and describing these current initiatives that would be important to archive. The week culminated in drafting a Collection Development Proposal. The proposed archive could potentially strengthen NLM’s collection of historical resources about national cancer research priorities by consolidating and preserving web content, as well as ensuring continued access.

Throughout this week, I also had the unique opportunity to participate in several conversations with fellow UK ASB classmates and experts in various roles at NLM. It was fantastic to learn even more about digital collections, web archiving, and collection development from those with intricate knowledge and experience. I was amazed by the many resources acquired, collected, and preserved by NLM, as well as the detailed process behind creating a web archive collection, including the use of Archive-It. I now can fully appreciate how imperative it is to collect and preserve historical medical resources and web content for generations to come.

I am currently in my second semester of the Master’s in Library Science program, and this was my first exposure to working in the field. I truly learned so very much. I am grateful for the hands-on, practical experience I have gained through the skilled professionals at this historic library. The fact they each took time throughout the week to share their wisdom, insight, and experiences with us was such a gift professionally. They were kind and encouraging in their willingness to speak about their career paths and provide useful advice as we enter the field of library science. It was also an incredible highlight to witness such comradery and collaboration.

I am confident this will be one of my treasured experiences throughout my library science journey, and I highly encourage fellow students to participate in this valuable program while completing their studies at UK.

Reflections

Abigail Menefee

During my Alternative Spring Break, I had the opportunity to work with and learn from the Department of Library Operations at the National Library of Medicine (NLM). While working with a Librarian in Collection Access Services, I utilized data from Microsoft Dynamics to review, categorize, and analyze customer service tickets from July 2022 to the present day. The purpose of such assessment was to utilize this data to identify trends on the most common requests and issues encountered by patrons and librarians alike. By analyzing these trends, workflows could be updated to ensure seamless customer service at the NLM. For the purposes of this project, my supervisor was interested in exploring customer service tickets related to Interlibrary Loan (ILL) services, including DOCLINE, an ILL routing system. In addition, by developing a system to evaluate these tickets, the NLM could adapt my work and apply its categorization and analysis as part of a sustainable initiative to allow oversight of ILL activities moving forward.

This project involved an understanding of best practices in data manipulation, analysis, and visualization. To complete my review of approximately eight hundred and fifty tickets, I established categories which aided in meaningful evaluation. These categories were later broken down into subcategories due to the identification of interesting trends which warranted further investigation. My understanding in completing this task stemmed from my educational experience in the medical sciences, its focus on data analysis, as well as my professional experience in clinical research. With this skillset I was able to provide my own unique understanding as well as an outsider perspective while reviewing customer service tickets.

Overall, I learned a lot about the challenges librarians experience providing ILL services, an area of librarianship I have not had an opportunity to explore during my education. By reviewing customer service tickets, I familiarized myself with terminology related to ILL services, recurring requests and issues, and how librarians address and resolve such requests and issues with patrons. As an aspiring health sciences librarian, I am likely to interact with the NLM and request materials through DOCLINE on behalf of a patron. Therefore, it seems even more fitting that I have had the opportunity to explore this system during my Alternative Spring Break. In addition, the ability to utilize data to fuel process improvements is a key aspect of oversight and management, another useful skill which will aid me in my journey as an information professional.

Hannah Anderson

I had a wonderful experience with the UK SIS Alternative spring break program and the National Library of Medicine. I worked with Tara Wink at the University of Maryland’s Health Sciences and Human Services Library where she serves as Head Librarian for Historical Collections. The Early Dissertations of University of Maryland collection consists of hundreds of volumes of dissertations, with each volume numbering at least five hundred pages, some upwards of one thousand pages, and all have been scanned as part of a digitization effort. The digitized pages are legible, but not searchable. This project consisted of extracting metadata from the dissertations to insert into a finding aid, which will eventually become a searchable database.

Over the week, I read two volumes which included over thirty dissertations; the topics ranged from the extremely broad, like a philosophical rumination entitled “The Formation of Ideas” to the extremely specific, like ones on Dysentery or Cholera. Each dissertation was analyzed for metadata which was then inserted into a spreadsheet. The following information was recorded: volume, author first and last name, title of the dissertation, publication date, MESH or Library of Congress subject heading, author’s hometown or home state, beginning page number of the digitized version, total number of pages, dedication, and additional notes. The additional notes section included various information like details about the recipient, if the dissertation included any visual aids, autopsy results, or prescription information.

