The 2020 - 2021 Academic Year was one of uncertainty and inconsistency. Constantly changing safety protocols, roller-coaster COVID rates, and disruptions to in-person activities and ways of work led faculty, students, and staff to feel stressed, confused, and eager for familiarity. At the Academic Commons, we maintained our trusted level of support and service, although it may have looked a little different than usual. The team was able to transition our work models to support the changing needs of our community by utilizing new technologies, our resourcefulness, and collaboration with each other and other departments.

In the following report, you’ll read a recap of our work and services for the year. As the enterprise temporarily shut its doors and suspended in-person events and classes, many of our services related to those activities halted. Some of the data highlighted in this report will reflect that decline. Although our in-person services were lower than an average year, we saw bright spots of growth in areas where we could offer even more activities and resources online.

As the 2020-2021 Academic Year began, the Thomas Jefferson University Libraries reopened their (physical) doors. Staff at the Paul J. Gutman and Scott Memorial Libraries returned safely to the buildings, eager to make appropriate adjustments to in-person services to start providing support again. While some in-person services (room reservations, borrowing materials) returned, the libraries also increased online services. The libraries purchased new electronic resources and formed virtual communities (book clubs, learning communities) to meet students, faculty, and staff where they were – online.

Thomas Jefferson University Libraries: By the Numbers

As more students and faculty utilized online resources, the libraries' website visits significantly increased from the previous year. In particular, Gutman Library saw an 80% increase in homepage visits from the 2019-2020 Academic Year.

Top eBooks

The most accessed eBooks in 2020 - 2021:

• Bates' Guide to Physical Examination and History Taking
• Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine
• Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment
• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM
• Rubin's Pathology: Mechanisms of Human Disease
• Clinically Oriented Anatomy
• Histology: A Text and Atlas: With Correlated Cell and Molecular Biology
• Tintinalli's Emergency Medicine: A Comprehensive Study Guide
• Pharmacotherapeutics for Advanced Practice: A Practical Approach
• Langman's Medical Embryology

Library Engagement

While the format of library instruction sessions adjusted due to COVID-19, librarians were able to continue workshops and instruction sessions to educate students and researchers about all the ways the library can support their goals. In 2020 - 2021, most instruction sessions were handled via Zoom.

In addition to virtual instruction sessions, library staff utilized online tools like Zoom and Chat to stay connected to patrons and answer questions.

In the 2020 - 2021 Academic Year, Scott Library saw a 38% increase in help sessions and consultations.

In addition to the routine consultations and instruction sessions, in 2020 - 2021, librarians collaborated with faculty and other departments in new ways to foster connection among our community. Librarians at the Gutman Library organized three book clubs that discussed teaching online and the changing landscape of academia. An "Online Teaching Community" provided faculty with a forum to share best practices and collaborate as they tackled online instruction. At Scott Library, library staff led Jefferson's participation in Philadelphia's One Book, One Philadelphia book club. The highlighted book that year, The Tradition, by Jericho Brown, was a collection of poems discussing racialized violence and the history of oppression in America. Poems also celebrated Black and queer experiences. Scott Library offered copies of the book, and librarians created a library guide that discussed the topics featured in The Tradition and provided resources to additional works by Jericho Brown.

New Resources

The libraries added several new databases, eBooks, and tools to the digital shelves. Many of these resources were immediately helpful to faculty and students as they instructed and learned online.

Textile & Costume Collection and the Design Center

The Gutman Library's Textile & Costume Collection and Design Center transitioned successfully to an online environment. The Center welcomes around 140 faculty, students, staff, and community members into its space in a typical year. However, since the Center had to shut its doors in 2020 - 2021, the team took to Zoom to share the collection creatively with new audiences.

