The Agenda - Faculty and Staff Newsletter

Category: Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences

Faculty and staff news from the libraries at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences.

  • Quick Takes on Events and News – February 2018

    Quick Takes on Events and News – February 2018

    The Douglass Century will be published by Rutgers University Press next month.
    The Douglass Century will be published by Rutgers University Press next month. Check out the March Agenda for your chance to win a free copy!
    Celebrating the Douglass Century

    Congratulations are in order for our colleagues Kayo Denda and Fernanda Perrone, who, along with Mary Hawkesworth of the departments of Political Science and Women’s and Gender Studies, have penned a history of Douglass Residential College entitled The Douglass Century: Transformation of the Women’s College at Rutgers University.  The book will be published by Rutgers University Press next month. From the press:

    “The Douglass Century celebrates the college’s longevity and diversity as distinctive accomplishments, and analyzes the contributions of Douglass administrators, alumnae, and students to its survival, while also investigating multiple challenges that threatened its existence. This book demonstrates how changing historical circumstances altered the possibilities for women and the content of higher education, comparing the Jazz Age, the Great Depression, the Second World War, the post-war Civil Rights era, and the resurgence of feminism in the 1970s and 1980s. Concluding in the present day, the authors highlight the college’s ongoing commitment to Mabel Smith Douglass’ founding vision, “to bring about an intellectual quickening, a cultural broadening in connection with specific training so that women may go out into the world fitted…for leadership…in the economic, political, and intellectual life of this nation.” In addition to providing a comprehensive history of the college, the book brings its subjects to life with eighty full-color images from the Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries.”

    But wait—there’s more! March’s issue of the Agenda will include a contest for a free copy of The Douglass Century, so tune in next month for your chance to win.

    LSM opens house on February 13.
    LSM open house on February 13.
    LSM Open House

    Spread the word! The Library of Science and Medicine will open its doors to Robert Wood Johnson Medical School students and faculty on Tuesday, February 13 at 4 p.m.

    There will be ample opportunity to meet health sciences librarians and learn about the resources, tools, study spaces, and collections that are available on Busch campus.

    Refreshments will be served and complimentary retractable ID card holders will be available while supplies last.

    Watch: State of the Libraries
    Krisellen Maloney presents at State of the Libraries.
    A video of Krisellen Maloney’s State of the Libraries presentation is now available on our YouTube channel.

    Krisellen’s presentation from State of the Libraries is now available on our YouTube channel. It includes an introduction of new employees, an overview of the Ex Libris implementation, and a discussion of the budget. Kudos to Rich Sandler for his work on the video. And in case you missed it, a video playlist of the poster sessions from State of the Libraries was posted in last month’s issue of the Agenda.

    The New Jersey Digital Newspaper Project Goes Live

    The New Jersey Digital Newspaper project celebrated a major milestone last month when the first batch of pages from the Perth Amboy Evening News became available to the public via the Library of Congress website Chronicling America. Colleagues from the Libraries, the New Jersey State Library, New Jersey State Archives, and the New Jersey research community gathered at Alexander Library to commemorate the occasion with presentations, tours of the project facilities, and of course—cupcakes!

    • Dee Magnoni, Maxine Lurie, Caryn Radick, Mary Chute, and Grace Agnew at the NJDNP launch celebration.
      Dee Magnoni, Maxine Lurie, Caryn Radick, Mary Chute, and Grace Agnew at the NJDNP launch celebration.

    During the proceedings, state librarian Mary Chute read a letter on behalf of Congressman Frank Pallone, which said in part: “I would like to commend the New Jersey State Library, Rutgers University Libraries and the New Jersey State Archives for undertaking this important project. Here in New Jersey we have a rich history and innumerable contributions in science, innovation, politics and the humanities. The digitization of these newspapers will provide user friendly access of these historical records to all individuals across the globe. I am proud that The Perth Amboy Evening News is the first New Jersey newspaper available through this invaluable project.”

    Read more about the project in our press release.