To begin my research, I would take notes on the title page and start researching the title if I wasn’t familiar; for example, as foreign and contagious as “The Catamenia” sounds, it is now known simply as “menstrual blood.” To find the present-day diagnosis from the nineteenth century description, I would perform a search using publicly available internet resources, then once I found the equivalent, I’d then look for the official subject heading on the Library of Congress website. To notate the author took a bit more work; nineteenth century handwriting is difficult to read, so I would spell it as best as I could guess, then double check my guess using the University of Maryland Alumni Database, which contains all graduates of the university. Once I found the correct graduate and correct spelling, this information would be entered into the finding aid spreadsheet. A few of the dissertation authors begged for additional research; I found several that used obscure literature quotes in their writing. I attempted to look for background on the author that would explain their propensity for these additions; to do this, I frequently consulted the Medicine in Maryland 1752-1920 website by Nancy Sheads. I found several of the students as well as their dedication recipients and added this information to the notes, that way if someone is researching Alexander Dulin, a dissertation that is dedicated to him will be included in search results, instead of just assigning the author’s own name as the only data.

I gained so much knowledge and experience working with the subject headings, finally getting real world practice of the theories I learned in my classes. I also got hands on experience seeing how archival collections are digitized and turned from a relic into an electronically accessible resource. I also saw how a finding aid begins, just carefully extracting data, then organizing the information, to the final stages of publishing the document. My advisor, Tara, gave me invaluable feedback not just on the project, but about librarianship and archives as a career, including CV help, job interview information, and what to expect in the workplace. I had an amazing experience, and I am so grateful for it! I would love for this alternative spring break to be a full-time internship or even a class; having the actual experience is invaluable as I attempt to break into the field of archives.

Phillip Steder

Beginning my second Spring Break participating in the Alternative Spring Break (ASB) Program, I felt this project was held to a higher standard in some way than my previous project. However, Community Engagement Coordinator Darlene Kaskie and Medical and Academic Library Outreach Coordinator Erica Lake, my supervisors for the project, ensured me that the week would go swimmingly without any cause for error—and right they were.

Working on each portion of the project was something I got the hang of very quickly. For example, for the Community Guide, I designed a guide that showcased information about a specific underrepresented county of one of seven states representing Region 6 of the NNLM using a program called ArcGIS. The county I had chosen was St. Louis County in Minnesota. What was special about this was that it felt more like a research project, and I was easily able to excel because of it. After following directions given to me by Kaskie, I found myself researching tons of information about the county and putting it into the guide. This also helped me shape the Story Mapping of the project, which was another portion that I got the hang of quickly.

Another thing that I loved about this project was that I was able to use programs that I had previously used in other projects. For example, for the Crowdsourcing Tool, I used Qualtrics, a survey tool I had previously used for my Practicum project. Using what I knew from the Practicum, I created the crowdsourcing survey tool with ease.

In addition to the project experience, I was also allowed to sit in on meetings that Kaskie was participating in, including a County Health Rankings info-session that showcased a ton of useful information for my project. I also met with other members of the Region 6 team in another meeting with Kaskie and Lake who told me about their roles, projects, and plans for the upcoming week. It was wonderful getting to know everyone that I had talked to, and I hope to one day encounter them again in my line of work.

Overall the project proved to be a success. I would like to thank Darlene Kaskie and Erica Lake for their help throughout the week. I only wish I had more time working with them as I quickly adapted to the workload and completed so much. Nevertheless, I’m happy I participated in the ASB Program for my second time and would absolutely recommend it to anyone working towards a Library Science degree.

Reflections

Raeshelle Cooke

Over the Spring Break week, I worked with the National Library of Medicine Region 7 to create a discussion guide for a graphic novel. Before this experience, I did not know what a discussion guide was, and I was interested in learning and also getting the opportunity to create one myself to add it to my resume and knowledge bank. I learned that a discussion guide is a list of questions about a book, and it is used to encourage discussion about the book’s topic. We were tasked to read a graphic novel about a mental health topic, as NNLM Region 7 works in Public Health.

This experience gave me the opportunity to read about Alzheimer’s for example, as this was the mental health topic I chose to read about. I read the book "Tangles: A story about Alzheimer’s, my mother and me" by Sarah Leavitt. Through her experience, I learned more about what Alzheimer's looks likes from the perspective of the patient and also the caregiver. I always suspected it was a difficult and trying experience, but the book was very blunt and detailed; it made it clear just how much of a heartbreaking, exhausting, and rollercoaster-like, disgusting, and daunting experience it really is. It got me thinking and asking myself: how can I best prepare myself and my family for this event if it should happen to me? And what can I do now for my brain to keep it away? It got me in preparation mode more so than fear mode.

I chose this book and this mental health topic because I wanted to pick a mental health condition that I personally connect with. My family on my father’s side has a history of Alzheimer’s and Dementia, and I have had fears of getting this disease, so I wanted to read a book about it so that I can care about the project, learn about the disease, and share someone’s real-life experience with the condition as it may help people. Over the week, I created a discussion for the book, so I came up with a list of questions for the book that others can center their conversation around to start a discussion about Alzheimer’s. I also created a video presentation talking about the project, so I got to speak to the public and present as well. The discussion guide will be added to NNLM Region 7’s discussion guide kit, so it will be shared with different groups of people. I am excited that I had the opportunity to work on a project as important as this, and that others will be using the guide in the future.

