Color Our Collections via the University of Michigan Libraries

Have you seen the Color Our Collections meme this week?

@MULibraries @MUSpecColl @nlm_news @NYAMHistory You've been quoted in my #Storify story "Color Our Collections" https://t.co/bo46WHpdi6

— PF Anderson @pfanderson@disabled.social (@pfanderson) February 2, 2016

Basically, libraries and museums all around the world are making coloring pages and books from public domain content in their collections. Pretty awesome stuff! Some of the images are beautiful, some horrifying, some fascinating. Many fit right in with the sort of things people are already seeking out as part of the Adult Coloring movement, which I’ve been working on in other areas of my job. And some are funny or quirky and amusing.

Most of the image providers also give a citation to the original work in their collection catalog. Many of the images raise all sorts of questions. Why did they choose THAT image? Why was that image famous in the first place? Who was the original audience of the image? What was the creator trying to communicate? There are so many stories that the images hint at, leaving a faint clue to lead the curious deeper into a story forgotten by most.

I don’t know if the University of Michigan is participating in #ColorOurCollections officially or not (and this is NOT an officially sanctioned offering from them), but I have in my own files images I’ve collected from some of the wondrous items available in our campus rare and special collections. I’e selected just a few of my favorites that inspire in me the kinds of questions and whisper of stories that I’m observing in so many of the other images being shared. Most of these are selected from an anatomy exhibit curated here some years ago by Barbara Shipman. I’m afraid I’m not certain of which book which image came from, so I will have to check with Barbara. For now, I am hazarding a fair guess for those I’m unsure of and noting that uncertainty.

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Idylls of the king, Vivien, Elaine, Enid, Guinevere: with sixty original decorations by G.W. Rhead & L. Rhead. http://mirlyn.lib.umich.edu/Record/008590577 Hathi Trust: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433000181689;view=1up;seq=13

COMMENTS: I fell in love with the romance and beauty of this book the first time I saw it. The books is exquisitely crafted, beautifully illustrated, and filled with the philosophical and thoughtful poems of Tennyson’s exploration of the King Arthur mythos. He tells the story through the tales of four women who are relatively minor characters in most of the tellings of the myth, and most of whom die tragically in Tennyson’s retelling. I’m assuming that some enterprising graduate student has already studied the gender bias implications of the stories. The images are so lovely it is worth exploring the entire book, and luckily for you, it is available as a free public domain download from the Hathi Trust for those at partner institutions like UofM. This particular image illustrates the scene where the Lady of the Lake has stolen the infant Lancelot away from his birth mother to raise as her own. Why would she do that? How did it effect him? Does that original betrayal set the stage for later events in the story. I thought the Lady of the Lake was bound to the lake by magic. So how and why is she floating and flying above it in this image? So many questions.

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Andreae Vesalii … Suorum de humani corporis fabrica librorum epitome. http://mirlyn.lib.umich.edu/Record/002075697

COMMENTS: Vesalius is very likely the most famous name in the history of anatomy, kind of the Shakespeare of medicine with early rare editions of his work that scholars attempt to reconcile and interpret. This image is a macro excerpted from a large image of a crowd witnessing a dissection in a crowded theater. I look at this image of people in a low balcony looking down upon the dissection. A student tries to connect what he sees with what is in the book. Others debate and contest and try to reconcile what they believe, what they’ve learned, and what they see. One silent man stands in the middle of all the bustle and somehow completely apart from all of it. He looks deeply sad or troubled. Is he a friend or relative of the person being dissected? Is he a competitor of the experts doing the demonstration? Who is he, and why does he seem both obscured and highlighted within the story the image is telling?

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D.O.M. Positiones anatomicae et chirurgicae. Ex anatomia. Mira corporis humani compages … http://mirlyn.lib.umich.edu/Record/011360662

COMMENTS: This is a portion of a full skeleton by Shonbornio and dating from around 1590 (according to Barbara’s notes here). This is supposed to be a lesser quality imitation of one of Vesalius’ drawings. It still calls to me emotionally. The skeleton is frail and powerful at the same time, angry or miserable or tired, turning his back to us. We can say this is because the image was for students to study the bones of the back, but did the artist imbue those bones with some richer emotions for a purpose?

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COMMENTS: I’ve been looking at this image all day. Each time, I see Adam and Eve at the tree, and then only afterwards realize that the tree is a skeleton. Even when I know that this is the case, I still see it the other way. When I look at the skeleton, I find it’s posture odd and disconcerting. Its legs are twisted and its hips cocked in an almost flirtatious way, but the torso is twisted and the head turned toward Eve, as if it is speaking to her. The image is simultaneously charming and disturbing.

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Flore médicale décrite par MM. Chaumeton, Poiret, Chamberet, peinte par Mme E. P. et par M. J. Turpin. Nouvelle publication… http://mirlyn.lib.umich.edu/Record/002082410

Flore médicale décrite par MM. Chaumeton, Poiret, Chamberet, peinte par Mme E. P. et par M. J. Turpin. Nouvelle publication… http://mirlyn.lib.umich.edu/Record/002082410

COMMENTS: This is only ONE image from a seven volume set of beautiful, intricate, hand-watercolored paintings illustrating herbal medicine in France. The images are lush and richly colored, which is why it is neither fast nor easy to convert them to a coloring page. I tried several, and this was the only one that actually still worked after I fiddled with it digitally. These two images are both from the same plate, of “Carline,” which we know as Carlina acaulis, a mountain herb that is edible and antibiotic and which tells the weather forecast! It grows low to the ground in poor soil in the mountains and is a relative of the thistle.

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COMMENTS: It was common previously to not leave a large portion of a page blank, but to fill in the blank space with something, either content or ornament. I don’t remember where either of these ornaments came from, which is easy to have happen when they have little to nothing to do with the content of the books! These were both from the Anatomy Exhibit, and I included them here simply because I thought they’d be fun to color.

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Trattato geometrico di Pietro Antonio Cataldi … Doue si essamina il modo di formare il pentagono sopra ad vna linea retta, descritto da Alberto Durero. Et si mostra come si formino molte figure equilatere, & equiangole sopra ad vna proposta linea retta. http://mirlyn.lib.umich.edu/Record/000167243 (I’m not sure, I think it was from this book: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosefirerising/2909081613)

COMMENTS: This was a special request, from another emerging technologies librarian on Twitter who is fascinated by the inclusion of mythological beasts in historical medical books. This image shows a strong leg stomping down a snake which is being tortured with nails hammered through its mouth and head area. I suspect that this is referencing the Catholic Church’s belief in “crushing the snake”. That suspicion is reinforced by the appearance of the phoenix in the right corner, which was in the Middle Ages a fairly common symbol of the resurrection of Christ.

Since Katrina, Part Two: How Has Information Access Changed?

I mentioned yesterday that Hurricane Katrina changed my life in many ways. Well, my last name might be Swedish, but I’ve never really self-identified as Swedish. My cultural identity has come more from my mother’s side of the family, the Cajun side.

So when Katrina hit, I was riveted; when New Orleans was so damaged I was bereft. I couldn’t find out how the relatives were from the area (they were fine, but I didn’t know). I watched the newscasts almost constantly, for days, until I would shake while watching, couldn’t take it any longer, and felt ashamed that I couldn’t bear to watch. I did what I could from here. I donated money. I helped advertise and promote other Katrina response and recovery fundraising events. That was how I first became part of the A2B3 group which has been so influential in my keeping current about tech trends and tips around the local community and which has informed so many blogposts here. While I’ve been supporting persons with disabilities for most of my career, somehow I hadn’t completely mentally translated that over to the problems they face as individuals and communities in disaster and crisis response, so this (and 9/11) triggered a richer engagement in disaster and crisis preparation and planning, which is also heavily reflected in this blog. And that led to my interest in the SMEM and SMEMchat communities (SMEM = Social Media Emergency Management).

