Library Scholarly Publications
ABOUT THIS COLLECTION
The Lamar Soutter Library is a cornerstone of the UMass Chan Medical School and UMass Memorial Health systems. The library is an essential partner exercising creative leadership to provide equitable service to all in teaching, learning, and accessing information in support of education, research, and healthcare. This collection showcases journal articles, posters, and other publications and presentations produced by library staff.
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Recently Published
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Clinical Practice Guidelines on Interventional Management of Low Back Pain: A Synthesis of RecommendationsObjective: To summarize the recommendations on the interventional management of subacute and chronic non-radicular low back pain (LBP) from the 21 quality-appraised CPGs identified in the previously published paper: "Quality of Clinical Practice Guidelines on Interventional Management of Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review". By disseminating this information, we aim to facilitate the implementation of these recommendations into clinical practice. Literature survey: Electronic bibliographic databases, guideline databases and grey literature were searched from January 2016 to January 2020 to identify CPGs that met study criteria. Methodology: 21 CPGs were quality-appraised and interventional management recommendations were extracted and organized into several treatment categories including epidural steroid injections (ESIs), radiofrequency procedures (RF), facet injections, sacroiliac injections (SI), and prolotherapy. Within each treatment category, the recommendations were organized based on 2 factors: quality of CPG and strength of recommendation. Synthesis: Overall, there was no consistency in recommendations for or against any interventional procedure, even when accounting for the quality of the CPG. In all of the CPGs reviewed, the most common strength of recommendation was weakly-for. The second, third and fourth most common strength of recommendations were inconclusive, weakly-against and strongly-against respectively and the least common was strongly-for. The treatment categories with the greatest number of recommendations were RF procedures (most common strength of recommendation-weakly for) and facet procedures. Among the high-quality CPGs, the most common strength of recommendation was inconclusive. Conclusions: Most of the interventional management recommendations for management of non-radicular LBP in the 21 CPGs appraised in this review were either weakly-for, weakly-against or inconclusive, with several recommendations within each treatment category contradicting each other. AGREE II quality appraisals of CPGs on interventional management of LBP were of unclear utility in guiding clinical implementation.
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A tale of two migrations: a medical library case reportLaunched in 2006, the eScholarship@UMassChan institutional repository has been an important digital platform at UMass Chan Medical School, hosting faculty research, student research, and unique original publications and scholarship. In June 2021, UMass Chan’s Lamar Soutter Library decided to migrate eScholarship@UMassChan from the bepress Digital Commons platform to two separate hosted platforms. Most content – over 25,000 items representing faculty and staff publications, theses and dissertations, conference proceedings, and departmental and project collections – moved to Open Repository, a DSpace repository platform hosted by Atmire. The Janeway publishing platform became the new home for the open access, peer-reviewed journals and ebook chapters actively published through eScholarship@UMassChan. Both migrations were completed in September 2022. This lightning talk will briefly cover the migration process, challenges encountered and lessons learned.
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Riding the Wave: Embracing New Trends in the Wake of COVID-19At UMass Chan Medical School, the Lamar Soutter Library relies on service usage statistics to inform what services remain, what programs and classes should be added, and what tools, spaces, and staffing can best serve the needs of the community. Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, most library classes were held in-person (94%) compared to only 3% online. As classes went virtual, social distancing became the prevailing policy and telework tools became commonplace and easier to use, leading to a near total shift in the opposite direction. At the height of the pandemic 93% of library classes occurred virtually, compared to the 2.5% that took place in-person. The rollout of vaccines and the ever more strident call to “return to normal” did not see another reversal; virtual instruction remains overwhelmingly popular at 75%, while in-person sessions lag, making up less than 22% of all September 2021-September 2022 sessions. This poster will discuss the crests (hybrid working environment, more flexible offerings, reaching new populations with more convenience) and the troughs (diminished library visibility, concerns about losing workplace culture and staff disengagement) as well as the opportunity to embrace these new trends in the wake of COVID-19.
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Rhythm versus rate control for atrial fibrillation in heart failure with preserved ejection fractionBackground: There are few prospective studies assessing the benefits of rhythm control of atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), which accounts for 50% of all heart failure patients. Objective: Conduct a meta-analysis to assess the effects of rhythm control (ablation and/or antiarrhythmic medications) vs rate control on all-cause mortality in AF patients with HFpEF. Methods: Databases were searched for studies reporting the effect of rhythm control vs rate control on mortality in patients with HFpEF (Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and EBSCO CINAHL). The search was not restricted to time or publication status. The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality. The minimum duration of follow-up required for inclusion was 1 year. Results: The literature search identified 1210 candidate studies; 5 studies and 16,825 patients were included. The study population had 57% men with a mean age of 71± 2.5 years. Rhythm control for AF was associated with lower all-cause mortality (odds ratio 0.735, 95% confidence interval 0.665-0.813; P < .001) as compared to rate control. Conclusion: Rhythm control for AF in patients with HFpEF was associated with decreased all-cause mortality.