The professional impact was also rewarding. Our supervisor set us up with meetings with library managers and librarians, so we had a chance to speak with them about their careers, how they got where they are, and we got to hear their advice on the best steps to take to be successful in those various career field. I got to learn a lot from the meetings, and I was also grateful that the library director we spoke with sent us a lead on an internship afterwards, so the meetings were already having a positive impact on our careers and the week wasn’t even over yet. I really appreciate that our supervisor took the time to set us up with those informational meetings in the middle of the project, to do something outside the scope of the project just to help us with our careers. She didn’t have to do that, so it was awesome of her to make that effort. The project was great. I enjoyed the experience and would do it again, but work on a different project to have a different experience/gain a different skill. I highly recommend students participate in this project during their Spring Break. It rewards you in more ways than one.
 

Carly Jessup

For my week-long virtual internship, I worked on an Inclusive Writing and Cultural Humility Resource Guide. My project was with the Network of the National Library Medicine, Region 1 Health Sciences and Human Services Library, University of Maryland, Baltimore. This included finding inclusive language resources and content creator checklist resources. The goal of the course creator checklist was to help examine content created by employees and make sure that it is inclusive and culturally humble. After looking at inclusive language resources, I looked for checklists related to assessing content creation related to diversity and inclusion. I looked at a range of materials, but I was especially interested in finding checklists related to medical schools.

Additionally, I was able to attend multiple informative meetings during the week. I attended an implicit bias and coded language training session. We discussed oppression, implicit bias, took implicit bias tests, and discussed our experiences in breakout rooms. I also learned about coded language and microaggressions as well as how to address a situation if it comes up. I also attended an accessibility training which specifically discussed video captioning. I hadn’t thought much about the difference between captions and subtitles. However, there is actually a big difference, especially for those deaf or hard of hearing. Subtitles are intended for translation, while captions go beyond listing narration and include speaker identification and non-verbal elements such as someone laughing or mysterious music playing. Both of these trainings taught me information and skills I will use both in my career and everyday life.

For me, this experience has been a great way to explore working in a different type of library setting than I had previously experienced. Additionally, I enjoyed being able to work on a project that was interesting to me with a topic that I think is extremely important. I learned from a variety of highly knowledgeable information professionals and am grateful for having this experience while still in school. I highly encourage UK students to apply for Alternative Spring Break!
 

Lauren Laumas

During the Alternative Spring Break program with the Master’s in Library Science program at the University of Kentucky, I participated in the Graphic Medicine Discussion Guide Creation project with the Network of the National Library of Medicine Region 7 at the University of Massachusetts. I read the graphic novel, "Lighter than my Shadow," by Katie Green. From there, I developed questions for a discussion guide that could be distributed to patients, providers, teachers, and other audiences that may want to learn about an individual’s experience with a medical topic, which in this case was eating disorders. Creating the discussion guide required me to read the graphic novel closely, read articles from websites such as MedlinePlus about the medical topic covered in the novel, listen to an interview with the author, and gather other background information. I used this information to develop questions that could prompt the reader to think deeper and make personal connections.

This experience taught me the importance of conducting research about a medical topic while reading a narrative about said topic. Many people have misconceptions about illnesses such as eating disorders, so it is important to clear up misconceptions before approaching a narrative about the subject. I also learned about how to create questions that promote critical thinking and encourage reflection. Questions that go beyond eliciting “yes” or “no” responses make people think deeper about the topic at hand. Questions that also encourage an individual to reflect on a topic inspire sympathy, empathy, and personal connections. Finally, I learned more about the profession of medical librarianship. I attended several meetings during the week facilitated by medical librarians and I spoke one-on-one with medical librarians during informational interviews. These experiences helped me see the behind-the-scenes work medical librarians do, make professional connections, and learn more about the daily work of librarians.

The Alternative Spring Break program I participated in with the NNLM Region 7 allowed me to learn skills pertaining to bringing out critical thinking in others. Since I am aspiring to work in academic library science, I will likely teach information literacy classes, and the skills I learned during this internship will help me when eliciting responses from students. I also got a closer look into what medical librarians do in case that is a career path I would like to take. On a personal level, the process of reading the graphic novel and learning more about eating disorders helped me feel more sympathy. Overall, the Alternative Spring Break program through the Master’s in Library Science program at UK was a positive experience that expanded my skillset, allowed me to make professional connections, and gave me authentic library science experience.
 

Kaylee McMunn

This semester I had the opportunity to participate in the University of Kentucky School of Information Science Alternative Spring Break program. Throughout the week, I worked to transcribe handwritten medical dissertations from the Early Dissertations of University of Maryland 1813-1887 collection at the Health Sciences and Human Services Library, University of Maryland – Baltimore. The collection comprises bound volumes of multiple dissertations on various topics, an early M.D. degree requirement of the UMB School of Medicine. Because handwritten documents cannot be OCRed (optical character recognition), the purpose of transcribing these documents is to make them searchable and therefore more accessible to students and researchers.