    Robeson Library's John Maxymuk has authored more than a dozen books on professional football.
    John Maxymuk.
    Catching up with the Libraries’ NFL Expert

    Paul Robeson Library’s John Maxymuk has authored over a dozen books about the history of the NFL in addition to an entry on professional football in the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia? In advance of Super Bowl LII this weekend, we caught up with John to discuss his love of football and penchant for research—and, of course, whether the Eagles stand a chance against Tom Brady and the Patriots.

    A New Look for the IJS
    The new IJS logo.
    The new IJS logo.

    The Institute of Jazz Studies recently unveiled a new logotype, which you can view on our visual identity resources website. Congrats to our colleagues at the IJS for adopting this fresh new look!

    What’s Happening is the Libraries’ monthly events enewsletter.
    Do You Know What’s Happening?

    Did you know we publish a monthly enewsletter of events happening around the Libraries? If not, check out this month’s edition to see what you’ve been missing and feel free to subscribe!

    Do you have an upcoming exhibit, workshop, or other event that you’d like the world to know about? Submit it at https://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/events and we’ll include it in forthcoming issues of the newsletter.

    The Jersey Collective exhibit at Robeson Library. Credit: John Powell.
    The Jersey Collective exhibit at Robeson Library. Credit: John Powell.
    Closing Soon: Catch These Displays while You Still Can!

    Jersey Collective: The Third Year @ Robeson Library through February 9

    Milton to Milton: The Legacy of J. Milton French @ Alexander Library through February 28

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  • State of the Libraries Recap

    State of the Libraries Recap

    This month, I just want to express my gratitude once again to everyone who helped make State of the Libraries so special. From the major events committee to the poster presenters to those of you in the audience–our colleagues are what make this a great event. For 2017, we experimented with the format of the event in several ways, introducing new elements while also retaining what makes this such a special event. In a significant departure, we invited an external speaker to visit us and discuss unconscious bias works and what we can do to mitigate its influence in the Libraries. Calvin Lai’s presentation was as entertaining as it was informative, and it is my sincerest hope that it helps us to better appreciate and accommodate diversity and inclusion in what we do.

    I hope everyone who attended had a chance to tour the always-popular poster session. It is fitting that at the close of the year, we get to survey the many great activities and initiatives underway at the Libraries. From Libraries-wide initiatives like ORCID and the Open and Affordable Textbook Program to the exhibits program at Robeson and the enhanced coin scanning project from the Digital Humanities Lab–these posters are a reminder of the positive impact we have on the university and the work of the Libraries. For those who were unable to attend or did not make it around to see all the posters, the communications team has recorded short videos with the presenters that can be viewed on YouTube (see below). Also, a special note of thanks to Dee Magnoni and James Hartstein who provided professional quality printing for the posters. They looked great!

    There will be much more to say in the coming months, but for now, I want to wish you all a happy New Year! We have so much to look forward to in 2018.

     

  • Ex Libris Implementation Project Update – January 2018

    Ex Libris Implementation Project Update – January 2018

    Ex Libris website screenThe entire Ex Libris Implementation Team attended the State of the Libraries on December 6 and appreciated the opportunity to engage library faculty and staff there. We thank everyone who came to our table and talked to us about the project. Congratulations again to those lucky winners of prizes!

    This project update focuses on the major progress made in December. In our previous update, we described the three stages of implementing Alma and Primo–Define, Build, and Deploy. For the Libraries’ Implementation Team, the numerous tasks in those three stages generally fall into two categories: working on data migration and system integration in tandem with Ex Libris and developing two-way communication channels and training opportunities for the library (and eventually university) community. We are pleased to report that significant progress has been made on both fronts in December.