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Cascade Testing for Hereditary Cancer Syndromes: Should We Move Toward Direct Relative Contact? A Systematic Review and Meta-AnalysisPurpose: Evidence-based guidelines recommend cascade genetic counseling and testing for hereditary cancer syndromes, providing relatives the opportunity for early detection and prevention of cancer. The current standard is for patients to contact and encourage relatives (patient-mediated contact) to undergo counseling and testing. Direct relative contact by the medical team or testing laboratory has shown promise but is complicated by privacy laws and lack of infrastructure. We sought to compare outcomes associated with patient-mediated and direct relative contact for hereditary cancer cascade genetic counseling and testing in the first meta-analysis on this topic. Materials and methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines (PROSPERO No.: CRD42020134276). We searched key electronic databases to identify studies evaluating hereditary cancer cascade testing. Eligible trials were subjected to meta-analysis. Results: Eighty-seven studies met inclusion criteria. Among relatives included in the meta-analysis, 48% (95% CI, 38 to 58) underwent cascade genetic counseling and 41% (95% CI, 34 to 48) cascade genetic testing. Compared with the patient-mediated approach, direct relative contact resulted in significantly higher uptake of genetic counseling for all relatives (63% [95% CI, 49 to 75] v 35% [95% CI, 24 to 48]) and genetic testing for first-degree relatives (62% [95% CI, 49 to 73] v 40% [95% CI, 32 to 48]). Methods of direct contact included telephone calls, letters, and e-mails; respective rates of genetic testing completion were 61% (95% CI, 51 to 70), 48% (95% CI, 37 to 59), and 48% (95% CI, 45 to 50). Conclusion: Most relatives at risk for hereditary cancer do not undergo cascade genetic counseling and testing, forgoing potentially life-saving medical interventions. Compared with patient-mediated contact, direct relative contact increased rates of cascade genetic counseling and testing, arguing for a shift in the care delivery paradigm, to be confirmed by randomized controlled trials.
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Journal of eScience Librarianship (JeSLIB) Publishing ProcessDescribes the roles and responsibilities, author guidelines, and peer review process for the Journal of eScience Librarianship.
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Suicide Screening Tools for Pediatric Emergency Department Patients: A Systematic ReviewBackground: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicidality and suicidal behavior among youth continues to increase significantly each year. Many of those who die by suicide interact with health services in the year before death. This systematic review sought to identify and describe empirically tested screening tools for suicidality in youth presenting to Emergency Departments (ED). Objective: (1) To identify and compare existing tools used to screen for suicidality in children and adolescents who present to the ED and (2) to ascertain the prevalence of suicidality in pediatric populations found with these tools. Methods: We searched Ovid Medline, CINAHL, Scopus, and Cochrane databases for primary research studies that identified and evaluated screening tools for suicide risk in pediatric ED patients. A total of 7,597 publications published before August 25, 2021 met search criteria and were screened by two independent reviewers based on our inclusion and exclusion criteria, with any conflicts resolved via consensus meetings or an independent reviewer. A total of 110 papers were selected for full text review, of which 67 were excluded upon further inspection. Covidence was used to extract and synthesize results. Results: 43 articles were eligible for inclusion. Most studies (n = 33) took place in general pediatric EDs; the quality was generally high. Patients ranged from 4-24 years old, with most screening tested in patients 12 years and older. The most researched tools were the Ask-Suicide Screening Questions (ASQ) (n = 15), Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) (n = 12), Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire (SIQ) (n = 11), and the Risk of Suicide Questionnaire (RSQ) (n = 7). Where screening was applied to all patients, about one-fifth of pediatric ED patients screened positive; where suicide screening was applied to psychiatric patients only, over half screened positive. Positive screens were more likely to be female and older than negative screens and they were more likely to be assessed and admitted. Conclusion: Several validated screening tools exist for the purpose of screening pediatric populations in EDs for suicidality. Such tools may help to support early detection and appropriate intervention for youth at risk of suicide.
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Data and Code from "Show me the data! Data sharing practices demonstrated in published research at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School"Data extracted from articles published by UMass Chan researchers to determine where and how data was being shared. Code from the analysis is also included.