Throughout the week, I learned a lot about the transcription process and techniques for deciphering mid-19^th century handwriting. Since the purpose of the work is to make the materials searchable and accessible, as many words and descriptions as possible needed to be included in the transcription. Any small detail can have value to a researcher, for example words no longer in regular usage or in a different spelling. As these were medical essays, Latin terminology was also interspersed throughout, so already having a familiarity with the language and its structure was useful. Many times context could give clues to a difficult word or phrase, or using more legible words as a key to pick out difficult letters and words in other places. Though each transcription was slow to start, I found that with each dissertation, I quickly became more accustomed to the author’s handwriting and could pick out difficult words much more easily as I progressed in that transcription. That said, each new dissertation was like starting over—each time, I had to relearn the quirks of a new voice, a new hand. In addition to technical skills, through regular meetings with my placement supervisor I also learned more about the importance of and conversations around this type of archival work. We talked a lot about the importance of access to information in archives, but also the right to be forgotten and the implications of ethical decision making in collections and archival practices.

My experience in this year’s ASB program provided me with hands-on experience working with rare materials in a new context and environment, invaluable mentorship in the field, and a fresh perspective on accessibility and ethics in archives. I am so grateful for the opportunities this program provided me and I look forward to the impact of this experience and implementing what I learned as I continue in the LIS program and prepare for my future career.
 

Annabelle Smith

I’m very thankful to have participated in the University of Kentucky’s Alternative Spring Break program with the Network of the National Library of Medicine Region 5 (NNLM R5) at the University of Washington. During the week, I collaborated with Michele Spatz, the outreach and engagement coordinator for NNLM R5, on creating a shared decision making LibGuide for both NNLM R5 and the University of Kentucky. Shared decision making is a model that promotes better communication between patients and providers, so that patients can participate in designing their treatment plans. Throughout the week, I worked with Michele on finding resources for medical students, faculty, and providers on shared decision making and patient decision aids. Shared decision making is put into practice when providers have been trained on how to use patient decision aids to support clinical decision making with patients. As a result, I designed a shared decision making LibGuide (https://libguides.uky.edu/SDM), where I compiled resources such as tutorial videos, research articles, eBooks, and other helpful tools. This LibGuide will be a great resource to the medical community at the University of Kentucky to learn more about how to use and apply shared decision making tools into clinical care. 

Being able to work on this unique project in the ASB program is one of the best experiences I’ve had as a graduate student in the Master’s in Library Science program. This program has given me the opportunity to learn from health sciences librarians and the work that they do for the Network of the National Library of Medicine. In addition to my project, I was able to attend many meetings on the various projects that were ongoing at NNLM R5, which provided great insight as to how NNLM strives to collaborate with other libraries to reach out into their region. My favorite part of the program was having the opportunity to participate in one-on-one conversations with members of NNLM R5 to learn about how they came to librarianship, what projects they’re working on, and what they see for the future of health sciences libraries. It was a fantastic opportunity to make connections and form relationships with professionals who are doing amazing work in the field of health sciences librarianship. 

This week it has been a privilege to work with professionals that work to enhance information services locally and globally. The Alternative Spring Break program is a great opportunity for students to connect with professionals, learn new skills, and get hands-on library experience! I recommend that all students apply!
 

Phillip Steder

It was nearly 9:00 AM. I was awaiting the first meeting with my host professors for the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine – Georgia (PCOM Georgia) as a part of the  University of Kentucky’s Alternative Spring Break Program. I looked over the schedule to see all that needs to be accomplished. As much as I was excited, I was also very nervous. Despite my brief knowledge of diversity, equity, & inclusion, I had zero experience in designing a library guide, nor did I know if I would understand my purpose in the span of a week. Then, I entered the meeting through a Google Meet call, and all the anxiety started to  deplete. As Meghan DiRito, Barbara Wood, and Oliver Chen discussed the project with me, I felt  a sense of relief hit. Indeed, the first day’s meeting was all I needed. After the introductions, I  proceeded to start watching my SpringShare training videos to get better fitted into the work I  would soon be completing.

The training videos helped me get a basis for the types of templates on which I would be  working. In addition to the training videos, I also met with my host professors throughout the week to get to know them and meet other members of the team. The team introduced me to the meaning behind cultural humility and DEI and their connection to the medical school. For  example, Dr. Jackie Werner, a librarian at the Philadelphia campus, gave me an overview of the  role of cultural humility as it related to the LGBTQIA+ community. Another example was my meeting with Dr. Kevin Bradford, a librarian at the Georgia campus, who showed me the basis for inclusive writing, or writing that uses up-to-date language appropriation to promote inclusion  and to avoid outdated offensive terminology. His presentation opened my eyes on the type of language I should use for both the project and the real world.