These "virtual visits" were given to a range of community groups, which helped broaden the reach and awareness of the collection. Over 120 attendees learned about the Design Center and experienced (over Zoom) some of the collection's treasures. These virtual visits included:

• Bryn Mawr College "360 Byzantine"
• East Falls Villages "Fabrics and Fashions of Philadelphia"
• East Falls Villages "A Hidden Gem: The Textile & Costume Collection"
• The NJ Button Society program "Buttons, Beads, and Brocades"
• Woodmere Art Museum “The Devil's In the Details"

At one virtual visit at East Falls Villages, a fortuitous connection was made with Alice Reiff, who just happened to be the longtime seamstress for Blance Paley Levy and Joan Spector, two women with special ties to Jefferson. Learn more about that connection and some remarkable pieces Alice donated to the collection in this article featured in The Nexus.

The team also created two websites to highlight the collections further and encourage people to experience the Design Center online: Follow the Thread and Tapestry.

Follow the Thread is a blog-style website with weekly articles that call attention to specific pieces from the collection or provide a deep dive into a designer profile. Follow the Thread gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at how pieces are photographed and stored, provides Q&As with design faculty, and much more.

Tapestry, an online catalog of over 10,000 historic fabric swatches from the Textile & Costume Collection, received a website upgrade to match the library's website branding. Tapestry allows users to browse and search swatches by motif, design category, color, and other keywords. This catalog focuses on our Zane Collection, which documents textile design at the turn of the 20th century.

University Archives and the Jefferson Digital Commons (JDC)

The Jefferson Digital Commons (JDC) is a university resource for authors to share their scholarly work with the world. In summer 2021, the JDC celebrated a significant milestone: over 6 million total downloads! Learn more about the JDC's milestones.

Open Access Fund

The Jefferson Open Access Fund, which helps cover Article Processing Charges in open access journals, has supported Jefferson researchers and authors since 2018. To date, almost 100 authors have been supported.

To celebrate Open Access Week, the libraries participated in a week-long celebration of preprints. A preprint is an early version of an academic article that has been made available by the author for others to read for free online before being reviewed or published.

To close out the week of workshops and events, the library hosted a virtual panel titled "PREPRINTS PERSPECTIVES," where four experienced panelists discussed issues related to preprints and open access from various perspectives. The panel included: Dr. Tim Mosca, Director of the Mosca Lab and Assistant Professor at Thomas Jefferson University; Dr. John Inglis, Co-founder of bioRxiv and medRxiv; Iratxe Puebla, Associate Director, ASAPbio; and Dr. Heather Rose, VP of Technology Licensing & Startups at Thomas Jefferson University. If you missed the panel presentation, check out the recording via the JDC.

LabArchives

LabArchives, an electronic research notebook, continues to grow in use among Jefferson researchers. The tool helps researchers record, organize, manage, and review their data. The Scott Library team has been instrumental in implementation, training, and support across the university and hospital. In conjunction with the Office of Research Conduct & Compliance, the library coordinated 43 trainings with 386 attendees. Across the university, LabArchives currently has 1,118 users who have logged 594,030 activities in 1,555 Notebooks.

ORCiD ID

In February 2021, the university became an ORCiD Organizational Member. The Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier (ORCID) is a persistent digital identifier given to authors that plays a large part in helping them to more securely and reliably claim their scholarly identity. Gutman and Scott librarians supported this initiative by providing researchers and faculty with training on ORCiD and encouraging use of the tool.

The Academic Commons also continued to produce the biannual research support newsletter, spreading the word about databases and resources, support, and events for the Jefferson research community. Check out the latest edition.

As researchers and postdocs were sidelined from many of their in-person activities, they shifted to prioritize professional writing and publishing goals. Thus, the Office of Professional Writing, Publishing, and Communications (OPWPC) was very busy supporting these efforts. The team also provided faculty and researchers with public speaking training and feedback as more and more people began to present at virtual conferences.

As the university and hospital halted in-person events and projects, the Audio Visual, Graphics, Photography, and Video Production teams saw a decrease in requests for their services. While there may have been a decline in requests, these teams were more important than ever. The AV team provided essential support for the events required to be in person. And, as Jefferson began to reopen in the fall of 2020 and winter of 2021, this department was crucial in getting rooms and staff back up and running, using new technologies to support hybrid learning and meetings.

Similarly, the Video Production and Photography teams were on the frontlines of some significant Jefferson moments during the year. The Photography team was on-site to capture the COVID-19 vaccine arrival and to document the first vaccine administrations.