    Project Website

    In early December, we unveiled a new website for the Ex Libris Implementation Project, at http://exlibris.libraries.rutgers.edu. As the information hub for the project, the website includes the following pages:

    • About – Introduction to the project, benefits to the Libraries, and impact on library workers
    • Teams – Membership of the project team and responsibilities of the working groups
    • Timeline – Major milestones from the planning to the formal launch on June 1, 2018
    • Resources – Basic training resources, research & case studies, and team meeting minutes
    • FAQ – Answers to questions such as what is Alma and what is Primo
    • Contact – An online form for library faculty and staff to send questions and comments to the project team

    The site will grow significantly in scope and detail as the project progresses and more information becomes available. Please remember to check back from time to time to see what is new or use the contact form for questions and comments. We thank everyone who made this site possible, including members of the Implementation Team (especially Joseph Deodato and Chad Mills), Jessica Pellien, and the Web Team of IIS.

    Migration Forms

    As of this writing, the Implementation Team and several working groups are working tirelessly on completing the forms for Symphony (SIRSI) to Alma and EBSCO to Primo migrations. These lengthy forms define the test data load and take a lot of time and care to fill out. Our immediate objective is to turn in the forms on December 22 for our Ex Libris partners to review during the university’s holiday break. To meet this deadline, lately the Implementation Team has been meeting twice or three times a week on the forms. Some team members work late in the office and others take work home. We have also actively sought the input from colleagues in Access, Collection, and Technical Services, in addition to consulting with Ex Libris.

    The process of completing the migration forms exemplifies the spirit of teamwork. Besides two point persons for the forms—Chris Sterback and Gracemary Smulewitz, all the other team members have contributed time, energy, and expertise to the process. It is such an uplifting feeling to see colleagues from different departments of the Libraries working selflessly toward a common goal. We look forward to reporting new accomplishments from this wonderful team of colleagues in 2018.

     

    Tao Yang and Abbey DiPaolo

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  • We Are Not Alone – Thoughts on the BTAA Meeting

    We Are Not Alone – Thoughts on the BTAA Meeting

    I know that we spend a lot of time focused on building infrastructure. Our top priorities involve undergraduate success and strengthening information control to ensure that our users have efficient, reliable access to information resources.

    I just got back from a Big10 meeting at Purdue. At the meeting, we reviewed the results of a survey of the BTAA library directors’ top priorities for future collaborative activities. Each director picked three areas of interest. The results:

    • Collection Management 54%
    • Student Success Measures 46%
    • OER 46%
    • Data Management/Curation 38%
    • Analytics/Assessment 38%
    • Open Access 15%

    The remaining four items: Special Collections, Professional Development, Digital Humanities, and Library Publishing all were 8%.

    In another part of the survey, the directors listed the most important BTAA initiatives as Discovery to Delivery, Collections Infrastructure and Management, and Student Success.

    Although these priorities and initiatives do not represent the most important work of the libraries, the selections do say something about initiatives that are most effective when done ‘at scale’ with the broader community. As I listened to my colleagues share their experiences and challenges, it struck me that we are not the only research library that is focusing on basics.

    In a meeting back here at Rutgers, Judy Cohn brought up the NMC Horizon Report: 2017 Library Edition. This report from the New Media Consortium looks at trends in libraries, technology, and education to imagine what is on the five-year horizon for academic and research libraries. It is produced in collaboration with University of Applied Sciences (HTW) Chur, Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB), ETH Library, and the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL). It identifies trends, challenges, and developments in technology that will impact how libraries plan to meet the needs of their users, how we function day to day and year to year, and the services that will be in highest demand. The first of the top 10 highlights listed was:

    Libraries remain the gatekeepers to rich tapestries of information and knowledge. As the volume of we resources increases, libraries are charged with finding new ways to organize and disseminate research to make it easier to discover, digest, and track.

    It was surprised to see that improving ‘information control’ was featured so prominently in the report. It seems that academic and research libraries have a renewed focus on the fundamentals and are redesigning infrastructure so that it better meets the changes in the environment. I know there are times when we feel like we are behind; however, it appears that we are actually in sync with many of our peers.

    Over the next week, we will have meetings with Office of Information Technology and the Office of Research and Economic Development to discuss potential collaboration on research and digital humanities infrastructure. This will move us closer to another one of our priorities: identifying and communicating our role in the broader research environment of Rutgers. We are making progress!