Friday had finally come, and I was finished with my library guide. The final product was beyond my expectations. There were nineteen links provided in the guide, all of which were divided into seven sections: Cultural Humility, Microaggressions, Implicit Bias, LGBTQIA+  Identities, Health Disparities, Allyship, and Racial Trauma. To officially finish the project, I  presented my library guide to other participants in the ASB program, who also presented theirs.

Overall, my time with PCOM Georgia was short, but rewarding. I had a blast working  with Dr. DiRito and her team on the library guide and learned a lot about cultural humility and  DEI in the process. The skills I acquired, the lessons I learned, and the connections I made in  such a short amount of time were unlike anything I had experienced in this master’s program. I was even recommended to apply for a position if one ever becomes available when I graduate  next year. Needless to say, I made a lasting great impression.
 

Paige Wright

This past Spring Break, I had the great pleasure of participating in the University of Kentucky’s Alternative Spring Break Program. I was given the opportunity to work with the Network of the National Library of Medicine Region 1 at the University of Maryland Baltimore. During this week, I worked exclusively on the Medical Dissertations Collection. I specifically was given the task of creating metadata about the dissertations. This meant that I was reading through each of the dissertations and inputting its identifying information into an excel sheet. The information that I put in included the author’s name, hometown, the date it was written and the topic of the dissertation. Before participating in this program, I had some experience with creating metadata and working in an archive setting. However, I did not have any experience in working with medical collections. This was one of the reasons why I chose to apply for this program. By the end of the week, I had read over 1,000 pages of medical dissertations and created metadata for 27 whole dissertations (1 ½ volumes).

Being a part of this program not only gave me new experience that I hope to apply later on in my career of archival work. It also gave me the opportunity to speak with an archivist and gain more knowledge about the field of archiving. I was privileged to get to speak and work with the head archivist at the University of Maryland Baltimore Medical Library. I was able to ask her different questions about the field of archiving and how to get into it. From applying to jobs to what makes archiving such a special field to get into, I was able to ask every and any question that I had. Participating in this program has allowed me to gain experience and feel more confident in moving on and graduating from UK. I feel very lucky and privileged for being given this opportunity. It is something that I will always remember and has been a great way to end my last semester as a Wildcat!

Reflections

Laura Bachor

This week, I was fortunate to participate in the University of Kentucky’s Alternative Spring Break program at the National Library of Medicine. While the program was conducted remotely this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, my classmates and I were able to participate in many great activities to enhance our understanding of NLM and gain valuable hands-on experience. The bulk of the week was spent working on our projects; my particular project was focused on creating quality datasets for consumer health AI systems. I assigned metadata and tags to videos that could help answer specific consumer health questions, allowing these videos to be tested in an AI question answering service. It was fascinating to learn more about how these systems are designed and tested, and it felt very rewarding to know that this work will help NLM build more powerful tools for improving consumer health literacy.

My classmates and I were also able to participate in several educational sessions with experts in a variety of LIS fields during the week-long program. These sessions included engagement and training, cataloging and metadata, digital humanities, and the services and awards offered through NNLM. It was so interesting to hear about the wide range of opportunities available through NLM, as well as how passionate everyone was about their work. I appreciated that everyone we spoke with was so generous with their time and encouraging to us as new professionals and students. The Alternative Spring Break program was a wonderful experience from start to finish. I know the combination of hands-on experience and education that I gained during this program will be invaluable moving forward in my new career. I am very grateful that the program was offered this year, even under the difficult circumstances. It was a wonderful way to cap off my time in the LIS program!
 

Annabelle Smith

I’m so thankful that I had the opportunity to participate in the University of Kentucky’s Alternative Spring Break program at the National Library of Medicine during the week of May 24th – 28th, 2021! This week I worked on a preliminary collection assessment on epidemics with my classmate Carly Jessup. During this assessment, we examined titles from University of Toronto Libraries’ Bibliography, “Epidemics in History, Literature, and Art.” A total of 123 titles were searched in the National Library of Medicine’s collection using LocatorPlus. Of those 123 titles, the National Library of Medicine held 110 of them. The missing titles were then further researched, and recommendations were made as to whether these would be beneficial to add to the National Library of Medicine’s collection. Additionally, some titles were referred to the appropriate liaisons to further analyze the titles as needed.

Being able to work on a fascinating project that is incredibly timely during the Coronavirus pandemic has been one of the best experiences I’ve had during the Master’s of Library Science program so far! I also had the opportunity to meet and learn from many professionals in the field of health sciences librarianship. This week my classmates and I participated in several discussions with experts to learn about many important topics in health sciences librarianship. These sessions covered topics in digital humanities, metadata, engagement, outreach and training, and awards offered through the Network of the National Library of Medicine. Also, library professionals at NLM were eager to share volunteer and fellowship opportunities for students both during school and after graduating from LIS programs.

