Library System

The Wayne State University Libraries are participating in this year’s Michigan Libraries for Life Campaign. If you are considering donating your organs to save a life please use the following link so that the Wayne State University Libraries can win this challenge as we did in the Campus Challenge last year!

Sign up to donate an organ!

For more information or assistance with signing up on October 2nd or 3rd, please contact Anne Hudson, Wayne State University Librarian, at anne.hudson@wayne.edu. For more information about organ donation, please see: https://sites.google.com/site/michiganlibrariesforlife/faq

How Organ Donation Works

Organ donation involves the recovery of lungs, kidneys, heart, liver, pancreas and sometimes intestines for transplantation to severely ill patients on the waiting list.

Tissue donation can include corneas, bone, skin, heart valves, blood vessels, ligaments, tendons and other soft tissue.

The process works like this:

A patient with a severe brain injury is admitted to the hospital and every attempt is made to treat and save that person’s life.

The patient declines, has irreversible brain function, requires a ventilator and – after evaluation, testing and documentation – is declared brain dead.

A referral is made to Gift of Life to evaluate the suitability of the patient for donation.

The Michigan Organ Donor Registry is checked to determine whether that patient intended to someday donate organs and tissue. If the patient is a registered donor, first-person consent exists, allowing the donation to proceed. If the patient’s name is not on the state database, his or her family is offered the opportunity to donate the patient’s organs and tissue.

If the family declines, the process is complete. If the family gives consent, the donor is kept on a ventilator and stabilized with fluids and drugs. Tests determine whether each organ is healthy and suitable for transplantation.

Potential organ recipients are identified according to blood type, need, other medical matching criteria and other protocol of the United Network for Organ Sharing, a national organization that handles the organ matching and placement process.

Surgical teams arrive at the hospital, and the donor is moved to the operating room on the ventilator.

Organs are removed, cooled and preserved with special solutions. Teams immediately return to their transplant centers with the organs to perform the transplant surgery.

Tissue donation takes place after the organs are removed.

The donor is released to the family and funeral arrangements proceed. Donation does not interfere with open-casket memorials.

Gift of Life later provides the donor’s family with information about the recipients of their gift or gifts.

In some instances, donation can occur with a patient who is not brain dead but has no hope for recovery. With the family’s consent, machine support is withdrawn and a doctor pronounces that the heart has stopped and the patient has died. Organs may then be recovered quickly for transplantation. This process is known as donation after circulatory death.

Gift of Life Michigan offers the possibility of whole body donation for medical research. A decision on suitability for such a donation comes after an individual’s death and in consultation with family members.

Participate in Banned Books Week by reading a banned book– for everyone to hear. The Banned Books Virtual Read-Out features videos of readers exercising their First Amendment right to read a banned book. To look at videos, or upload one of your own, visit:

http://www.youtube.com/bannedbooksweek

The Reuther Library recently welcomed its new director, Beth Myers, who comes to the Reuther from Loyola University, where she served as the director of the Women and Leadership Archives for five years.

Myers received both her master’s and doctorate degrees in history from Loyola University, Chicago, where she focused on 20th century American history, public history and women’s history and gender studies. After holding a series of positions at various Chicago area archives, Myers received two competing job offers following the completion of her program: a traditional academic position or an opportunity to lead the Women and Leadership Archives at her alma mater. With a “fleet of incredible assistants, students, and volunteers,” Myers worked to gain physical and intellectual control over the WLA collections, conducted extensive outreach to raise the archives’ profile, and enjoyed the privilege of establishing relationships with donors.

Myers’ research interests include women’s archives, the relevancy of archives in the digital age and exploring issues of power, access and ethics in archives and archival collections. In addition to participating in the 2010 Archives Leadership Institute, Myers is an active member of the Society of American Archivists, the Midwest Archives Conference and the Chicago Area Archivists.

When asked why she wanted to come to the Reuther, Myers responded, “Why wouldn’t I? It’s the dream job. It’s so well known and respected, such a venerable institution.” In the near term, Myers will be looking inward at the Reuther to better understand its staff, systems and ongoing projects and relationships. In addition to working with the Reuther’s existing donors and partners, she hopes to further its community outreach activities, raising the profile of the Reuther both on campus and off. She also is looking forward to engaging with the Reuther staff in inclusive and open strategic planning. “We know what the Reuther is and what it’s done,” Myers said.

(Information taken from the Reuther Library blog)

What better way to recycle just about anything than to turn it into a center for knowledge?

http://www.flavorwire.com/309136/10-wonderful-libraries-repurposed-from-unused-structures

Epocrates Essentials* ($159 value), the very popular premium mobile app, offers drug, disease, and diagnostic reference tools to support your coursework, is  FREE for all U.S. medical students. Act fast and get it now (http://www.epocrates.com/e/FreeforMedicalStudents2012?CID=EEFMS2012_Medgadget)

Shiffman Medical Library Staff

To welcome new freshmen and refresh our returning students, this year’s UGL atrium display for Welcome Back Week covers some of dos and don’ts that students need to know when using our libraries. Even though we could probably fill an entire atrium with information for our users, this display, called “Know Your Libraries,” is a comic book style visual display of six things that will help new students when using our libraries. Though informative and entertaining, all of the suggestions are geared to help students as they navigate the libraries and help them with common problems that they may encounter, especially for those new to the Wayne State Libraries.

The display will be up throughout most of September so stop by to check it out!

For our online students, check out the display in closer detail here: http://www.lib.wayne.edu/blog/?p=5094