    While we are moving fast, our activities continue to be guided by the expertise and research of our colleagues. There are several examples of this that come to mind, all with librarywide participation. The Discovery Working Group has offered a model of how to harness data and best practices to make impactful changes in how our users discover and access collections via our website. Their work continues to propel us forward, even as the Ex Libris Implementation Team works to create nimble and knowledgeable teams to accommodate the anticipated workload over the next 7 months. And the Website Improvement Team is rolling out an impressive, incremental website refresh derived from extensive user research and analytics. The work that we are doing now will pay off in the coming years with flexible and easy to manage systems. It is my hope that these changes will make it easier for you to do the important work that you do.

    As we move into the holiday season, I would like to thank you for your dedication and patience. It has been a difficult few years of change in response to the new environment, but, thanks to your efforts, these challenges continue to be met with creativity, hard work, and shared purpose. Your dedication to Rutgers, our students, and our faculty is impressive and collectively, we are creating libraries—digital and physical—that encourage learning and exploration and support to the success of our users. I am very grateful to count you all as my colleagues and I wish you and your families the happiest of holidays and all the best for the New Year!

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  • Web Improvement Team Update

    Web Improvement Team Update

    sample of website refresh
    Click to view larger file.

    The Web Improvement Team (WIT) is excited to announce some changes coming soon to the Rutgers University Libraries website. Since September, we’ve been speaking with our users (students, faculty, and staff) and analyzing survey and usage data to determine how we can begin to improve our website user experience. We’ve been exploring best practices for user-centered design, content strategy, responsive design, and accessibility. Through one-on-one conversations, focus groups, and data analysis, we have learned more about our users’ essential tasks and resources, pain points in the current design, and user preferences.

    Here are some of the takeaways from our first round of user research:

    • Users are very task-oriented, and generally come to the site knowing what they want; the scope of their use is quite narrow
    • The current homepage was thought to be too busy and complex
    • Pages are hard to read, with small text and too much content
    • Users spend very little time on most pages, and rarely scroll below “the fold”
    • A relatively small number of resources are especially heavily used (hours, room booking, A-Z database list, ILL, library account)

    We based our first round of changes on these findings. Our goals became to:

    • Surface and prioritize the most frequently used resources and services
    • Freshen up the look and feel: reduce visual clutter on the homepage, enlarge fonts for sitewide readability
    • Refine the presentation and content for a few key pages
    • Minimize initial disruption to lower-level pages

    Our overall approach is one of incremental change over radical redesign. Making incremental modifications based on user data ensures that those modifications are genuine improvements (as opposed to change for the sake of change, or change based on guesses or assumptions). If we’re proven wrong, smaller changes are easily reversed or refined. Although change can be uncomfortable at times, a continuous cycle of improvement and evaluation builds a sustainable, usable website that delivers a positive user experience.

    You’ll also notice that a lot of things haven’t changed: the red navigation bar, most of the underlying content, the mobile presence. These, too, will change in time, but require considerable user research, usability testing, and content control. There will be opportunities for students, staff, and faculty to get involved in future research.

    The new website is expected to be in place by late December, in time to greet students in the new semester.

    Stop by our poster at the State of the Libraries if you want to learn more!

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  • Ex Libris Implementation Project Update – December 2017

    Ex Libris Implementation Project Update – December 2017

    In this second update on the Ex Libris Implementation Project, we report on a major milestone achieved in November – the completion of organizational planning. In early December the project will transition from the pre-implementation to implementation stage, so this update also introduces the timeline from December to June, focusing on the three key phases of implementation – Define, Build, and Deploy.

    Completion of Organizational Planning

    Cabinet recently approved a proposal to form several working groups connected to the Implementation Team, marking the completion of organizational planning for the project. As reported last month, the Implementation Team was created in late September and includes seven members from the infrastructure units of the Libraries. Reporting directly to the University Librarian, the team functions as the coordinating body of the project. The working groups will provide expert input to the Implementation Team, organize workflow reviews, testing, and training in their focus areas, and involve library faculty and staff in the implementation process. The team appoints team members to liaise with the working groups to facilitate two-way communications.