There was one story in particular which I remember vividly from those days which turned into a personal mission. The way I remember it is a little different from how it really happened, but both make good stories. First, the way I tell the story. Even though this isn’t the way it really happened, it could have been.

There was a library school student who was volunteering in the hurricane shelters. I always imagined this being something that happened in the Superdome. Among the evacuees who were not allowed to leave the shelters was a doctor. He was trying to help the other evacuees, but his phone (with his core clinical references) had died, battery had run out of power, and there was no way to recharge it. There were so many people he could help better if he just had a few key resources, but with the libraries under water, loss of power, and being in the shelter, he was dependent on what he remembered. Now, you have to keep in mind, this was two years before the Kindle e-book readers were available, the phones couldn’t hold much, and the batteries were even worse than they are now. What he needed was print, and how on earth was that going to happen?

The student was smart (after all, she WAS a library school student!), and had initiative, so she went and tracked down a listserv for medical librarians, and sent the doctor’s plea for books out to the list. Medical librarians all over the country grabbed books from their weeding piles, and hopped on Amazon to place special rush orders, and had them shipped to … the Dome, of course, right? Mail was delayed (duh). The books finally arrived the day the Superdome was evacuated, and never made it to the doctor. No one knows what actually happened to all those books.

Heartbreaking. Criminal! There has to be a BETTER WAY!! I’ve spent a lot, and I mean A LOT of time brainstorming better ways. I have a vision, a plan in mind, but that’s an entirely different post.

OK, now, what REALLY happened (yeah, I have a vivid imagination). [PS – I’ve been trying to verify this story for a decade, unsuccessfully, and JUST TODAY found the original email to prove it happened.]

Adelaide M. Fletcher: I am an LSU-SLIS student volunteering at a Red Cross Shelter and today I asked one of the Docs there if he needed any reference books. His face lit up and he told me he could really use the Merck Manual and any of the Washington Manuals for Medicine, Pediatrics or Surgery.

I’m sure the situation is similar for other shelters in the Baton Rouge area (there are several), and I would like to collect any of these books and distribute them if possible. If you have any (slightly out of date is okay) or know any medical librarians who would be willing to donate one, please send them to me and I will deliver them to shelters. I can’t speak for shelters outside of the Baton Rouge area, but if I get too many, I’ll try to pass them on through the Red Cross.[Source: MEDLIB-L September 2, 2005]

Adelaide gave her own personal address. People volunteered to send answers to reference questions and look things up. Concern was expressed that mail would be blocked, but then it was verified that her address was in the unscathed zone. The librarians contacted publishers and vendors suggesting they make donations. The books were presumably shipped there, and it is assumed that Adelaide distributed them across multiple shelters. No one ever mentioned the Superdome. No one verified Adelaide’s identity, they just trusted she was who she said she was. As it turns out, she got her MLIS, ended up working in medical libraries, and spent several years continuing the good work she began with this email, working on library recovery from Katrina. From there, she has done a lot of tech geekery in medical libraries, and from there working on community building projects (especially with tech). I already knew she was my kind of person. 🙂 And this sure sounds like a happy ending to that part of the story.

But, what about the information resources? Those books and resources the doc wanted and couldn’t get his hands on? What he was asking for was basically textbooks.

The Merck Manual is now online free to the public from the publisher. Even if he had no phone or battery or computer, if anyone else did, they could look things up or call someone who could.

Merck Manual: http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional

The Washington Manuals are trickier. The Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics is available online and also as an app for your phone. There is a “free” version for the phone which evidently is fairly limited, and then tries to sell you the full version for a goodly chunk of change.

Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics with Unbound MEDLINE/PubMed (Free) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/washington-manual-medical/id533185430?mt=8
Top in-app purchases:
The Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics, 34th Edition ($74.99) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/washington-manual-medical/id853052080?mt=8

There is also a copy in the Internet Archive which has over 10,000 views, although I’m not entirely certain that it is a legal or legitimate copy. Indeed, I suspect it isn’t. If that link goes dead, then you’ll know it wasn’t, eh? The official legal copy is this from Lippincott Williams and Wilkins which is available in print and online combined for the same price as the app.

Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics https://www.lww.com/Product/9781451188516

Textbooks are absolutely critical in medical response to disaster and crisis. I’m glad to see that the ones he wanted are now more accessible, even if there still are barriers to access. I’m also glad to see that there are many MORE medical textbooks available online and as apps (I just wish there were more free ones for those times we really need them). Here are a few more (iOS) examples.

The 5-Minute Clinical Consult 2016
Anatomy and Physiology Made Incredibly Easy
CDC Health Information for International Travel 2014 – The Yellow Book
Davis’ Drug Guide
Infectious Disease Compendium, A Persiflager’s Guide
Lange CURRENT Practice Guidelines in Primary Care 2014
mobilePDR (Physicians’ Drug Reference)
Mosby’s Dental Drug Reference
Mosby’s Drug Reference
Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine
Taber’s Medical Dictionary
Tarascon Primary Care

There are a lot more, too. You could easily spend hundreds or thousands of dollars stuffing medical textbook apps into your phone or tablet. And the money is a barrier to having them widely available at the point of need when the need strikes. And these assume that the person reading them is a healthcare provider or student. Sometimes, in disasters, that isn’t the case. When that happens you need high quality accurate information that is right there. Ideally, it would be either something already installed or available where you can find it, or easy to get. I’ve been thinking Kindle’s have way better battery life than most phones, so when my mom died and I inherited her Kindle, I stuffed the extra one chock full of free info that I thought would be good for situations like Katrina. I also bought a solar charger and back up battery and cables. Yeah, call me paranoid, but I want info ready to hand.

But what about alternatives to textbooks, like, oh, I don’t know, journals and articles? “The percentage of open access (OA) articles published in biomedicine in 2005 was 27%,” said Matsubayashi et al in their article, Status of Open Access in the Biomedical Field in 2005. In 2012, that percentage was over half of all newly published articles, per Laakso & Björk. That was articles. The number of open access journal titles in 2005 was 1,988, according to Heather Morrison, who tracks these things and makes both her findings and her data open access as well. By 2013, there were 8,817.

Here are some more resources that weren’t available ten years ago but which we have now. If you can’t afford the medical textbooks, then first aid manuals are a great idea. And when you are thinking about what info you need to respond to trauma, military medical manuals could be a great boon. And we have them now. Most of them aren’t useful for the public, but look for the ones on survival techniques and medical topics.

Internet Archive: US Military Manual Collection https://archive.org/details/military-manuals?&sort=-downloads&page=2

For the most important and useful titles, people have put them in a variety of places online. This way if one goes down, there is a backup.

Special Forces Medical Handbook (2001): http://www.nh-tems.com/documents/Manuals/SOF_Medical_Handbook.pdf

Medical Field Manual (1942): http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/ref/FM/PDFs/FM8-5.pdf

Army First Aid Manual (2002): http://armypubs.army.mil/doctrine/DR_pubs/dr_a/pdf/fm4_25x11.pdf

The Army has made available free PDFs of a lot more of their medical manuals. A lot. Like over 50 other medical titles, everything from training to prevention to evacuation, with specialty manuals for dental, veterinary, radiology, and how to handle casualties, stress management. and much more.

U.S. Army: Doctrine and Training Publications, 8_Series_Collection (Medical): http://armypubs.army.mil/doctrine/8_Series_Collection_1.html

So, our information environment isn’t quite “there” yet, but you know, it is a lot better than it was ten years ago, and it is headed in the right direction.

Since Katrina, Part One: #SinceKatrina, #Katrina10, #Katrina10Years

It’s been 10 years since Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina changed my life, in many ways. I want to talk about health information challenges then and now, how the information landscape has changed, but that will come in Part Two. For today’s post, I want to honor many of the other voices and conversations around this anniversary. The hashtags collecting these are:

#Katrina
#Katrina10
#Katrina10Years
#SinceKatrina

People are telling the stories of what happened then, remembering, grieving, sharing anger and hurt that has barely faded. Others are analyzing again what went wrong. A few are celebrating survival and growth. Many are looking to the lessons learned and what must happen to prevent this happening again. There are many worthy stories, opinions, ideas, and ideals here. I’ve selected just a few.

