A.R. Dykes Library Blog

After a rigorous selection process and community wide vote, KUMC students, staff, and faculty have selected Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O’Connell’s Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People by Tracy Kidder as the 2026 KUMC One Book common read title.

All eligible KUMC students, staff, and faculty may sign up  to receive a free physical copy, e-book copy, or audiobook copy of Rough Sleepers by November 21st. 

For more information on the One Book program visit the One Book intranet site or email kumconebook@kumc.edu.

Rough Sleepers Synopsis

In Rough Sleepers, Kidder tells the story of Dr. Jim O’Connell, a gifted man who invented a community of care for a city’s unhoused population, including those who sleep on the streets—the “rough sleepers.”

After Jim O’Connell graduated from Harvard Medical School and was nearing the end of his residency at Massachusetts General, the hospital’s chief of medicine made a proposal: Would he defer a prestigious fellowship and spend a year helping to create an organization to bring health care to homeless citizens? That year turned into O’Connell’s life’s calling. Tracy Kidder spent five years following Dr. O’Connell and his colleagues as they work with thousands of homeless patients, some of whom we meet in this illuminating book. We travel with O’Connell as he navigates the city streets at night, offering medical care, socks, soup, empathy, humor, and friendship to some of the city’s most endangered citizens. He emphasizes a style of medicine in which patients come first, joined with their providers in what he calls “a system of friends.”

Much as he did with Paul Farmer in Mountains Beyond Mountains, Kidder explores how Jim O’Connell and a dedicated group of people have improved countless lives by facing and addressing one of American society’s most difficult problems, instead of looking away.

Source

Honored Faculty Influenced by Great Books

Being promoted is one of the most significant events in the life of a faculty member. KUMC is proud of these achievements and is grateful for the hard work and dedication of all honorees.

To recognize the career achievements of the School of Medicine promoted faculty, a digital Promotion Recognition Book Program was initiated by the School of Medicine’s office of Faculty Affairs and Development (FAD) and the A.R. Dykes Library. Book selections are chosen by the promoted faculty member along with a brief personal statement that describes the significance of the book and how it has affected their personal and/or professional life.

The List!

Below is a condensed list of the honorees and the book they chose.  More information, including book and faculty photos and why the honorees chose their particular book, is on the Promotion Honorees 2025 page.

Pooja Bhadbhade, DO

Internal Medicine, Allergy, Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology
Associate Professor
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande || ISBN: 1250076226

Ken Byrd, DO

Internal Medicine, Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapeutics
Associate Professor
The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee || ISBN: 1439170916

Andrea Chadwick, MD, MSc, FASA

Anesthesiology, Pain and Perioperative Medicine
Professor
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan || ISBN: 9780307477477

Tara Chettiar, MD

Obstetrics and Gynecology
Clinical Associate Professor
The Story of Jane by Laura Kaplan || ISBN: 0593471083

Andrea Covey, MD

Internal Medicine, Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine
Associate Professor
Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh || ISBN: 0553351397

Albert Eid, MD

Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases
Professor
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran || ISBN: 9780394404288

Ryan Fagan, PhD

History and Philosophy of Medicine
Education Associate Professor
The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy by Jacob. Burckhardt; S. G. C. Middlemore (Translator); Peter Burke (Introduction by); Peter Murray (Notes by) || ISBN: 9780140445343

Tanya Fildari, MD

Neurosurgery
Education Associate Professor
And Finally by Henry Marsh || ISBN: 1250286085

Meg Folsom, MD, MS, CCC/SLP

Anesthesiology, Pain and Perioperative Medicine
Associate Professor
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith || ISBN: 9780060801267

Valerie French, MD MAS

Obstetrics and Gynecology
Professor
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir || ISBN: 9780593135228

Gregory Gan, MD, PhD

Radiation Oncology
Associate Professor with tenure
GATTACA by Frederic P. Miller || ISBN: 0767805712