    Here is a list of working groups and their membership:

    Working Group Implementation Team Liaison(s) Membership
    Acquisitions Abbey DiPaolo Dominique Dixon, Megan O’Connor/Kati Ritter, Cathy Pecoraro/Rita Wells, Gracemary Smulewitz, Lucy Vidal, Mary Beth Weber
    Data Migration and System Integration Chris Sterback & Chad Mills (co-liaisons) Fengzhi Fan, Dave Hoover, Bob Warwick
    Digital Chad Mills Isaiah Beard, Kalaivani Ananthan, Jane Otto
    Discovery Joseph Deodato Discovery Working Group*
    E-Resources Gracemary Smulewitz Michelle Best, Paul Cabelli, Cathy Pecoraro, Lucy Vidal, Geoff Wood, Tao Yang
    Fulfillment Chris Sterback Access Services Committee*
    Interlibrary Loan Gracemary Smulewitz Abbey DiPaolo, Orla Mejia, Glenn Sandberg
    Resource Management Mary Beth Weber Colin Bitter, Jamie Smith, Geoff Wood, Tao Yang

    (* indicating existing groups)

    The Discovery Working Group and Access Services Committee are existing groups, and the others are newly established. All of the groups have members from multiple departments or units of the Libraries.

    While approving the working groups, Cabinet also made two important points:

    1. The Ex Libris Implementation Project is a top priority that must be completed within the established timeframe. Members of the Implementation Team and working groups are taking on a significant amount of work, so it may be necessary for everyone to adjust the expectations for them in areas unrelated to implementation.
    2. Communicating with library users about potential service interruptions (and enhancements) is an essential component of the implementation project. The Implementation Team will work with the Director of Communications to develop an external communications plan.

    The Implementation Team has also made significant progress on creating a project website and performing data preparation and validation. We hope to describe them in more details at the poster session of the State of the Libraries or in the next monthly update.

    Overview of Implementation Timeline (December – June)

    Ex Libris divides the Alma/Primo implementation process into three phases: Define, Build, and Deploy. During the Define phase for Rutgers (December – early February), the Implementation Team gains access to the standard Alma sandbox environment including standard Ex Libris data and configuration, takes Alma training (including configuration training) via pre-recorded sessions, and then configures the sandbox environment. At the same time, the Libraries continue with data extraction and validation and deliver the data from source systems (Symphony and EDS) based on the Ex Libris specifications for migration to Alma. The Define phase ends with Ex Libris completing the configuration of the Alma production environment with the input from the Rutgers team and a test load of the migrated data.

    During the Build phase (late February – May), the Libraries receive access to both the Alma production environment and Primo environment for functionality review and data testing. Both environments use Rutgers data and configurations and we need to document any necessary modifications for the cutover data load. The Implementation Team works with Ex Libris to define a list of third-party integrations (such as the ILL and Central Authentication Systems). Ex Libris conducts onsite workshops to explain the workflows of the new system. The Implementation Team and working groups also prepare and perform internal staff training. This phase completes with a “freeze” of the source systems (Symphony and EDS). Ex Libris then performs the cutover data load.

    Alma and Primo are scheduled to go live at Rutgers on June 1, which is the Day 1 of the Deploy phase. From June to July, the Implementation Team works closely with Ex Libris to address any issues and support library faculty and staff through their first steps with Alma and Primo in production.

    Additional information about the three phases can be found in this chart published by Ex Libris:

    We look forward to the opportunities to discuss the project with you at the State of the Libraries and other venues. Please do not hesitate to contact us or other Implementation Team members if you have any questions or comments. Thank you!

     

    Tao Yang & Abbey DiPaolo

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  • Retirement and YOU!

    Retirement and YOU!

    A new year is approaching! If you are thinking about retirement and what is involved in the process you should check out the important on-line links below that offer key information to help you prepare.