STORYTELLING: THEN & NOW | HEALTH & MEDICAL | HISTORY, MUSEUMS, EDUCATION, & LIBRARIES | RESILIENCE, LOSSES, & LESSONS LEARNED | PROGRESS & NEW TOOLS

STORYTELLING: THEN & NOW

It’s been 10 years since Hurricane Katrina. We’re reflecting using #Katrina10.

— NPR (@NPR) August 31, 2015

Engulfed by floodwaters, survivors headed to rooftops as rescues continued throughout the region. #Katrina10 pic.twitter.com/0Ar5dKowD9

— NPR (@NPR) August 31, 2015

"They wanted food, water, diapers, medicine — they didn't want an interview. All we could do was get their stories." http://t.co/uypSZ5IZsv

— NPR (@NPR) August 30, 2015

If you want to understand #BlackLivesMatter, you have to understand Katrina: http://t.co/YVJcWwZ08j pic.twitter.com/qKaUXARQz3

— Slate (@Slate) August 30, 2015

One decade later: See how the Hurricane Katrina disaster unfolded, day by day. http://t.co/Yrj16PpUWb pic.twitter.com/oFWtQiWYSJ

— CNN (@CNN) August 30, 2015

Man. Read this whole thread of tweets on Katrina, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the limitations of journalism: https://t.co/FmgWT1NVc5

— Matt Pearce 🦅🇺🇸 (@mattdpearce) August 29, 2015

Somebody storified my Katrina rant. Thank you all for letting me vent. https://t.co/dy0MhukjzM

— Michael Grunwald (@MikeGrunwald) August 30, 2015

Carlos Barria revisits New Orleans 10 years after Katrina. http://t.co/qDgI7KYVOM

— The Click (@theclick) August 31, 2015

Took this 10 yrs ago. Ppl made it thru w/sense of humor & love for their city. NOLA, u are the best! #Katrina10Years pic.twitter.com/v1ZPwfwR00

— mary elizabeth ellis (@meellisday) August 31, 2015

Living with my post-Katrina survivor's guilt http://t.co/rxSGeUloTE

— VICE (@VICE) August 31, 2015

Three views on a tragedy: Reporters recall first days after Hurricane Katrina http://t.co/0qixMDNHIk #Katrina10 pic.twitter.com/yP0yilHejr

— NPR (@NPR) August 31, 2015

How 'Canadaville,' built as an organic farming utopia, became one of the strangest #Katrina10 rehabilitation projects http://t.co/xu4JFgzQwd

— Newsweek (@Newsweek) August 31, 2015

The persistent myths of Hurricane Katrina, thoroughly debunked: http://t.co/caFdXkH2xc pic.twitter.com/VwCIaA7Wcm

— Slate (@Slate) August 31, 2015

https://twitter.com/michelledean/status/637775455832121344

Incredible portraits & stories from the #Katrina diaspora, a decade later, by Chris Usher. https://t.co/N8naNNz7P7 pic.twitter.com/VqUSymUoi3

— Marcus Yam 文火 (@yamphoto) August 29, 2015

New Orleans was buried in blight long before Hurricane Katrina http://t.co/5AFGfgG7gp pic.twitter.com/4CrrvaCOxt

— POLITICO (@politico) August 30, 2015

Not Reported @FoxNews: A Muslim Country Gave $100 Million For #Katrina10 To Rebuild Education, Housing & Health Care http://t.co/0yMCohxV5W

— 𝚋𝚊𝚡𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚎𝚊𝚗 (@TheBaxterBean) August 30, 2015

One black-owned bank helped build New Orleans's black middle class. Then Hurricane Katrina hit. http://t.co/R0tlxUppNo

— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 30, 2015

Revisiting areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina. What do they look like now? #Katrina10 http://t.co/MGioaQDEgd pic.twitter.com/Y1PnKru2Ma

— CNN (@CNN) August 29, 2015

To all the people and first responders that helped NOLA over the past 10 years, we will never forget. #Katrina10Years pic.twitter.com/1NwisaIsX4

— Voodoo Experience (@VoodooNola) August 30, 2015

#Katrina triggered largest #RedCross disaster relief op in history. A look back: http://t.co/dc6hiEC55Q #katrina10 pic.twitter.com/pXdnQNB8qG

— American Red Cross (@RedCross) August 29, 2015

@RedCross Thank you for what you did in South Mississippi. We will never forget the help you gave us for weeks. #Katrina

— Louise Castello (@serial54) August 29, 2015

This story isn't frequently told. It should be. #Katrina10Years https://t.co/tQiMJJJ0zv pic.twitter.com/VZ6VI6oUoo

— Katie Vann (@kvann) August 29, 2015

Here's what I saw in New Orleans 10 years ago. http://t.co/i1wM2eXPWK pic.twitter.com/QamUNTuEjt

— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) August 30, 2015

This Oscar-nominated movie about one woman's struggle during and after Katrina will seriously move you. Streams here: http://t.co/ANpkyiSXsF

— Michael Moore (@MMFlint) August 29, 2015

The 2 sides of New Orleans: One's booming. The other is returning to pre-Katrina realities of poverty and violence. http://t.co/pKNchbzgpi

— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 30, 2015

Maps: 10 Years after Katrina, NOLA's poor neighborhoods are still largely abandoned http://t.co/D3408HoOde pic.twitter.com/1Co78Q80ER

— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) August 30, 2015

HEALTH & MEDICAL

Aug. 31, 2005. @HHSgov Secretary Michael Leavitt declares public health emergency in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Florida. #Katrina10

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) August 31, 2015

#Katrina10 RT @grivlin: In NewOrleans, FEMA's Mike Brown learns situation at Superdome dire: 25K people but low on food, water, medical

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) August 30, 2015

How Wounded Healers Help: Culture Specific Response to Recovering From
Disaster http://t.co/Ti66imvLTf #KatrinaTruth #blackmaskingtradition

— Kim Vaz-Deville (@vazdeville) August 28, 2015

From the archives: What happened when Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters marooned Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans http://t.co/XvyNVEocna

— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 30, 2015

Children aren’t just little adults. How we’ve made progress to protect their needs during disasters http://t.co/aKuRMVVP0e #Katrina10

— American Academy of Pediatrics (@AmerAcadPeds) August 30, 2015

#WorkingLife: After Katrina, a biologist used her flooded home as a living lab http://t.co/d8W7GVKwiB #FREE pic.twitter.com/FsBCMekIFC

— Science Magazine (@ScienceMagazine) August 30, 2015

CDC’s Dr. Sosin reflects on his experience and lessons learned from Hurricane #Katrina http://t.co/Aq36oaw8sf

— CDC Emergency (@CDCemergency) August 30, 2015

10 years after #Katrina, I returned to #NewOrleans to see what happened to Charity Hospital — http://t.co/cB4uaCRlzD pic.twitter.com/gEa8Znc9w0

— Dr. Sanjay Gupta (@drsanjaygupta) August 29, 2015

#Katrina10: No food… no power… no way out. Inside New Orleans' Charity Hospital. http://t.co/S0ugBCjDIQ pic.twitter.com/x1qIpgtEr9

— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) August 30, 2015

“Disasters and the Health of Populations.” Dean @sandrogalea on #publichealth role in mitigating disasters http://t.co/FKC4tvBt94 #Katrina10

— Boston University School of Public Health (@BUSPH) August 31, 2015

How did New Orleans build an innovative health care system after #HurricaneKatrina’s destruction? Jackie Judd reports #Katrina10

— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) August 26, 2015

"We had to contact the hospital each day." #Katrina10 https://t.co/aUT9ps7LRx pic.twitter.com/zhb1WyH5kG