John Jakicic, PhD

Internal Medicine, Physical Activity & Weight Management
Professor with tenure
Out of This Furnace by Thomas Bell || ISBN: 0822952734

Jorge Kawano Castillo, MD

Neurology
Clinical Associate Professor
Stroke by James C. Grotta (Editor); Gregory W. Albers (Editor); Joseph P. Broderick (Editor); Scott E. Kasner (Editor); Eng H. Lo (Editor); Ralph L. Sacco (Editor); Lawrence Ks Wong (Editor); Arthur L. Day (Editor) || ISBN: 0323694241

Patrick Landazuri, MD

Neurology
Professor
Seizure and Epilepsy Care by Patrick Landazuri; Nuria Lacuey Lecumberri; Laura Vilella Bertran; Mark Farrenburg; Samden Lhatoo || ISBN: 9781009264983

Kayla Maalouf, MD

Pediatrics
Clinical Associate Professor
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman || ISBN: 0735220689

Courtney Marsh, MD, MPH

Obstetrics and Gynecology
Professor
A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle || ISBN: 0452289963

Amanda Olinger, DO

Pediatrics
Clinical Associate Professor
The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown || ISBN: 9781616499600

Shana Palla, EdD

Biostatistics & Data Science
Education Associate Professor
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls || ISBN: 9780440412670

Kate Rampon, MD

Family Medicine and Community Health
Associate Professor
Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman || ISBN: 0374159122

Diego Robles Mazzotti, PhD

Internal Medicine, Medicine Informatics
Associate Professor with tenure
Hunt, Gather, Parent by Michaeleen Doucleff || ISBN: 9781982149673

Salih Samo, MD, MSci

Internal Medicine,Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Motility
Associate Professor
Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek || ISBN: 9781591848011

Mihaela Sardiu, MD

Biostatistics & Data Science
Associate Professor, award of tenure
The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin || ISBN: 9780743277457

Jordan Siscel, MD

Anesthesiology, Pain and Perioperative Medicine
Associate Professor
Not Fade Away by Laurence Shames and Peter Barton || ISBN: 9780060737313

Julia Slater, MD, FACS, FABA

Plastic, Burn and Wound Surgery
Associate Professor
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown || ISBN: 0804137382

Margaret Smith, MD, MPH, MHSA

Family Medicine and Community Health
Clinical Professor
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison || ISBN: 9780679732761

Shane Stecklein, MD, PhD

Radiation Oncology
Associate Professor with tenure
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman || ISBN: 9780374533403

Megan Thomas, MD

Obstetrics and Gynecology
Clinical Associate Professor
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls || ISBN: 0743247531

Sufi Thomas, MD

Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
Professor, previously tenured
Institutional Intelligence: How to Build an Effective Organization by Gordon T. Smith || ISBN: 9780830844852

Ryan Townley, MD

Neurology
Associate Professor
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sachs || ISBN: 9780684853949

Eric Vidoni, PhD

Neurology
Professor, previously tenured
Draft No. 4 by John McPhee || ISBN: 9780374537975

Sri Yarlagadda, MBBS

Internal Medicine, Nephrology and Hypertension
Professor
Atomic Habits by James Clear || ISBN: 9780735211292

Jun Zhang, MD, PhD

Internal Medicine, Medical Oncology
Professor
Science in History : Volume 1: the Emergence of Science by J. D. Bernal || ISBN: 9780571273003

Dykes Library has been updating the most influential bibliographic management tool, EndNote, whenever new versions become available. The most recent update, EndNote 2025, will be available for you beginning fall 2025.

What’s new in EndNote 2025?

• Easier navigation with redesigned summary panel
• Cite from PDF: allows for quoting and referencing the PDF
• Preflight pre-submission: improve technical and language issues in the manuscript
• Web of Science integration: showing the citing articles and related records
• Key Takeaway: a concise summary of PDFs and documents with AI-powered Research Assistant

Why should I use EndNote?