    ABP Retirement: Welcome to the Alternate Benefit Program Retirement Seminar Presentation [PDF].

    PERS Retirement: Welcome to the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) Retirement Seminar Presentation [PDF].

    Additionally, UHR offers seminars to both ABP and PERS members contemplating retirement.  If you are interested in attending a seminar, please check the Learning and Development Course Registration System under Employee Benefit and Work-Life Programs managed by University Human Resources.

    Please note: Employees will need to submit an intent to retire letter to their supervisors to advise of the effective date of retirement once they have fully committed to retire.

     

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  • What does the “Academic Library Impact” report mean for us?

    Stephanie Mikitish is co-author, along with Lynn Silipigni Connaway, William Harvey, and Vanessa Kitzie, of “Academic Library Impact: Improving Practice and Essential Areas to Research,” a new report from The Association of College and Research Libraries. We asked her to provide an overview of the findings and what might be most applicable to Rutgers University Libraries. Enjoy!

    Educational stakeholders are increasingly calling upon academic libraries to document their impact, especially in the areas of student learning and success. The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) commissioned OCLC to investigate how librarians and other library employees can define, measure, and communicate their contributions to these areas. As Rutgers University Libraries continue to adapt to responsibility centered management (RCM) with the rest of the university, librarians and other employees can utilize the report and tools developed by the project team and add to research on library contributions to student learning and success.

    RCM has remapped stakeholder groups into more defined units. The deans of the university’s schools now control more of their budget, and they will likely be more willing to fund resources and services that clearly and directly benefit their faculty and students. Currently, library faculty and staff collect and report numbers for entire groups of users, such as the number of books checked out by undergraduate students for the entire university, or for library location, such as the number of exits at Alexander Library or the number of reference questions answered at the Robeson Library reference desk. Some data are more school- and even department-centered, such as the number of bibliographic instruction classes taught for the Newark College of Arts & Sciences. Studies of student learning and success conducted at other RCM institutions can suggest future directions for the Libraries’ research in these areas. However, the quality of data collected is an important factor that librarians and other library employees must address.

    To facilitate future studies and reporting, library faculty and staff may need to rethink strategies for collecting relevant data in a more consistent manner with concern to individual user privacy. While some data, such as the exit gate count, is consistently taken at each library, other data, such as reference statistics, may be recorded using different units of measurement (e.g., time required to answer a question), even at the same location. Standardizing data collection is a large task, but research that documents and informs other librarians on how to go about this and how to use the data may be eligible for funding from ACRL.

    In order to promote research, ACRL will be offering grants to conduct and/or present research in the following 6 areas.

    1. Communicate the library’s contributions
    2. Match library assessment to institution’s mission
    3. Include library data in institutional data collection
    4. Quantify the library’s impact on student success
    5. Enhance teaching and learning
    6. Collaborate with educational stakeholders

    The project team identified the above areas based on literature on academic library impact on student learning and success and from interviews with librarians and provosts. Given the scope of the Libraries’ collections, spaces, and services, any work done to demonstrate our contribution to student learning and success would fall into one or more of the categories above. The components of the ACRL/OCLC project, which include a research agenda to guide future work on the topic and a literature search/visualization, can suggest what aspects of the Libraries’ resources are most relevant to Rutgers stakeholders, ways to measure reach and impact, and how to effectively communicate the results of such work.

  • Ex Libris Implementation Project Update – November 2017

    Ex Libris Implementation Project Update – November 2017

    In spring 2017, the Libraries decided to adopt the new library service platform (Alma and Primo) from Ex Libris. The decision was made in support of two major librarywide priorities: improving information control and optimizing collection development and management. What this means to the Libraries is that Alma will replace the current SirsiDynix system and Primo will replace both the EBSCO Discovery Service and VuFind catalog. Unlike our current configurations, Alma and Primo are fully integrated with each other. They also provide other important benefits: a unified interface to manage our entire collections of electronic and print resources, rich analytics for making better decisions about collections, the potential of improving the discovery experience of library users, and the opportunities to collaborate with other Alma/Primo libraries.

