University Libraries Newsletter
May 2022
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Summer Semester Building Hours |
Marx Library Hours
May 9 - July 29
Mon. - Thurs. 8:00 am - 9:00 pm
Fri. 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Sat. 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Sun. 1:00 pm - 9:00 pm
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Breaking the Stigma - Using Podcasts to
Initiate Conversation
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Rachel Fenske, Outreach Librarian for the Biomedical Library, continued her outreach collaboration with students from the University of South Alabama and the University of the Virgin Islands with a series of podcasts engaging conversations with experts on topics surrounding the concept of stigma. The Spring Peer Educator Podcast Series, “Real Issues, Real Talk: For Students, By Students,” examined issues of stigma among university students such as HIV testing, mental health, and food insecurity. The podcasts were recorded in the new Biomedical Library audio room and were posted on several podcast platforms including Apple, Google, Spotify, and iTunes.
Guest panelists from the University of South Alabama included Deidra Byas, Mental Health Counselor from the University Counseling and Testing Center, and Ronie Langston, Assistant Manager of SOUTH Cares, who discussed programs at USA such as the Jag Pantry and Jags4Jags that assist students with food insecurities. All podcasts were very engaging and created a casual atmosphere where students could openly discuss the issues and seek ideas on how to break the stigmas among their peers. Panelists provided students with resources and examples of successful programs that have been implemented to help destigmatize various issues. Collaboration with the students from the University of the Virgin Islands created an understanding of cultural taboos and values that added a multicultural dimension to the conversation. Students from both campuses gained useful information and demonstrated how peers from two distinct universities can make a difference by initiating conversations on their respective campuses.
Other guest panelists during the Spring podcasts included Dottie Rains-Dowdell, Senior Community Planner for the New Jersey HIV Planning Group at Jefferson Health; Bruce Smail, Director, LGBTQ+ Culture Center, and Special Assistant to the Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Multicultural Affairs at Indiana University; Patricia Towal, Director of the University of the Virgin Islands Student Counseling Center and Shelli Brin, owner of Que Sera Farms in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.
To learn more about the podcasts with links to the recordings, go to Real Issues, Real Talk: For Students, By Students on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
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McCall Library: Down the Bay |
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On May 19, Jada Jones, LTA II in the McCall Library presented an overview of the Down the Bay Oral History Project for Alabama Department of Transportation archaeologists Bill Turner and Laura Wood and colleagues from the Center for Archaeological Studies. Jones's presentation gave an update of the project's progress, plans moving forward, and shared some of the unique stories that have been collected so far.
This represents one of the collaborations between the McCall Library and campus partners in the National Endowment for the Humanities supported work of developing community oral history collections that give a more complex view of Mobile's past. Stay tuned for more!
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USA Libraries Welcomes Jana Herrmann, Our New Institutional Repository Coordinator for JagWorks |
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Jana graduated from the University of South Alabama in 2002, where she majored in both Marine and Environmental biology. She has had an extensive career in academic research, giving her broad knowledge and experience with database development and data management. Jana hopes to apply her data management skills in her new role to help make JagWorks a success. |
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University Libraries Recent Publications & Staff Updates |
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Gail Kouame - Gail Kouame, Director, Baugh Biomedical Library, was a plenary speaker at the April 4-6, 2022 Wisconsin Health Literacy Summit. Her presentation was titled, "Leveraging a digital platform to address health literacy and equity needs of a vulnerable population: The justice-involved [Conference session]." Wisconsin Health Literacy Summit, Madison, WI.
Gail Kouame - Gail Kouame, Director, Baugh Biomedical Library, presented at the May 3-6, 2022 Medical Library Association Annual Meeting. Her paper was titled, "We're virtually there: Providing health sciences education and wellness through virtual reality experiences."
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Resources For and About Publication Metrics
Are you a faculty member or graduate student doing research who wants to understand the reach and impact surrounding your research? What is impact factor? What about H-index? How do you find these numbers? What do they mean?
The world of publication metrics is complicated. Some numbers measure the reach and impact of an individual scholar’s work; other numbers look at the relative ranking of a journal compared to other journals in the field; and still other numbers look at the research performance of universities.
Typical types of publication metrics include:
- Impact factor: a measure of a journal’s reach and impact. This number ranks journals relative to other journals in the same discipline.
- Citation analysis: a simple count of the number of times other authors have referred to a particular article in their work. Self-citation is included but can be filtered out.
- H-index: a measure of the reach and impact of an individual author.
- Leiden ranking: measures the research performance of universities.
- Altmetrics: These numbers are complementary to traditional publication metrics and include such things as mentions of articles and authors on social media platforms, in media, on reference managers, and in the Faculty of 1000. ScienceDirect and Scopus include PlumX Analytics, which is an almetrics measurement tool, in their data.
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The USA University Libraries provide a variety of resources to help you find and understand publication metrics.
Finding Publication Metrics
The following subscription resources provide publication metrics:
Understanding Publication Metrics
Since metrics can be so complicated, the USA University Libraries provide some books to help you with an understanding of them. They include:
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Kathy Wheeler
Assistant University Librarian for Collections
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USA Libraries Exhibits & Events
May/June 2022
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USA Libraries Social Media Links |
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Have you checked out our Social Media sites?
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