— NGA (@NGA_GEOINT) August 29, 2015

Could simple steps have reduced Hurricane Katrina's mental-health toll? http://t.co/0V8VBVhz6M #Katrina10 pic.twitter.com/guZZZN0Hyt

— nature (@Nature) August 29, 2015

We built upon a dream, born of disaster, to no longer be the City that Care Forgot

Read @KBDeSalvo's #Katrina10 blog http://t.co/eXZP8cns3e

— ADM Rachel Levine (@HHS_ASH) August 28, 2015

Hurricane Katrina’s lessons learned have become lessons lost for health, says @HC_Ready’s Emily Lord: http://t.co/3XBL1kWNtJ #Katrina10

— APHA (@PublicHealth) August 25, 2015

HISTORY, MUSEUMS, EDUCATION, & LIBRARIES

10 Years After Katrina: Commemorating Libraries and Librarians (a 6 part series): http://t.co/WNGjoONzPQ via @askwatki1 #Katrina10

— WeNeedDiverseBooks (@diversebooks) August 29, 2015

Preserving the historic integrity of the Crescent City—the story of the William Frantz building https://t.co/t4RuNbzZKr #Katrina10

— FEMA (@fema) August 31, 2015

This dire Hurricane Katrina weather advisory was so perfect, it’s in a museum: http://t.co/s2DgW8yn95 #Katrina10 pic.twitter.com/zDVHtxz2wY

— Slate (@Slate) August 31, 2015

On Katrina's 10th anniversary, powerful stories from the diaspora – as told to @drsuperville http://t.co/PyLvLrwv0m via @educationweek

— Michele Molnar (@EdWeekMMolnar) August 29, 2015

A history of #NewOrleans public housing, through No Limit and Ca$h Money music videos. #Katrina10 @CityLab http://t.co/tQoTaNX9Nh

— Bike & Build (@bikebuild) August 31, 2015

Hurricane Katrina: Costliest natural disaster in US history in numbers #Katrina10http://t.co/AmMdrHap7z pic.twitter.com/X2k7wQGFCi

— RT America (@RT_America) August 28, 2015

#Katrina10: Our oral history uncovers some of the hidden stories of the response and recovery http://t.co/qDQGRu2tdL pic.twitter.com/cDQjfqtJS4

— GovExec (@GovExec) August 28, 2015

#Katrina10 Years Later:
Historical account through the eyes of the @USNavy #USSIwoJima Captain http://t.co/jV25GeSnIB pic.twitter.com/9E5rIEi33r

— Department of Defense 🇺🇸 (@DeptofDefense) August 30, 2015

Hurricane Katrina: Costliest natural disaster in US history in numbers #Katrina10http://t.co/AmMdrHap7z pic.twitter.com/X2k7wQGFCi

— RT America (@RT_America) August 29, 2015

https://twitter.com/marvinbing/status/638359208434360321

@WIRED @mgds37 The Beatitudes was originally written as a campaign to help #NewOrleans libraries after #Katrina10 http://t.co/LwMcuvwHKy

— @GOPFascistPoliciesOfNegligentHomicide (@PinchandScrimp) August 30, 2015

" New Orleans, A Living Museum" A #music must-see #Katrina10 . @greatmuseums @YouTube "Inspiring" @billboard #ArtsEd https://t.co/mlOeCzGytF

— ArtOnArtsBlog (@ArTallks) August 26, 2015

Tonight in @LavilleLSU Library: screening of When the Levees Broke starting at 6 PM. http://t.co/eNrvq8tWqi #Katrina10

— Ogden Honors College (@LSU_Honors) August 30, 2015

"I grieve for my elders and neighbors lost, for my 5000-book library drowned.” Poetry by @redbeansista on #katrina10 http://t.co/sES4u1ooW3

— PEN America (@PENamerica) August 28, 2015

RESILIENCE, LOSSES, & LESSONS LEARNED

Building a More Resilient America #SinceKatrina: A blog post by NOAA Head Dr. K. Sullivan https://t.co/Jbj5RlguOo pic.twitter.com/Sh8p5xD9xx

— NOAA (@NOAA) August 27, 2015

Researchers found that Katrina survivors who found comfort in their faith showed greater growth and healing http://t.co/zRgjHqvUCc

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) August 31, 2015

A decade after Katrina, one historically black campus still struggles to recover: http://t.co/taUzqdxWpQ

— The Chronicle of Higher Education (@chronicle) August 30, 2015

https://twitter.com/marynmck/status/638018549735407617

#Katrina showed the damage possible from storm surge. Learn how to prepare for this hazard: http://t.co/lw9o88hqPI pic.twitter.com/8GhubVmdC6

— NOAA Climate.gov (@NOAAClimate) August 28, 2015

Lessons from #Katrina were applied to @CountyofLA
communities http://t.co/fp5oEySJ2I #Katrina10

— Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (@RWJF) August 29, 2015

The most compelling pop culture to come out of Katrina http://t.co/wyXOYCQejC

— WIRED (@WIRED) August 31, 2015

What Hurricane #Katrina can teach us about leadership: http://t.co/jIBLFrQ3VD

— National Geographic (@NatGeo) August 30, 2015

It’s been 10 years #SinceKatrina. What have we learned? Partly, to assess impacts: http://t.co/G72D87kSkS #Katrina10 pic.twitter.com/sXG0Hv2etS

— NOAA Digital Coast (@NOAADigCoast) August 24, 2015

A decade after the costliest storm in U.S. history, we have a collective responsibility to act. http://t.co/jf19hb91Ns #Katrina10

— Rhea Suh (@RheaSuh) August 29, 2015

10 years after Hurricane Katrina, charities look back at lessons learned http://t.co/ZX10Vc0Qaa pic.twitter.com/eTg8x76caX

— Mashable (@mashable) August 30, 2015

"We cannot fight this fight alone" – how government & private sector worked together after Hurricane Katrina https://t.co/b6X8k9NGPb

— FEMA (@fema) August 29, 2015

Houston's Response to #Katrina10 shows that cities are willing to welcome neighbors: http://t.co/A2alLFwo6U via @WSJ pic.twitter.com/onz10X30pW

— BakerRipley (@BakerRipley) August 29, 2015

Solving New Orleans’ geophysical problems is critical for long-term growth: http://t.co/hHkWgUnzKZ

— Forbes (@Forbes) August 30, 2015

The startup-filled Silicon Bayou in New Orleans lives on, 10 years after Katrina http://t.co/npTGYEVIah #startups

— Panos (@Panoss_64) August 30, 2015

The 'Silicon Bayou' of New Orleans lives on after Katrina: business pitches during a parade. http://t.co/cfeZa8H4QP pic.twitter.com/b2g2daFiUg

— Mashable (@mashable) August 30, 2015

PROGRESS & NEW TOOLS

Since Hurricane Katrina, many have worked together to make children safer. Here’s how: http://t.co/aKuRMVVP0e #Katrina10

— American Academy of Pediatrics (@AmerAcadPeds) August 29, 2015

Today, People in New Orleans who need a ride to safety during a mandatory evacuation can go to #evacuspots http://t.co/csSBWZarV2 #Katrina10

— NPR (@NPR) August 31, 2015

How one Louisiana Fire Department came back stronger and better equipped after Hurricane Katrina https://t.co/xEL6qZyw0d #Katrina10

— FEMA (@fema) August 30, 2015

After #Katrina10, pictures from above show how much New Orleans has, or hasn't, changed http://t.co/LkdNPjhS3a pic.twitter.com/GDzAvccqfy

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) August 31, 2015

More great #disaster #resilience resources here #ExtremeEventGame #preparedness #Katrina10 http://t.co/JshMzuRGRi http://t.co/AyNuzR2pQ8

— LabX (@labxNAS) August 27, 2015

Check out IOM reports on #disasterresilience: #preparedness, #response, & #recovery: http://t.co/MnhuQHIKl6 #Katrina10