Using EndNote can significantly improve your research process and scholarly writing. Selected top reasons include:

• Manage references efficiently with groups and subgroups for different projects
• Attach, read, and annotate PDFs
• Automatic citation formatting with proper referencing
• Collaborating and sharing references with colleagues

Who can download and install EndNote 2025?

• Current students, staff, and faculty of the University of Kansas Medical Center
• Dually employed, meaning staff appointed or employed at both the University of Kansas Medical Center and the The University of Kansas Health System. 

University licensing of EndNote software through Dykes Library does not cover University of Kansas Health System employees unless they hold dual appointments.

How do I download and install EndNote 2025?

For University-owned computers:

• Windows: Use Software Center: Follow instructions on the software Center page.
• Mac OS: Use Self Services: Follow instructions on the software Self Service page.

KUMC students, faculty, and staff can also install EndNote on their personal computers. Please choose the appropriate version for your operating system from the MyKUMC Software page.

Learn more about EndNote 2025 in the EndNote 2025 Research Guide.

Connect with a Research Librarian

• Email: dykesresearch@kumc.edu
• Schedule a meeting with a Research Librarian

The New Literacies Alliance (NLA) offers free modules embedding into Blackboard (Bb) on evidence-based practice, reading scientific research, information literacy, and more. These are self-paced modules that support the development of critical thinking and research skills (see picture one below).

This is a project led by librarians across the nation, including one of KUMC’s own, Prasanna Vaduvathiriyan. The curriculum is “built on the ACRL Information Literacy Framework (and related) standards, that helps all students start at the same level for library and research instruction”. 

Why use NLA modules? 

1. An entire module is embedding into Bb with a couple clicks
2. BB’s gradebooks are updated within minutes for modules/knowledge checks completed
3. Students learn foundational concepts
4. Can be used to review concepts such as developing a research question or informational practices like evaluating source authority

Adding modules to Blackboard course sites

1. Decide which NLA Module you want to use (NLA Modules descriptions )
2. Inform TLT@kumc.edu that you want access to the Blackboard NLA site
3. Copy the selected module to your course (video demo)
4. Click Save.

For assistance

For technical help with NLA modules, please contact TLT@kumc.edu.

Open Educational Resources

The NLA modules are a verified example of quality Open Educational Resources (OERs) created for educators and students. OERs aim to provide resources that are free and that remove barriers to students and faculty alike. There are many available OERs for the health sciences. If you are interested in learning more about them, read through the Dykes Library’s OER Resource Guide or contact your librarian liaison.

Both TLT and the Dykes Library are here to help with your classroom needs and to assist in finding the resources available to support you. Consider using the NLA modules or other OERs in your next semester.

Mental illness is common in America.  In 2022, there were 59,300,000 Americans (23.1% of the adult population) with any type of mental illness.  Prevalence rates vary a bit by ethnicity, age and gender, but the total number clearly represents a wide swath of Americans.  While the prevalence of serious mental illness is less, at 6% of the population, getting care for any type of mental health condition can improve an individual’s quality of life. However, only about half of people with a mental illness receive treatment.

The discrepancy between the number diagnosed and the number getting treatment can, in part, be attributed to the stigma attached to mental illness.  The public, self- and structural stigma attached to people with mental illness often results in lack of treatment and a variety of other negative outcomes:

• It can lessen self-esteem, causing people to believe that they can't succeed or make their life better
• It may make it difficult for family, friends, co-workers or others to understand the condition
• It can be harder for people to find jobs, find housing, go to school or do social activities
• It can lead to bullying, physical violence or harassment
• Health insurance may not cover treatment for mental health conditions or may only partly cover it

     (From Mental health: Overcoming the stigma of mental illness)

The National Alliance on Mental Illness has an article discussing nine ways to fight mental health stigma.  The nine methods mentioned in the article are below, with added links to specific, relevant resources that will further enhance your understanding.