This week It has been a privilege to work with professionals that work to enhance information services locally and globally. The Alternative Spring Break program is a great opportunity for students to connect with professionals, learn new skills, and get hands-on library experience! I recommend that all students apply!
 

Susan Koenig

It felt a bit odd tuning in for an Alternative Spring Break program at the end of May, after I had technically graduated. This program was something I looked forward to during my time at UKY, I was excited for the opportunity. Even though the program itself looked a bit different than it had in the past, the enthusiasm everyone at NLM brought was abundantly apparent.

I worked on the creating high-quality datasets for consumer health AI project with Asma Ben Abacha and Shweta Yadav. My main task was annotating a set of over 500 health-related questions pulled from Yahoo Answers. I would read the question, provide a summary of what the person was asking, and classify the type and focus of the question. I was surprised to find additional opportunities to contribute to the project. After annotating a shorter set of questions, I met with Shweta and Asma to go over any questions I had about the annotation process. Based on my questions and suggestions, they updated the annotation guidelines for future use and edited the annotation portal. At the end of the week, I had learned so much about what goes into preparing datasets for natural language processing (NLP) and how complex these systems really are.

As I worked through the dataset, I kept thinking about how similar this process is to the work I do as a reference librarian, in particular the reference interview. So much of this process was reading paragraphs of information and pulling out the threads of what this post was actually asking. Quite often as librarians we tend to silo out our contributions to data analysis - we provide support for data management, information on best practices for storage and accessibility, and occasionally instruction on data literacy. But we have valuable contributions to make to data analysis and creation. At the end of the week, Shweta invited me to return to the NLM sometime this summer, and even offered to help me work on a publication based on the work I did during the ASB. I plan to take her up on that offer, and hope to write something about the parallels between dataset annotation for NLP and the reference interview.

I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work at the NLM on this project. It was such a unique experience, and one that I will surely remember throughout my career. I made connections with other professionals in my field, learned a great deal, and have the opportunity to potentially present or publish something on the work I accomplished. I hope the ASB program continues to provide these same opportunities to future students.
 

Carly Jessup

During my week as a virtual intern for the National Library of Medicine, I had the opportunity to complete a mini collection assessment on epidemics. My research included examining a bibliography of epidemic related titles, determining whether or not NLM held these titles in their collection, and making recommendations as to whether the titles not held would be valuable additions to their collection. First, I learned how to use their online catalog. Next, I would research titles not held to determine whether or not they would be a valuable addition to the collection. At times, this could be challenging when looking for rare books with little information about them online. Additionally, I learned to make considerations concerning author credibility, relevance of content, etc. Lastly, we made a final summary of our findings and passed along titles to consider to the appropriate subject liaison. Considering the events of this past year, this research was both fascinating and rewarding, as it was an extremely relevant subject. Additionally, I had the opportunity to explore other areas by attending several virtual information sessions on a variety of topics such as outreach and engagement, awards, metadata, and digital humanities.

NLM did an excellent job of making this a rewarding experience, despite it being virtual due to COVID-19. I had the opportunity to learn from librarians in a variety of departments. This internship also allowed me to connect with my fellow UK peers, including both new and familiar faces. I am truly grateful that NLM welcomed us virtually, as many events this past year have had to be cancelled without alternatives. Additionally, I am grateful that the University of Kentucky and NLM have this valuable partnership, as it allows students to gain hands-on experience. It has been of great value to have been able to explore my library interests and learn from the caliber of librarians such as those at the National Library of Medicine.
 

Leah Everitt

For my week-long virtual internship with the National Library of Medicine I worked with the team that helps maintain RxNorm. RxNorm is a standard vocabulary for drugs, which helps medical doctors, pharmacists, and researchers in insuring they are all talking about the same drug. For the internship project I worked to evaluate citations submitted to the RxNorm project through an online form. We were interested in knowing how RxNorm is used and how medical professionals and researcher might use RxNorm in the future.

Through the project I learned that RxNorm is most often used for ePrescriptions within medical system software. Currently several research groups are also creating software that can aid medical doctors and researchers in evaluating electronic health records, several standard medical terminologies are currently used in these records including RxNorm. This software should help researchers glean relevant information from electronic health records much faster than would be possible without the aid of computers. They would be able to use this information for research studies on particular diseases, subpopulations, and clinical research study cohort formation.

During the project I created summaries for the research papers I read, as well as powerpoint presentations that could be used as internal RxNorm case use reviews. Additionally, I was able to work with another student on the project, Jeff, and we collaborated finding the best method to evaluate the citations. Additionally, Jeff created some fantastic bibliometric data visualizations that we discussed the best method to produce and explain to the RxNorm team.