— NASEM Health (@NASEM_Health) August 26, 2015

How #SocialMedia Would Have Changed Hurricane #Katrina Coverage http://t.co/SWZENB9AMZ via @HuffPostPol. Great work @CurlyCrayy #macrosw

— Sean Erreger, LCSW (@StuckonSW) August 31, 2015

“It took a lot of work to make this a reality” – the story of New Orleans schools after Hurricane Katrina https://t.co/7fgfuffoB8 #Katrina10

— FEMA (@fema) August 30, 2015

A decade of Progress. Improving hurricane forecasting with NOAA satellites #SinceKatrina http://t.co/DZE4VZBjYg pic.twitter.com/TurQUUjSVP

— NOAA Satellites (@NOAASatellites) August 29, 2015

As hurricanes brew, @NASA & her satellites are better than ever at warning & protecting us: http://t.co/saX2TJimIe pic.twitter.com/jcWPkXERqq

— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) August 30, 2015

The #hurricane "cone of uncertainty": How it's changed for the better #sinceKatrina https://t.co/w5N3paFdde @NWSNHC pic.twitter.com/TqTUqqcBLc

— NOAA (@NOAA) August 28, 2015

Get the @fema app for tools & tips to keep you safe before, during, & after a hurricane http://t.co/OUCY8AhWLC pic.twitter.com/Ha09LNsL6s

— FEMA (@fema) August 29, 2015

Unmanned aircraft among new technologies used by @NOAA to help improve forecasts #SinceKatrina http://t.co/PIzzf03ehh pic.twitter.com/fNjLLxRRoP

— NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Lab (@NOAA_AOML) August 27, 2015

It's been 10 years since Hurricane Katrina, and this is how Louisiana is restoring itself http://t.co/PD8BWmtdV2 pic.twitter.com/CHPSfvkxce

— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 30, 2015

GOES-R: The Future of Weather Forecasting- See what's changed #SinceKatrina #10YrsLater http://t.co/m0MewM1u9s pic.twitter.com/kk4bu2HLNt

— NOAA Satellites (@NOAASatellites) August 24, 2015

What's in your go bag? Here's a few items to get you started: http://t.co/UliLeOsksN #BeReady

— CDC Emergency (@CDCemergency) August 31, 2015

Get ahead of #Erika with our infographic full of tips to make your home #hurricane-ready: http://t.co/8SI4HfCo8n pic.twitter.com/USu0tkxp7o

— CDC Emergency (@CDCemergency) August 27, 2015

Aaron, Lost, and Found Again

Panel: Open Access Activism, The Story of Aaron Swartz, with lessons for libraries and information.

It’s been a couple years since Aaron died. Aaron who? Aaron Swartz. I’ve talked about him here a few times (Jan. 14, 2013; Jan. 15, 2013; Feb 2013; Jan 2014). Aaron was one of those bright and shining young stars, who did amazing things at early ages (helped code RSS at age 14?). reimagined ways to access information (see his fantastic Image Atlas collaboration with Taryn Simon), made very clear challenges with the status quo, and promised a future with much to contribute. That didn’t happen quite the way people hoped. In case you haven’t heard of him, there are a few links at the end of this post. Here is a quote from his dad at his memorial.

“We can’t bring Aaron back, he can no longer be the tireless worker for good… What we can do is change things for the better. We can work to change MIT so that it . . . once again becomes a place where risk and coloring outside the lines is encouraged, a space where the cruelties of the world are pushed back and our most creative flourish rather than being crushed.” https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/03/29/the-inside-story-mit-and-aaron-swartz/YvJZ5P6VHaPJusReuaN7SI/story.html

The University of Michigan is planning a really fantastic event this month looking at the circumstances of Aaron’s death, the factors that led up to it, the changes that have come after it, and how this has and is changing the information landscape and legal context in which libraries operate. Even better, you get to see the movie for FREE! Here is the event information.

Panel: Open Access Activism
Wednesday, June 17 at 4:00pm
Library Gallery, Hatcher Graduate Library, University of Michigan

Panelists:
Melissa Levine, U-M Library’s Lead Copyright Officer
Jack Bernard, U-M Associate General Counsel
Brian Knappenberger, Director, The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz

Brian Knappenberger’s film chronicles the story of Aaron Swartz, information-access activist and Internet prodigy, who was targeted by the FBI in a high-profile criminal case involving JSTOR and MIT at the time of his death. Join Knappenberger, along with Lead Copyright Officer Melissa Levine, and Associate General Counsel Jack Bernard in a panel discussion about the issues of the case and how they relate to libraries and information both more generally and at the University of Michigan.

Film Screening: The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz
Tuesday, June 16 at 7:00pm
Join us for this free screening with the filmmaker at Michigan Theater the evening prior to the panel.

LINKS

AaronSw (his site): http://www.aaronsw.com/

Wikipedia: Aaron Swartz: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz

The inside story of MIT and Aaron Swartz: More than a year after Swartz killed himself rather than face prosecution, questions about MIT’s handling of the hacking case persist: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/03/29/the-inside-story-mit-and-aaron-swartz/YvJZ5P6VHaPJusReuaN7SI/story.html

Remember Aaron Swartz: http://www.rememberaaronsw.com/memories/

Naughton, John. Aaron Swartz stood up for freedom and fairness – and was hounded to his death: The internet activist who paid the ultimate price for his combination of genius and conscience. The Guardian 7 February 2015 18.00 EST. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/07/aaron-swartz-suicide-internets-own-boy

The Life of Aaron Swartz (a collection from the Internet Archive of the rich activity surrounding his loss): https://www.archive-it.org/collections/3492

BBC Four: Storyville: The Internet’s Own Boy http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b051wkry [IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3268458/ ] [Review: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/aug/31/internets-own-boy-review-aaron-swartz-mark-kermode ]

Internet Activist, a Creator of RSS, Is Dead at 26, Apparently a Suicide http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/technology/aaron-swartz-internet-activist-dies-at-26.html?_r=0

Emerging Tech, Healthcare & Comics for World Book Day #WorldBookDay

One book, two books,
Red books, blue books,
Fat books, thin books,
Old books, new books.
This one has a gold leaf spine,
This one sings a little rhyme.
I could read books all the time!
(a Dr. Seuss parody by yours truly)

Let’s just say I sometimes WISH I could read books all the time. And a great deal of my house looks like the photo. For today, World Book Day, I want to just mention a few (a VERY few) books I’ve been reading lately which may be of interest to readers of this blog.

First off, some that connect directly to healthcare social media, emerging technologies, accessibility, disability, and health literacy — some of my favorite topics!

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Digital Humanitarians, by Patrick Meier: http://www.digital-humanitarians.com/

I love the #SMEM community and #SMEMchat. SMEM stands for Social Media Emergency Management. Think of it as how we use social media for disaster and crisis response. I’ve touched on these topics here before, and will again. When I saw that a book had come out specifically on this, I was delighted. And it had even more — the roles of open data, open source software and tools, citizen science, and crowdsourcing. So HUGELY exciting. I couldn’t wait for the library to get a copy, I had to borrow it interlibrary loan. Then I listened to the webinar with Patrick, hosted by NNLM. Then I didn’t want to give back the copy I’d borrowed, so I had to buy a copy. And then I made SURE the library bought a copy. Well worth reading, in case you haven’t guessed.

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Digital Outcasts: Moving Technology Forward Without Leaving People Behind, by Kel Smith: http://digital-outcasts.com/

I’ve been raving about Kel Smith’s book, Digital Outcasts. Kel does a brilliant job of not just look backwards at the intersection of disability, accessibility, and technology, but looking forward. He forecasts new technologies arising and some of the new ways in which they will create barriers to access for people. This one the library has, and they have it electronically.

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Conquering Concussion: Healing TBI Symptoms With Neurofeedback and Without Drugs, by Mary Lee Esty & C. M. Shifflett: http://conqueringconcussion.net/

Another one I bought for my own collection is Conquering Concussion, which got a rave review from Kirkus and then was listed as one of the top indie published books of 2014. Let’s just say that I have had enough concussions of my own for this to be personally relevant. Then it turned out that the authors are friends of a friend. Small world. Good book.