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Interested in Peer Reviewing? Let’s TalkWhat does good peer review mean in the context of scholarly publishing? How can I be an effective peer reviewer? If I’ve never done it before, where would I start? Regina Raboin, Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of eScience Librarianship, will de-mystify peer review and answer your questions about this important process. In this presentation, both new and experienced peer reviewers can learn how to sharpen their skills and contribute to excellent scholarly communication. This webinar was sponsored by the RDAP Association Education and Resources Committee.
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Top trends in academic libraries: A review of the trends and issuesThis article summarizes trending topics in academic librarianship from the past two years–a time of tremendous upheaval and change, including a global pandemic, difficult reflections concerning racial justice, and war between nation states. Rapid changes and uncertainty from these events have created a significant amount of shifts to academic libraries, higher education, and society in general. Such shifts have yielded new perspectives and innovations in how librarians approach delivering services, supporting student success, managing staff and physical spaces, embracing new technology, and managing data. This report attempts to provide a snapshot of developments worth noting.
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LGBTQ+ Health Research Guides: A Cross-institutional Pilot Study of Usage PatternsObjectives: Multiple authors have recommended that health sciences libraries use research guides to promote LGBTQ+ health information, connect with their users and the community, and improve health equity. However, little is known about LGBTQ+ health guide usage patterns and whether such guides really meet the information needs of their users. Based on usage patterns from LGBTQ+ health research guides, we assessed the types of LGBTQ+ health information of greatest interest to health sciences library users and how, if appropriate, these guides might be revised to be more relevant to user needs. Methods: The data for LGBTQ+ health research guides of five health sciences libraries (three in the United States and two in Canada) were studied. Usage data were retrieved for a three year period (July 2018-June 2021). Two separate factors were chosen for analysis: monthly guide usage over time and the individual types of resources used. Monthly usage was studied by generating line graphs in Excel with trendlines to calculate overall guide usage trends. To determine the most sought-after types of resources by users, clicks for individual resources were categorized by type and focus using open coding in Google Sheets. Results: Overall guide usage was mixed, with some libraries’ guides trending upward over time and others downward. Analysis of the resource links showed that links to local and community health resources were among the most heavily clicked (64.11% of clicks), as were resources designed to help patients find healthcare providers and services (53.23%). Links to library-owned resources, such as books, journals, and databases, were generally clicked less (2.44%), as were links aimed at healthcare professionals (11.36%). Conclusions: The usage statistics for the guides were relatively low. However, the size of the LGBTQ+ community is relatively low compared to the general population and therefore LGBTQ+ health can be considered a category of minority health. We argue that the importance of providing quality LGBTQ+ health information outweighs any concerns of large-scale usage, and that providing such guides promotes health equity. The higher usage numbers for local resources supports the idea that guides are most useful when they link users to services and providers in their own communities. This suggests a best practice for librarians to focus on local resources and collaborations, and on consumer health resources, when creating and editing these guides.
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Medicinal Plant Extracts and Natural Compounds for the Treatment of Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus: A Systematic ReviewCutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) is a group of autoimmune connective tissue disorders that significantly impact quality of life. Current treatment approaches typically use antimalarial medications, though patients may become recalcitrant. Other treatment options include general immunosuppressants, highlighting the need for more and more targeted treatment options. The purpose of this systematic review was to identify potential compounds that could be repurposed for CLE from natural products since many rheumatologic drugs are derived from natural products, including antimalarials. This study was registered with PROSPERO, the international prospective register of systematic reviews (registration number CRD42021251048). We comprehensively searched Ovid Medline, Cochrane Library, and Scopus databases from inception to April 27th, 2021. These terms included cutaneous lupus erythematosus; general plant, fungus, bacteria terminology; selected plants and plant-derived products; selected antimalarials; and JAK inhibitors. Our search yielded 13,970 studies, of which 1,362 were duplicates. We screened 12,608 abstracts, found 12,043 to be irrelevant, and assessed 565 full-text studies for eligibility. Of these, 506 were excluded, and 59 studies were included in the data extraction. The ROBINS-I risk of bias assessment tool was used to assess studies that met our inclusion criteria. According to our findings, several natural compounds do reduce inflammation in lupus and other autoimmune skin diseases in studies using in vitro methods, mouse models, and clinical observational studies, along with a few randomized clinical trials. Our study has cataloged evidence in support of potential natural compounds and plant extracts that could serve as novel sources of active ingredients for the treatment of CLE. It is imperative that further studies in mice and humans are conducted to validate these findings.