In addition to the RxNorm project all of the students participating in the alternative spring break also got to hear presentations from several different departments of the NLM. I hadn’t realized how far-reaching the NLM’s outreach efforts went, from helping rural communities in the US to US allies abroad. My favorite presentation was on metadata, presented by Nancy Fallgren, and went into detail about the way NLM transforms their metadata so that it is machine-readable, open-access, and interoperable in nature. The number of different forms of metadata that bibliographic records at NLM go through is dizzying and I found the presentation fascinating. Overall I feel that I not only learned a lot from my project about RxNorm and electronic health records, but also learned a lot about NLM as an organization.
 

Jeff Griffin

For the 2021 Alternative Spring Break project, I opted for the 2019 RxNorm use case review. As a component of the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) it too was developed by the National Library of Medicine. I became interested in UMLS in LIS 602 Knowledge Organization, using it as the subject of my final term paper. It seemed to me then and now an elegant solution to a uniquely fragmented and disjointed US healthcare system. But even more than that, it offers an avenue to something like natural language processing by distilling a hoard of controlled vocabularies into the minimum number of concept identities. NLM offers it freely for whatever use, and because its purpose is unspecified, what exactly it is being used for is a matter of interest, which is where this project comes in.

Over the course of the week, Leah Everitt and I went through and summarized RxNorm-related articles listed in Medline. It was far more challenging than I anticipated, since these articles represented highly specific and novel uses in various technical fields. The goal was to create easily digestible summaries of each article, outlining the ways in which RxNorm was used in each study. Since RxNorm, like UMLS, was designed to supplement a primary application, often it played a secondary, albeit essential, role to the studies in question. The articles were interesting. A common theme was the use of RxNorm on electronic health record (EHR) databases for the purpose of retrospective cohort identification and construction. Because EHR systems have no shared structure or terminological convention, it is imperative to yield useful and consistent information from unstructured data (like those found in clinical notes). RxNorm greatly eases this task, allowing for machine processing of natural language by linking any term to all the affiliated ancestor and child terms via a concept unique identifier, which is just a semantically empty numerical string (it’s very beautiful in a platonic sense).

The second component involved the creation of high-quality visualizations, but we were told at the start that they did not expect us to get to these because of the shortened amount of time allotted. But I remembered that, in LIS 662 Data Visualization, we briefly went over this bibliometric visualization program called VOS Viewer, which is open-source, creates nice bibliometric visuals, and actually has a user interface—so no programming required. Since I had a little time when I finished, I made some visualizations on author relations, keyword relations, MeSH relations, etc. This seems to me to be where bibliometrics is most useful, since it affords a visual summation of the interrelatedness of seemingly disparate articles. I would have done a topic-modeling analysis in R but time constraints and the dearth of articles kind of obviated this approach. It would be interesting to do it on UMLS in general, I think, since there is a significantly greater number of publications on it (UMLS predates RxNorm). Because UMLS and RxNorm often play a secondary role in the studies that cite them, treating the collection of said publications as a single corpus and using text mining to tease out topical themes would be ideal for this.

Elsewhere, they were generous enough to schedule talks by representatives of different departments, highlighting what they do and opportunities available for LIS graduates. This was immensely valuable to me since this field—along with its keystone institutions—is somewhat opaque and is singular in every sense. Although the project was virtual this year, I still feel it a rewarding experience. I think the National Library of Medicine is more exemplar of health science librarianship than, say, the Library of Congress is to general librarianship, because the field is defined by a single matter of interest—that is, human health—which is every bit as collective as it is individual. The interests are consistent throughout. So I do feel grateful that I caught a glimpse of the inner workings of the NLM, if only from afar.

Reflections

Elisabeth Anderson

During my week as a (virtual) intern at the Smithsonian National Museum of National History, I helped with research for upcoming events in the Public Relations and Marketing Department. I looked up different libraries from around the country and studied their marketing approaches to the public through their websites.

I learned a lot! I was definitely struck by the differences in marketing between different libraries, based on what library type they were and their targeted patron base. Perhaps my biggest take-away overall was that previously I had thought that a well-made website might replace the need for and decrease an interest in an in-person library or museum visit. However, I found it was just the opposite. Some of the websites that appeared dated or had limited visual data stood in stark contrast to some websites that were clear, simple, fun, and easy to use. I found that an enjoyable website experience actually increased my interest in making an in-person visit! I was impacted by my internship in many ways. It was easy to complete the work virtually, and I had the added benefit of feeling like my recommendations were genuinely valued. Now I have a connection to the Smithsonian. This positive experience both helped reveal the many opportunities available in the world of library science and encouraged me to try more internship opportunities and learn new things. Finally, I would like to thank Ashley DeWitt for helping coordinate everything and my Smithsonian supervisor for helping me have a fun, professional internship experience. I’m so thankful for this opportunity and experience. Even though I didn’t get to see the Smithsonian in person, I was able to learn more about different information organizations and hopefully contribute something to this well-known institution.
 