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The Guide to the Future of Medicine: Technology AND The Human Touch, by Bertalan Mesko: http://themedicalfuturist.com/

Berci and I have known each other through social media since he was a med student. And now he’s NOT a medical student anymore, is a world recognized expert on emerging technologies and social media use in healthcare, a highly sought after public speaker, and he writes books. This one I bought as an e-book, because I wanted to highlight like crazy, and be able to download all my highlights in a nice tidy lump (something made much easier by reading the book on a Kindle!).

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Last but not least, I’m brainstorming how we might make a webcomic about health literacy skills. Sounds like a really boring topic, eh? But the books I’m reading to do research on the idea are anything but boring.

A Wrinkle in Time, a Graphic Novel, by Madeleine L’Engle and Hope Larson: http://www.hopelarson.com/portfolio-item/a-wrinkle-intime/

This one isn’t remotely medical. Instead, it’s a book I’ve read over and over throughout my life, for which I own multiple editions in various formats, and Hope Larson went and turned it into a graphic novel (ie. comic book). You would not believe how much trouble I’ve had wrapping my head around how to tell a story in a comic. It’s not like I don’t read comics. It’s more like, well, brain freeze. This book got me over the first hurdle. Because I know the book so well in other forms, I could more easily understand how the story changed and stayed the same as it morphed into a more visual format.

On Purpose, by Vic Strecher: http://www.dungbeetle.org/

I’ve known Vic Strecher professionally for many years, probably almost as long as I’ve been working here at the University of Michigan. When I heard that Vic’s daughter had died it was like a punch in the gut, even though I’d never met her. I couldn’t imagine. I’m a mom, and there is no more terrifying thought than that something like this might happen to one of my kids. When Vic wrote a comic book about his experience, and how this became, for him, an opportunity for personal growth, I had to get a copy. And this book is what helped me see how a personal story can become a universal story. Seeing how this transformed into a comic book / graphic novel helped me to see opportunities in my own life for stories that could possibly be transformed into comics.

Comic Reviews: Oh Joy, Sex Toy (by PF Anderson) http://www.graphicmedicine.org/comic-reviews/oh-joy-sex-toy-2/

Last month I was asked to review a copy of Erika Moen’s new nicer-than-average comic book on sex toys and sex education. You know. Oh Joy, Sex Toy? Trust me, most of the college age folk already know about it.

Erika Moen

You can read my review for the basics about the book (which is printed with nice ink on absolutely gorgeous paper, if you’re into that sort of thing). For me, the most exciting part of the book was in the appendix, where Erika did a funny little comic about one day in her life, sketching one panel for each hour. LIGHTBULB! Now, I can see how all the pieces fit together: comic formatting, personal experience, and story telling. Next, I’m hoping to find time to actually make one. I’m nervous. Wish me luck! And inspiration!

20 Ways to Reuse Repository Content (Infographic of the Week)

Image source: Ayre, Lucy and Madjarevic, Natalia (2014) 20 ways to reuse repository content. In: Open Repositories 2014, 9-13 June 2014, Helsinki, Finland.

Last week, I was pleasantly surprised to find an infographic within a research article. This week is less surprising, but still a very practical application of infographics — a research poster! I can absolutely see using this idea myself, and actually saw a number of infographic/posters at a recent convention. The take home lesson from that is that infographic design and best practices are becoming a core competency for academics of all stripes.

This particular infographic struck my fancy because it provides interesting insights into ideas and strategies for maximising the impact of academic products. Create your research article and deposit a copy with the local institutional repository (which is, here, Deep Blue).

Then you are done, and on to the next project. Right? Or not. One thing I’ve learned is that talk to a researcher around campus and most of them have a story about their favorite project that never got the attention they think it warranted. This infographic is chock full of ideas for what to do about that. Placing a copy in the repository is only the beginning.

Health Fair Meet Maker Faire! Part 3: Our Announcement!!

You saw Part One, in which the idea was born, and Part Two, in which the concept was tested and proven. So what actually happened? We’re doing it. We’re really DOING IT! By “it” I mean a health-themed maker faire/fest at the University of Michigan. REALLY!

WHAT:

We Make Health: http://makehealth.us

Emily Puckett Rogers had given us a heads-up about requirements for working with the official Maker Faire folk, which I had not realized was an actual brand name. So we don’t yet know if this is going to be a Mini-Maker Faire or a Maker Fest or what, but it is definitely happening!

Please note that the We Make Health event is a project of Health Design By Us, a participatory behavior change project funded as part of the UM Provost’s Third Century Initiative. It’s a completely awesome and wonderful collaboration, and you’ll be hearing more about it if you read this blog regularly.

WHEN:

Saturday, August 16, 2014

We are still settling on what happens when during the day. We are brainstorming roughly 10am to 6pm, but that may change.

WHERE:

Palmer Commons: https://www.google.com/maps/place/100+Washtenaw+Ave/@42.2807486,-83.7335814,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x883cae4266554837:0x732dcfa6f8fb7dbe

WHO:

Us! We!

Well, Joyce Lee, Matt Kenyon, and I are taking point on planning the project (with the capable assistance of Emily Hirschfeld). Joyce is from the UM Medical School and Mott Children’s Hospital, Matt is with the School of Art and Design, and I, of course, am part of the University Libraries, Taubman Health Sciences Library. However, we have an email list for folk interested in the event which currently has over 90 people signed up. Many of them have contributed ideas, suggested contacts, volunteered to do booths or presentations, and so forth. We are reaching out to many community maker communities, and have received endorsements from several of them. You’ll hear more about our partners as the event moves closer.

CONTACTS:

1) Sign up at the We Make Health web site to receive information and updates from the Health Design By Us project.

2) If you are part of the University of Michigan, you can sign up through M-Community for the MakeHealthUM email list.

3) If you want to contact the event coordinators, our Make Health Team, you can reach us at: MAKEHEALTH at-sign UMICH dot EDU.

4) Twitter! The event itself is on twitter, as is Health Design By Us.

Make Health: @MakeHealthUM
Health Design By Us: @HealthByUs

If you want to chat with Joyce or me individually, we are also pretty easily reached through Twitter:

Joyce: @joyclee
Patricia: @pfanderson

5) Please feel free to comment on this post! We will have a blog for the actual event, but that’s still being set up. More soon!

WHAT’S NEXT:

What’s coming next is more blogposts and more news! We will highlight some of the technologies and people that will be highlighted at our event, the partners we’re working with, and exciting spinoff projects to help the energy last beyond the actual event. We’ll tell you more about some of the other folk working on health maker events, and other maker communities around the University and the Ann Arbor community.

Health Fair Meet Maker Faire! Part Two

In yesterday’s Part One post, I left this with me trying to decide what ideas were most important to show Barbara Stripling. I had drafted a looooong blogpost on April 15th, and showed it to my friend and colleague, Kate Saylor on April 16th. Kate and I were digging around in the post, and the question came up of looking at health maker faires. I didn’t think there had been one. The conversation went something like this.

“Really?”
“Really.”
“Hmmm, that’s odd.”
“Let’s look.”
“Good idea. If anyone can find it, you can.”
“OMG, I can’t find any! Look! There are ones on sustainability, and green living, and one which include health booths, but I can’t find ANY actually themed around health!”
“REALLY?!”
“We have to do this.”
“We TOTALLY have to do this.”
“WOW.” “WOW.“

The next person called was Emily Puckett Rogers, another librarian who is one of the leaders behind the Ann Arbor Mini-Maker Faire. She had a LOT of good ideas and information. We brainstormed a while, and then the next step was to start talking with other people to get more ideas. The following day, April 17th, I started a shared spreadsheet in Google Drive for folk to share ideas and collect them in one place. Word spread across campus like wildfire, and many people were making edits. The first week I kept the doc open and just kept watching in astonishment as people across campus kept logging in and out of the file.