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Medical Humanities Lab: Re-envisioning library services to foster the growth of medical humanities in education and healthcareIn this virtual presentation for the Medical Library Association Health Humanities Caucus, learn how UMass Chan Medical School’s Lamar Soutter Library successfully collaborates with faculty leaders and medical students in the Medical Humanities Lab, an initiative which integrates the arts and humanities into medical education and healthcare through student, faculty, and staff collaborations fostering humanism in medicine. The Library has provided leadership, technology expertise, space for in-person meetings, logistical support for virtual meetings, and promotional assistance. Over the past 3+ years, the Lab has sponsored projects, including a storytelling event, a creative writing and photography journal, a blog, two podcasts, and a creative writing website. The projects, many of which are openly accessible, address important themes including health inequality and the impact of incarceration on medical care. This presentation discusses the partnership, highlights projects, challenges, and facilitators of success, and features multimedia samples from our projects. Attendees also brainstormed new ways that their library can support medical humanities at their institution.
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E-Cigarettes - a review of the evidence - harm versus harm reductionThe World Health Organization estimates there are 1.1 billion cigarette smokers across the globe and that tobacco related deaths number 7 million per year. Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) are available to contribute options for smoking cessation and include e-cigarettes, e-hookahs, vape pens, mods, and vaping. The growing use of ENDS, or e-cigarettes, in the US and globally across populations is dramatic. Although users may think that e-cigarettes are less harmful than combustible tobacco products, the evidence shows that there are known risks and harms for users. E-cigarettes have varying amounts of toxicants, nicotine, and carcinogens and put the user at risk for lung diseases and COVID-19 similar to smokers. Currently, most governing bodies have not approved e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool but do state if a person has failed conventional smoking cessation treatments that e-cigarettes used alone for the short term may help those to quit combustible tobacco and nicotine. A shared decision-making approach should be used when discussing e-cigarettes as a harm reduction tool. More studies and long-term data are needed to assess potential benefits and harms. What is known is that prevention efforts and policy are needed to avoid adolescents and other vulnerable populations from initiating tobacco or e-cigarette use.
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Presentation: Health Literacy for Rural PopulationsRegion 7 was asked to present the content from NNLM's Rural Health Resources webinar in the first session of a two-day professional development event co-hosted by the Central New York Library Resources Council and the State University of New York/Upstate Medical University Health Sciences Library. The session examined the marked health disparities between those living in rural areas versus their urban counterparts. Not only do rural residents suffer from higher incidence of chronic illness, they also have limited access to primary care services and are more likely to be uninsured or under-insured. This session described hallmarks of rural America, identify access challenges of living in rural communities, and equip participants with tools to service the health information needs of those living in rural communities. We will explore websites from the National Library of Medicine, U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, Rural Health Information Hub and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The origins of each website was explained. Each of the websites contain consumer-level information and offers an opportunity for data downloads. The downloads will be demonstrated. These resources are relevant to nurses, librarians, public health workers, allied healthcare professionals, educators, faith- and community-based organizations.
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Quality of clinical practice guidelines on interventional management of low back pain: A systematic reviewObjective: To appraise the quality of low back pain (LBP) clinical practice guidelines (CPG) that include interventional management recommendations and to associate their quality with characteristics including publication year and creating organization. TYPE: Systematic Review. Literature survey: LBP (subacute or chronic) CPGs in English (symptom based, governmental or professional society created, January 1990-May 2020) were found using MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Ortho Guidelines, CPG Infobase, ECRI, Guidelines International Network, NICE, and SIGN. Methodology: In this third order systematic review, search results were deduplicated, title and abstract screened by two independent reviewers, and full texts reviewed by four reviewers. Discrepancies were resolved by a third reviewer. Resulted CPGs were appraised using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE II) Tool by four appraisers each. Association of their quality with creating organization, geographical region, and year of creation was calculated. Synthesis: Seven hundred fourteen screened documents resulted in 21 final CPGs. On appraisal, average overall CPG quality was 5.2 (range 2.5-6.75). Domain 5 (applicability) had the lowest average (44%) and domain 4 (clarity of presentation) had the highest average score (82%). For overall recommendation, 16 received "yes" or "yes with modifications," six received unanimous "yes" and two unanimous "no" votes. The interrater agreement of domain scoring was excellent (0.8-1.0; p < .001). There was no association found between quality of CPG and (1) year of publication (R2 = 0.0006), (2) whether the CPG was updated or new (p = .17), and (3) region of publication (p = .37). Conclusions: The majority of the 21 CPGs identified in this systematic review were of high quality, but overall quality and recommendation ratings were variable. The quality of appraised CPGs showed no association with their characteristics. Some domains such as "applicability" scored uniformly lower, revealing opportunity for improvement in future CPG development. LBP CPGs should be scrutinized before adopting their recommendations.
