Tools and resources for identifying university expertise, connecting potential collaborators, and wayfinding for those seeking information from and about Washington University.
Research Profiles
Becker Library continued to lead further development and support for Research Profiles at Washington University School of Medicine in FY22. During the year, several webpages were added to greatly expand upon and unify existing platform support documentation by:
- Providing an extensive overview of Research Profiles and information held in its various sections
- Demonstrating ways to use the platform’s many features to best highlight faculty activity
- Providing answers to commonly asked questions
Additionally, Becker Library’s Research Profiles support team continued to regularly update the platform with profiles for new faculty hires over the course of the year, responded to numerous requests for profile updates and changes, and provided several presentations to labs and research groups, centers and institutes, departments and more.
Information services
Always ready to help, library assistants and associates are available to provide reference and article delivery service at the information desk 88 hours per week, including evenings and weekends. Staff handled almost 4,000 transactions in FY ’22 running the gamut from “Do you have a bulletin board?” to help with computers, printers, remote access accounts, check-outs, renewals, office supplies, notary services, along with some odd inquiries. There were over 2,000 requests for articles/books completed and delivered to library patrons.
Archives acquisitions
Among several notable acquisitions this year, The Washington University Medical Center Desegregation History Project is a particular highlight. It captures the stories of students and faculty, doctors and nurses, advocates and administrators who lived and worked under segregationist and other racist policies before the medical center desegregated in the 1960s. Read more in the History of Medicine section of this annual report.
Partnerships with University Libraries
Becker Library continued to partner with colleagues “across the park” at University Libraries to hold events such as Love Data Week and Open October, host a special collections-focused book club, and collaborate on key strategic and operational initiatives where appropriate.
Digital Commons collections
The digital repository for School of Medicine scholarly output continues to feature a wide variety of content and media types from across the campus. In the past year, the repository received visitors from all over the world, highlighting the broad geographic dissemination of scholarly outputs shared via Digital Commons@Becker.
The most-utilized collection within the repository during the past year was the School of Medicine Open Access Publications collection, with 225,301 downloads.
Digital Commons@Becker added a new collection to host historical accounts of Washington University School of Medicine. Read more about these collections on the History of Medicine report.