April 18th I had a meeting with Joyce Lee about another mutual project. As we walked out of the meeting, I was telling her about this idea. Her reaction was along the lines of, “Isn’t this what we are trying to do? We should do this! We should sponsor this!” And we were off and running.

We started out brainstorming what sort of topics were a good fit for a health maker fair or festival. Oh, there are plenty, and for almost all of them someone would know of a local person doing work with that tech. At this point what I wanted to do was prove the viability of the concept by taking things I’d seen from maker fairs I’d attended and sifting out those with any kind of health relevance. I tried to distill those examples down into a few categories with just a few examples each, but leaving enough conceptual wiggle room to imply some of the other possibilities. The framework I came up with (yes, I know, I’m the acronym queen) is CLASP.

CLASP
* Creativity
* Literacy
* Access
* Sustainability
* Personal Problemsolving

The core ideas contained in CLASP apply to all makerspaces, not just the health aspects. There is also a lot of overlap in the ideas themselves. Typically, each example will include all the concepts. I’m just using this as a tool to help me organize and prioritize the examples I’ve collected.

CREATIVITY

One of the things I adore about the Maker Movement is the way people come up with their own solutions to their own problems, as individuals and as a community, through exploration, innovation, experimentation, and creation. Patient communities have been doing the same sort of thing — sharing problems and solutions, brainstorming, turning solutions into marketable products, and more. I’ve been deeply inspired and impressed with the prosthetic solutions coming from 3D printing, from Robohand & Roboleg to the beautiful prosthetic limbs (see the work done by Sophie de Oliveira and Scott Summit).

Closer to home, many people with injuries or conditions that effect mobility find themselves struggling to get in and out of clothes on their own, something that happened to me last year with my shoulder injury. The solutions can be unique to an individual, based on range of motion, grip strength, fine motor control, and other factors. Resources like sewing machines, CAD/CAM tools for modeling, and sergers can be critical to those solutions. Other persons may find healing through something as simple as a beautiful work of art, and the lights and wooden star shown here can be mentally soothing, stimulating, engaging, calming, or a source of meditation and focus. The idea of book binding connects to health, for me, as I encourage patients with a new diagnosis or long-term condition to keep their own notebook about their symptoms, treatments, meetings with providers, questions asked, answers given, etcetera. Being able to customize and personalize your own book makes it more meaningful. I don’t know, maybe this is overkill, or maybe it is the start of a great idea.

LITERACY

I’ve never been to a maker faire where I didn’t encounter a librarian. Literacy is a big deal for librarians, and health literacy is a big deal in health care. Your standard health fair is focused around health literacy — communicating the basics around important health topics and common conditions, as well as best practices for prevention. But most of the interaction is one-sided. Health fair attendees pick up fliers and sometimes ask questions, but it isn’t literacy in the way that maker faires handle it. In maker faires, literacy isn’t just “what is it” and “let me tell you what to do.” Literacy becomes “how can I do this myself” and “what skills do I need to take this to the next level” and “what is possible if I [fill in the blank].” Literacy includes playing games to actively engage with a topic as well as building things and identifying what you need to know to achieve your own goals.

In these images, there is a librarian wearing a “Dig into reading” tshirt while she assists at a booth teaching soldering skills; a larger than lifesize version of the Operation board game which can be used to teach hand-eye coordination as well as humorously presented anatomical concepts; another librarian connecting gaming to science and technology fundamentals; and a young scientist showing science products and presenting science literacy concepts. You can’t see it in this picture, but in another image, the same young scientist shows off 3d printed laboratory equipment.

ACCESS

In libraries we tend to think of access to information (ie. books and journals) first and foremost. Next we think of access to the buildings, and accessible design. With online information, we think of web accessibility. When we talk about the digital divide we mean access to certain types of technology and networking. With makerspaces we think of access to completely different types of technology. Somewhere along the line we usually mention the skills needed to use these things, but I’m not sure that skills are considered part of the challenge of access. I’m thinking the question of access may be bigger than any of these, and in healthcare, there may be portions of access that are broader and/or narrower than what we usually consider.

The first image above is a snippet from one of my 23andMe health reports. Yeah, the ones that the FDA has told them not to do anymore. Luckily, I got in before that happened. This is just a tiny part of an idea. What’s important isn’t just access to personalized genomics information, or to 23andMe, or even to the health reports. What’s important is a bigger challenge — that the increasing demands on the healthcare system are driving more engagement by and with patients, and there are needs and demands for a very type of information than has usually been made available about health for people who are not medical professionals. There is a need for access to tools and skills that have traditionally fallen outside the purview of the patient.

The second image is of Pebble watches, a wearable technology tool that connects to smart phones and sensors and can be used for games and utility, but also for personal health management. The Maker Movement philosophy has come to healthcare in a HUGE way, and shows no signs of going away. Not only does healthcare need to acknowledge and accept this, but also needs to support, provide access to skills and training, create tools for integrating personal data with electronic health records, and beyond. There are ‘new’ buzzwords giving a glimpse into some of what we could be doing and what might fit into healthcare makerspaces and healthcare maker faires. Here are just a few.

Participatory medicine
individualized medicine
personalized medicine
personal genomics
quantified self
self-trackers
n=1 studies
DIY biology
biohacking
microbiomics
sensors
wearable technology

I don’t know about you, but my brain is going, “Whoa.” How on earth has this not already happened in a HUGE way?

SUSTAINABILITY

Hang around with folk in public health for any length of time at all and you start hearing about diet management, outreach, food deserts, community health, environmental health, risk science, and related concepts. An awful lot of what happens in public health is trying to help people and communities develop better ways to create healthy places and lifestyles. This can be growing urban gardens, canning your own produce, putting in solar-powered energy cells, making your own sensors to detect air pollution, and much much more. This is a huge area for connecting what’s happening in maker communities with public health.

PERSONAL PROBLEMSOLVING

We all have problems, we all have challenges in our lives. People with chronic health conditions or caring for someone with a chronic health condition maybe have more, but we can all benefit from skills to help us identify problems, brainstorm possible solutions, and design ways to implement those solutions whether by ourselves or in collaboration with other talented folk. In the Maker Movement, there are a lot of examples of people helping other people to create solutions for both interesting and ordinary problems. Spoons that are easier to grip, glasses that don’t wobble when your hands shake, shoes that sense obstructions you can’t see and warn you, sensors as jewelry or tattoos to monitor your vital signs — these are all examples of creative solutions to personal problems, and there are a LOT more examples out there.

So, are you in? Want to help? When do we start?

Health Fair Meet Maker Faire! Part One

I want a health-themed maker faire. I want it so bad I can TASTE it! And I want it to happen, like, yesterday. Or right now. But let me back up. Here’s what happened. Monday, April 14, 2014, Barbara Stripling came to town to talk about the Declaration for the Right to Libraries. You can read more about her morning talk in the Storify.

@aadl You're quoted! #Storify "Barbara Stripling on the Declaration for the Right to Libraries " http://t.co/q0Jiee0bUY #nlw14

— P. F. Anderson (@pfanderson) April 14, 2014

To abbreviate DRASTICALLY, the gist of the idea is that libraries overwhelmingly change lives for the better, and that people everywhere have a right to the resources that will support them in taking charge of changing their lives for the better. One of the ways in which libraries have traditionally helped people change their lives for the better is through providing free access to information, education, and entertainment. That’s what Andrew Carnegie was thinking about when he funded the creation of thousands of free public libraries.

