Faces of NNLM Region 4: Brandon Patterson

Posted in: #CC/Academic List, #Health Interest List, #Health Sciences List, #Public/K-12 List, All Members

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Today we will be shining a light on Brandon Patterson, Technology Engagement Librarian at the Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah. Below is an interview with Mr. Patterson about his experience being a medical librarian.

Can you give us the elevator-speech rundown of your medical librarian career?

I come to medical librarianship with a background in educational technologies and engaged pedagogy. Health sciences is a vastly evolving area where technology is embraced and experiential learning opportunities are key to student success. At the University of Utah, I help connect faculty, staff and students to digital tools and emerging technologies that enhance their teaching and learning. Before coming to Utah, I was a graduate student at the University of Michigan coordinating graduate student technology projects inside the library and learning abroad experiences for social work students outside of the classroom.

What are your research interests or top work activities?

My main focus is enhancing and researching best practices for the technology hubs found in the library – a digital cadaver lab, multimedia studio, 3D printing program and a VR classroom. I recently received the MLA Donald A. B. Lindberg Research Fellowship to research ways we might measure micro-adjustments of posture in VR to identify implicit bias in response to a number of different disease state stimuli.

What prompted you to become a medical librarian?

Medical librarianship was never really on my radar as an early career professional but I’m so glad I found it! It is a community that fosters growth and has always given me support to pursue my passions and career goals. My work colleagues at the Eccles Health Sciences Library encourage each other and the connection we have to NNLM R4 has given me countless opportunities to grow professionally.

What is your favorite librarian tool?

It’s difficult to pick a favorite! The One Button Studio and Podcasting Suite in the library have been very useful for faculty as many in the health sciences have increased their use of asynchronous learning. Calendly and Microsoft Bookings have helped setting up consultations a breeze.  I also always love attending sessions like MLA Technology in Education Caucus’ My Favorite Tool to learn about other tools that can assist me in my job and that I can share with others.

What do you think are the most important challenges that medical librarians face?

Medical librarians need to negotiate a changing health sciences curriculum landscape. As COVID-19 changed the health and educational landscape, so too did it change the way we support teaching and information gathering as librarians. I was part of a multi-site study where we looked at how nurses seek information in their workplace. This research has informed ways we’ve reformed our information literacy instruction to nursing programs to involve more clinically-focused scenarios using freely-accessible resources, while explicitly teaching critical thinking skills.

Please tell us about an interaction with a library user that gave you a lot of satisfaction.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had an Emergency Medicine physician approach the library with the hopes of sharing his and his fellow health care providers’ stories. I worked with colleagues from our main campus library and the Center for Health Ethics, Arts, and Humanities to develop a workflow to collect oral histories for the Utah COVID-19 Digital Collection. The collection now has 101 stories and they’ve been viewed hundreds of times.