• Local, Regional, and National Impact. For over 35 years, the HSHSL has served as one of seven regional medical libraries for the National Library of Medicine (NLM), part of NIH. Competed every five years, this prestigious agreement provides financial support for library employees and funding for the many projects, products, and services of the NLM. The HSHSL has taken lessons learned from this project and applied them to outreach projects in West Baltimore, the state, the region, and beyond. Efforts to meaningfully engage with the community and provide access to high-quality health information deserve to continue.
• Support for early career researchers AND open access. Three years ago, the HSHSL launched a pilot project to help fund the author publication charges of early career researchers in open access journals. In 2024 the fund was expended in only four months. The HSHSL is committed to supporting the growth of open access publishing at UMB. Open access publishing must be supported.
• Preserving UMB's scholarship AND heritage. The UMB Digital Archive, created and supported by the HSHSL, is a home to the "gray literature" of UMB - reports, videos, posters, and publications of diverse organizations that might be lost without this digital preservation. We would like to expand this role to include FAIR data - Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable - from publications, - providing UMB scholars, authors, and researchers with a home for storing data included in publications and meeting the mandates of federal funding agencies. Preserving the history of UMB while also providing a stable home for digital scholarship and assets is essential.
• Data, innovation, and learning. Researchers and students needing support visualizing and manipulating data or access to public data repositories, turn to the Center for Data and Bioinformation Services, located at the library. UMB innovators and entrepreneurs visiting the Innovation Space create low-cost 3D prototypes for experiments and their ideas. A Presentation Practice Studio, also in the library, provides a space to practice presentations and record materials for hybrid and online learning environments. These initiatives transform lives and thrive with your support.
• Equipping the library of the future today. The beautiful and engaging HSHSL space was completed and open to the public over 26 years ago. Each year over 140,000 people visit the physical library building. As we move in the future, we must be good stewards of physical library spaces, from study rooms to restrooms and everything in between. The financial cost of operating a building year-round is tremendous and limited budget options do not always provide sufficient funding for updates to support new initiatives. Your support can contribute to space enhancements to ensure the building remains an inviting space for years to come.
• Preparing the team for the future. The most valuable component of the HSHSL is its team of excellent staff and library faculty. Whether integrated into the curriculum, serving on Institutional Review Boards, building databases and repositories, helping a user with a research question, contributing expertise to grants and contracts, or growing scholarship within their profession, this team is outstanding. For a library to succeed, library employees need to learn, expand their knowledge base, and grow.

The cost of running a library continues to rise while state budgets continue to shrink. New initiatives are not typically covered by basic library funding which barely covers the cost of books and journals.

We cannot pursue or expand on any of these projects without your help.