“Increase our wages,” the workers demanded. “What good is a book to a man who works 12 hours a day, six days a week?” Nasaw says Carnegie thought he knew better and replied to his critics this way: “If I had raised your wages, you would have spent that money by buying a better cut of meat or more drink for your dinner. But what you needed, though you didn’t know it, was my libraries and concert halls. And that’s what I’m giving to you.” How Andrew Carnegie Turned His Fortune Into A Library Legacy http://www.npr.org/2013/08/01/207272849/how-andrew-carnegie-turned-his-fortune-into-a-library-legacy

One of the ways in which libraries have more recently helped people change their lives for the better is through providing free access to the Internet, software, printers, makerspaces, 3d printers, and a wide variety of other tools and resources and skills that empower people to make things to better their lives, and which they could not afford to try if they had to buy the necessary resources out of their own personal budgets. From baking special holiday cakes to commemorate old family traditions with pans from the library to creating a new career and developing new marketable skills, the library can be the place.

“I had these inventions in my head but didn’t know I could make them myself,” Roth explained. So he spent his remaining dollars on a membership and a few introductory courses… Fast forward a few years to spring 2013. Roth is now an entrepreneur with a funded laser company… His dream is to build his own version of TechShop called “the Learning Shelter” that specifically caters to the homeless.” Homeless to hacker: How the Maker Movement changed one man’s life http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/16/homeless-to-hacker-how-the-maker-movement-changed-one-mans-life/

That quote is about Marc Roth, who was homeless when he used his assistance money to purchase a membership to a local makerspace. Perhaps the nicest thing about makerspaces in public libraries is that you don’t need to purchase a membership!

Well, towards the end of Barbara’s talk, seemingly almost as an afterthought, she mentioned that the White House is sponsoring its first Makerfaire! And, naturally, the American Library Association is talking with them about this. Barbara gave warm praise to Kristin Fontichiaro, a University of Michigan faculty member who is working with makerspaces in schools and libraries. And then she said something like, “If any of the rest of you have ideas for innovative work in this space that we should be keeping in mind, please come see me after the talk.”

Well, I wasn’t first in line, but I was most definitely in line. I wanted to ensure that when the Maker Movement / Makerspaces / Maker Faires are discussed, health is not forgotten. Every Maker Faire I’ve attended has had multiple presenters talking about something related to health. I have lots of ideas, and lots of examples. So Barbara then said, “Email me. I’ll try to include this topic in our conversations with the White House. But. Keep it short. Not TOO many examples!” That’s why I started this blogpost. I have literally thousands of links to examples of maker activity connected with health. How to choose just the few most important ones? ARGH!!

I scribbled notes and ideas all day, searching related topics and shoving links into a file as fast as I can, when I realized I’ve done it again. I had too much to start with, and now I had even MORE too much! The challenge / opportunity lies in that, when you really look closely at it, EVERY tool, technique, or technology involved in the Maker Movement is or has, can or could, or should be used in healthcare! That’s a LOT of opportunity. And that’s how this grand adventure started.

Lives Change! — Hashtags of the Week (HOTW): (Week of April 14, 2014)

Libraries change lives. As medical librarians this concept is at the heart and soul of our daily lives. What we do either directly informs the patient or the care provider, and can change both individual lives as well as the standard of care across institutions and nations. We all have stories of this happening. Sometimes it is that the information actually changed the progression of a disease or healing from an injury, while sometimes it is simply the caring and sense of someone listening who cares and understands.

This year, for National Library Week (which, by the way, starts today), the theme is LIVES CHANGE! Barbara Stripling, the President of the American Library Association, has proposed the Declaration for the Right to Libraries. Getting people to sign the Declaration is only part of it. Another part of it is getting people to stop and think and talk about how libraries have changed their lives.

Was it the librarian who made a safe place for you when you were a child in an unhappy home?

Was it the librarian who got you permission to access secured information for a school project that ended up becoming your career?

Was it the librarian who quietly found just the right book to help you deal with something that was troubling you?

Was it the librarian who dug deep and found some less common treatment ideas when everything else had failed?

Was it the librarian who kept your health challenges private, but gave you a person to talk with when there seemed to be no one?

Was it the librarian who listened to every idea you had for your thesis, and then turned up surprising tidbits you didn’t know you wanted?

Was it the librarian who helped you find and connect with a person to prototype your invention to make a new career for yourself?

Was it the librarian who found the answer to that one question that your next big project hung on, making it possible to complete the planning on time and under budget?

The hashtags for the week are associated with this meme – Lives Change, and National Library Week. Now, go sign the Declaration, and then tell your librarian you did, and why.

“Lives Change” / “Libraries Change Lives” #LivesChange

National Library Week 2014 #NLW14

Great #NLW14 #library infographic using @PewResearch data http://t.co/yDGt3hGEnR http://t.co/CYwfUD7uXZ

— Cecil County Library (@ccpltweets) April 11, 2014

There is a lot of data in the world. Thank a librarian this week. #NLW14 http://t.co/Aiwf7nU67p

— DARPA (@DARPA) April 14, 2014

We're celebrating #NLW14 because libraries & librarians play critical roles in disaster response. #LivesChange pic.twitter.com/JsaJoUNbNT

— APHA Get Ready (@GetReady) April 14, 2014

"The library is the temple of learning, and learning has liberated more people than all the wars in history". ~Carl T. Rowan #NLW14

— InnovativeInterfaces (@iii_Innovative) April 14, 2014

As a child, I'd race to the library & stagger out with a tower of books. Books were friends & adventures & knowledge. #NLW14 #LivesChange

— Jazmin Idakaar, MLIS (@raamatuid) April 14, 2014

"Anyone who thinks the world is without magic, hasn't been to a library."~Amy Dominy #NLW14

— Beth Orlando (@OOBeachbooks) April 14, 2014

My library love song to celebrate #NLW14 @HolidayHouseBks http://t.co/dMh4WPDhVe

— Mary Amato (@maryamato) April 14, 2014

“When a #library is open, no matter its size or shape, democracy is open, too.” http://t.co/Q8O3XERCt9 @WAStateLib @brainpicker #NLW14

— UW iSchool (@UW_iSchool) April 14, 2014

"My library allows me to dream BIG." #NLW14 #LivesChange http://t.co/EswClq5K9e

— Springer LibraryZone (@library_zone) April 14, 2014

Aristotle said those who use institutions that contribute to the public good are the worthiest of citizens #LivesChange

— Lizz Lemonn (@Lizzbrarian) April 14, 2014

Libraries changed my life by giving me somewhere to be besides the cafeteria or the gym at lunchtime. #liveschange #nlw14

— Janni Lee Simner (@JanniLeeSimner) April 8, 2014

#LivesChange at the library. A story that starts with a girl and Google Glass. https://t.co/HOH4UqagmX #NLW2014

— Arapahoe Library (@ArapahoeLibrary) April 14, 2014

Giles wasn't the only librarian helping to ward off evil. Happy #nlw14!!!

— Credo (@credoreference) April 14, 2014

Libraries changed my life 'cause I could read newspapers & magazines our family couldn't afford to subscribe to. #liveschange #nlw14

— Elena Acoba (@elenaacoba) April 8, 2014

What's your favorite library? Your favorite libraries: CNN Report http://t.co/Hu1LazEuy9 #NLW14 #LivesChange

— ALA-International (@ALAIRO) April 10, 2014

RT @LibraryofCT: Author Judy Blume on the value of libraries http://t.co/VONoxsdXGn #NLW14 #LivesChange

— atyourlibrary.org (@AtYourLibrary) April 14, 2014

MT @judyblume Libraries — loved them growing up, love them still! Wanted to be a librarian… #NLW14

— atyourlibrary.org (@AtYourLibrary) April 14, 2014

Library changed my life twice: once as a child @ the bookmobile, once as an adult by hiring me. #NLW14 #LivesChange

— Kate Woods Walker (@KateWoodsWalker) April 13, 2014

RT @ALALibrary: MT @Willdobbs:: Libraries changed my life by giving me a supportive place to be a nerdy bookworm. #liveschange #nlw14”

— ProQuest (@ProQuest) April 14, 2014

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First posted at THL Blog: http://thlibrary.wordpress.com/2014/04/14/lives-change-hashtags-of-the-week-hotw-week-of-april-14-2014/