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Creating Accessible Online Instruction Using Universal Design Principles: A LITA GuideReview of the book "Creating Accessible Online Instruction Using Universal Design Principles: A LITA Guide," published by Rowman & Littlefield.
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High variability in patient reported outcome utilization following hip fracture: a potential barrier to value-based careFor patients with hip fractures, outcomes can be measured by giving surveys measuring "patient rated outcome measures" (PROMs), performance based measures (PBMS), and objective medical outcomes (e.g., mortality, living situation, resource utilization). This study reviewed articles on hip fracture published in top academic journals, and found that most studies are not reliably using a single set of outcome measures including PROMs, and no single PROM or outcome battery is being used commonly. PURPOSE/INTRODUCTION: Osteoporotic hip fractures are associated with high levels of morbidity, mortality, and cost, while gains in mortality over the past 30 years have been modest. To improve care beyond simple mortality metrics requires identifying and then consistently measuring outcomes that are meaningful to patients and families. The purpose of this study was to review the top-tier hip fracture literature published in the past 30 years to determine if there are consensus outcome measures being routinely used and if the rate of reporting clinically meaningful patient-rated outcome measures is improving over time. METHODS: This was a systematic review and meta-analysis on outcome measures reported in osteoporotic hip fractures. Articles were included if they had been published over the last 30 years and were from high impact factor journals. Inclusion criteria were elderly hip fractures, therapeutic or prognostic study, unique and identifiable patients, and included follow-up beyond initial hospitalization. We analyzed study type, inclusion criteria, outcomes reported, and journal specialty orientation. RESULTS: Three hundred eighty-four articles were included in the final analysis. Sixty-seven percent of the articles were therapeutic studies; 33% were prognostic studies. The average number of patients in each study was 435; the average age was 78 years. The most commonly reported outcome was mortality, and was present in 79% of studies. There was a high degree of heterogeneity in patient-reported outcome measures, with the most popular score (Harris Hip Score) reported only 14% of the time. Only 6% of articles had all components of essential core outcome sets previously defined in the literature. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the apparent advances that have been made in our ability to care for hip fractures, the overall rate of reporting outcomes beyond mortality rate remains low. This lack of consensus represents a major barrier to implementation of value-based care in this patient population.
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Region 7 Hospital Librarians: What Medical Librarians Need to Know about Ransomware AttacksRegion 7 develops webinars for a hospital librarian audience. Topics are determined by the Hospital Libraries Advisory Group (HLAG). Each webinar highlights a topic of concern to hospital librarians. Region 7 will identify subject experts to provide instruction either through WebEx or on-site at UMass Chan Medical School. The sessions begin with introduction of topic and subject expert, include discussion on the impact on library management, and conclude with time for questions and answers. Whenever possible, the sessions will be recorded. On January 11, 2018, Hancock Health in Greenfield, Indiana experienced a ransomware attack on the hospital's information systems. The hackers used compromised account credentials to target a server located in the emergency IT backup facility. This caused havoc with critical information systems. The University of Vermont Health Network in Burlington, Vermont was attacked on October 8, 2020, with malware infecting hospital information systems. In this webinar, Steve Long, CEO of Hancock Health, talked about his experiences with mobilizing disaster response procedures. Alice Stokes, Research and Education Librarian at the University of Vermont, addressed ways that library services are impacted by ransomware attacks.
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Show Me the Data! Data Sharing Practices Demonstrated in Published UMass Chan ResearchIn the interest of making data findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will institute a new Research Data Management and Sharing Policy in January 2023. This policy will require researchers applying for NIH funding to submit a Data Management and Sharing Plan. As 63% of grant dollars received by UMass Chan Medical School researchers comes from the NIH, we explored whether UMass Chan researchers are currently sharing data associated with their published research. PubMed was searched for articles published in 2019 with a UMass Chan researcher as either the first or last author. These articles were then examined for evidence of original or reused data, the type of data, whether the article stated that data was available, and where and how to find that data. Of the 713 articles found with a UMass Chan first and/or last author, 535 were research articles that produced original data or reused existing data. Of those articles with data, 57.4% (307) were NIH funded, 17.2% (92) had a data availability statement, and 10.8% had data deposited in a repository. This poster will highlight how the results of the study will inform our library services for researchers and provide tips on making UMass Chan data FAIR.