• Talk Openly About Mental Health – “Supporting a Loved One Dealing with Mental and/of Substance Use Disorders: Starting the Conversation”
• Educate Yourself and Others – a School of Nursing team has put together a Mental Health Toolkit with a wide array of high quality information sources and tools to help you understand mental health.
• Be Conscious of Language
  • “Reframing Language: Why Changing Our Thinking, Our Actions and Our Language Matters”
  • “Your Language Matters”
• Encourage Equality Between Physical and Mental Illness – “Parity of esteem: Addressing the inequalities between mental and physical healthcare” 
• Show Compassion for Those with Mental Illness – “Tips For How to Help a Person with Mental Illness”
• Choose Empowerment Over Shame – “On the Self-Stigma of Mental Illness: Stages, Disclosure, and Strategies for Change”
• Be Honest About Treatment – “Never Be Ashamed of Seeking Help”
• Let the Media Know When They’re Being Stigmatizing – “Is mental health still misconstrued on screen?”
• Don’t Harbor Self-Stigma – “You are NOT Alone”

We hope these resources will ease your approach in talking with someone in your life about your mental health or who may be suffering from mental illness.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, and needs help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or text 988.

Recently, we are observing an exponential growth in the production of scientific literature. While this has benefited us gaining new knowledge in education and healthcare, it also makes it difficult for us to locate the best information on a topic. When conducting literature searches for finding scientific studies, using National Library of Medicine’s (NLM) Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) thesaurus is crucial. Searching with MeSH could add value to your literature searching skills and increase precision to the search results.

What is MeSH? 

MeSH are the official vocabulary that describe the subject content of an article in Medline. It branches out from broader to narrower terms that are arranged in a hierarchical order. There could be typically 5-12 vocabularies assigned to articles that are indexed in PubMed (Medline).

Where can you find MeSH?

• On the Entrez MeSH database; it is also available at the bottom of PubMed homepage that allows to  build searches.
• Ovid Medline database, Clinical Trials.gov, and Cochrane library
• Directly from NLM’s  standalone MeSH Browser to find the vocabularies.

What’s new about MeSH?

NLM ensures accuracy of MeSH with annual revisions and updates. In 2025, there are  interesting expansions, additions, and deletions that might help you to improve the research.  Below are some examples

MeSH Tutorials 

• Introduction to MeSH
• Finding keywords for publications 

Have a suggestion to improve the subject headings and/or vocabularies? Write to  NLM help desk. 

Want to discuss and learn more? Connect with one of the research librarians

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is the sole source of federal funding for public and state libraries such as the State of Kansas Library and provides funding for resources, computer/wi-fi accessibility, and interlibrary loan services that all Kansans may access free of charge. For a fact sheet on how the IMLS funding benefits Kansas, click here.

Through its IMLS funding the State of Kansas Library provides all KUMC library users access to a number of EBSCO research databases, including:

The elimination of the IMLS would remove the financial support provided to the State of Kansas that mitigates the cost of research databases, and could result in the removal of continued free access to these databases for all Kansans and KUMC library users. 

For more information on the IMLS and its positive impacts, click this link to learn more.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. In observation, KUMC is holding several events throughout the month. After attending one of these events, the library has added two of the local organizations to an online resource guide that includes social and public services. These two organizations that support those affected by domestic violence and/or sexual assault are MOCSA (Metropolitan Organization Countering Sexual Assault) and Rose Brooks. You can find out more of the great work they do by continuing to their websites. On the resource guide, you can find a PDF titled “Community Resources Guide”, curated by library specialists, that contains a broad range of community resources in the Kansas City area.

Doing a simple internet search on domestic violence, sexual assault, or virtually any other topic can result in an overabundance of results, which can be very overwhelming. KUMC’s library guides exist to help users focus on trusted websites, data, and resources that will help them in their research and educational endeavors, and KUMC librarians spend a good deal of time updating an curating reliable information and resources. So, next time you are inundated by a large number of so-so search results or want to save some time by getting directly to quality resources, check the library guides developed by your librarians or reach out to us by text, chat, or email!