Laura Cossette

During my week-long remote internship with the National Library of Medicine I conducted an evaluation of Health Services and Sciences Research Resources (HSRR), with the end goal of improving the database resources and saving money. Specifically, my project involved going through a spreadsheet of the datasets, instruments, and software resources in the HSRR database and searching for medical research projects that utilized that dataset, instrument, or software tool in the HSRRProj database. The goal is to eventually link the HSRRProj records to the HRSS information on the datasets or tools that were used for that project and get rid of the old HRSS database altogether. NLM wanted to know how many of the resources in HSRR are referenced in HSRRProj projects, and how many records in HSRR would be orphaned if they removed the database after linking the relevant datasets and tools to HSRRProj projects.

This was a chance to apply the database search skills I gained in LIS 601: Information Search. As I made progress during the week, I became more confident in my search strategies, using what I knew about operators, limiters, and query modification to alter the precision or recall of results as needed. My goal was to find any projects that utilized a specific resource, which often required multiple query attempts to ensure I didn’t miss relevant projects, using quotes for exact string matches, the AND and OR operators, dropping some of the less relevant words, or searching for the acronym of a dataset or tool.

Because the internship was turned into a remote internship at the last minute due to concerns over coronavirus, I also learned how essential strong communication skills are in these situations. On my first day, after having technical difficulties with the WebEx portal due to overload (everyone was teleworking and using the system), I struggled to get some of my complex questions answered by email. On Tuesday morning I was able to use email to send examples of a few datasets/tools I was struggling with, and then scheduled a phone call with my supervisor to work through those. Communicating by phone was much more successful, as we could explain more complicated and nuanced questions more quickly.

I also had the opportunity to attend video presentations on web archiving and linked data projects from other librarians at NLM. This was a huge benefit, as I am very interested in these topics and hope to pursue similar projects in my future career. I learned a lot about the Archive-It software and tools, MeSH RDF linked data, and got helpful career advice from the presenters. I am very thankful for the opportunity this internship afforded me and am looking forward to following the advice I was given and applying the skills I learned in the future.
 

Ella Gibson

Working with the National Library of Medicine or a week was an amazing experience. With the COVID-19 pandemic I unfortunately did not get to travel to Bethesda in person, but was able to spend a week learning more about NLM and NIH virtually. NLM staff, at the start of Alternative Spring Break, had transitioned to remote work as well so it was amazing to see all the ways that the staff had precipitated an event like this happening. Their move to remote working seemed seamless and I was beyond impressed with how efficient and functional everything was. I was even more impressed with Kathel Dunn’s and Sharon Han’s ability to quickly change an in-person experience into an immersive virtual one. Being able to sit in on a Library Operations meeting, and having staff teach us more about what they are doing at NLM regarding web archiving and metadata was truly phenomenal. Throughout the week I constantly thought about what a unique experience I was having and how much it made me want to be able to work with NLM in the future.

My project specifically was focused on using a past webinar on common data elements (CDE) to create an immersive, functional, class. NLM and other medical institutions use CDEs to help streamline their research and clinical studies. The CDE repositories essentially act as guides for future and past research by utilizing the same terms or questions so that queries can be connected to other relevant studies. The goal was for me to create learning goals and objectives while also identifying formative and summative assessments that would benefit the student taking the class. As the audience is intended to be health science librarians, it was fun for me to transition to creating these items for adults rather than children. At points it was shocking how much my educational background benefitted the project and enabled me to make connections that may have otherwise been missed. Seeing how I can use skills I already have in my toolbox in my future career was reassuring to me as a graduate student. My project lead, Kate Majewski, was appreciative of the way I was able to chunk the webinar down into clear learning goals that could be reached with simple, but applicable, assignments.

Currently I am not able to work in a library so it was a fantastic experience to get to work with NLM for a week. I connected with the associate fellows and learned more about how they ended up in their respective careers, and I connected my librarianship interests with applicable career opportunities. Previously I hadn’t considered how NLM would combine my love of working with the public while utilizing skills I already had established. By working with Kate and learning more about the Office of Engagement and Training, though I can visualize a spot for myself within librarianship that combines elements of my teaching skills with my future career goals. Librarianship is an ever-changing career field and being able to help educate is an important tool that a librarian can utilize.

Four students interned at the Smithsonian Libraries in Washington, D.C. and four interned at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland. With their supervisors' guidance, the students worked on projects in advancement, public relations and marketing, research services, natural history, education, outreach and genetics.
 

Group photo of students interning at National Library of Medicine

Reflections

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• Cat Staley's guest post on the Smithsonian Libraries' blog
• Ashlee-Amber Skipper's ASB 2016 WordPress site

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