    The Ex Libris Implementation Project officially began at Rutgers in late September, when the Implementation Team was formed and met for the first time. The team includes seven members from the Libraries’ infrastructure units – Tao Yang, Abbey DiPaolo, Joseph Deodato, Chad Mills, Gracemary Smulewitz, Chris Sterback, and Mary Beth Weber, with Tao and Abbey as the co-leads. The team has had a busy and productive month: we completed and submitted to Ex Libris the Alma Implementation Form, which is the first step of the implementation process. We have also begun to work on the validation of SIRSI Symphony data extracts, creation of the project website, and development of internal goals, among other things. As a happy coincidence, the Ex Libris Northeast User Group held its annual meeting in Jersey City in mid-October, so all the team members and several other colleagues had an outing to Jersey City and learned the experiences of many libraries who have adopted Alma and Primo.

    Currently, the project is still at the pre-implementation phase, which is when the library team works with an Ex Libris consultant to get ready for the implementation. The project will kick into high gear in early December, when the implementation phase officially begins. The new system is expected to go live on June 1, 2018. Between early December and June, there will be many opportunities for library colleagues to get involved in the project and become familiar with the new system. Please stay tuned. Thank you!

    Tao Yang & Abbey DiPaolo

     

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  • Humanism in Medicine: Teaching Poetry to Residents

    I serve as the clinical medical librarian for the Internal Medicine department at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark. This means I attend the residents’ morning reports every Thursday and Friday at 8 a.m. as they discuss patient cases to help them learn how to diagnose and treat the patients they serve. When a question comes up which can be answered by an article, I look up the answer in the medical literature and the chief residents share the results with the others via Sakai. I also train the residents in searching techniques in various databases such as PubMed, Scopus, or VisualDx.

    Dr. Mirela Feurdean, internal medicine residency program director at New Jersey Medical School, approached me in September 2017 about doing something a bit different with the residents. “I know you’re a poet,” she said to me. “Would you be interested in teaching a poetry workshop to the residents?” In my personal life, I’m a published poet who teaches a weekly workshop in Jersey City, and I just published my first chapbook this year. So of course, I said yes.

    The first workshop was held at noon on September 22, alongside free pizza for the residents. The residents were a bit shy, but 11 (out of 20 or so) ended up participating. I shared handouts with them that included a poem written by an award-winning internal medicine doctor, Rafael Campo, as well as a patient. I also shared a couple articles about how to use metaphors effectively when explaining science to patients. For example, research has shown that breast cancer patients who use battle or war metaphors to describe their experience with cancer have a higher incidence of depression than those who use positive words like “challenge” or “journey.” The words we use matter. The residents wrote poems employing medical metaphors, and some even submitted their finished poems to Ars Literarium, the literary journal of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and other RBHS Schools.

    The chief residents asked me to return the following month, and on October 20, we focused on short poems, learning a bit about the form haiku. This time, virtually all 20 or so residents participated. Even if they weren’t writing themselves, they snapped their fingers or clapped their hands to celebrate each other’s work as they started to share their writing. Dr. Ahmad Al Turk was inspired to write a clever quatrain, Odgen Nash-style.

    NSAIDs work for all
    Conditions that end with –itis,
    Summer, spring, or fall,
    But don’t get fooled with gastritis!

    By Ahmad Al Turk, MD

    The medical “joke” of the poem, for those without the medical background, is that NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin or ibuprofen) can irritate the stomach and cause gastritis.

    However, not all the poems were strictly linked to medicine, and some of the doctors wrote about other aspects of their lives. One resident was inspired to share a rap he had previously written, and he nervously approached the front of the conference room. As he closed his rap, which shared a story about a patient who survived a dire medical situation, he encouraged his fellow doctors not to “go numb” as they continue their work as physicians. His fellow doctors cheered and clapped, and there were tears in the eyes of many.

    I look forward to continuing these workshops to my residents, as I hope to help them de-stress during a hectic time of their lives.

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