Message from your Library Director
Something Fun: Monster Dentistry
Message from your Library Director
We’re off to a fantastic start this fall at our libraries, and we couldn’t be more excited! October gave us a great reason to celebrate—National Medical Librarians Month—a perfect time to spotlight our incredible KCU library team.
Medical librarians are true MVPs on the healthcare team, connecting people to trusted, evidence-based information that helps improve clinical decisions and patient outcomes. They’re also champions of information literacy, research support, and teaching students how to find and evaluate medical info like pros.
So, here’s to our library team—quietly making a big impact every single day! If you ever need help finding resources, navigating databases, or just have a question, we’re here and happy to help. Let’s make this an amazing year together!
In mid-September, a maintenance crew conducted a restoration on the D’Angelo Library elevator. While the elevator chamber is the same, the cable, components of the shaft, and most of the other mechanisms are completely replaced. It now moves faster and smoother, and has some fancy colored lights in the doors. A much-needed upgrade that will serve the library for many more years!
As librarians, our sacred mission is to provide the best array of resources possible for our campus community. Strangely, sometimes that means getting rid of books.
Most of the KCU community may be unaware that the libraries store a lot more books than the ones you might see on the study room shelves. For decades, we have also assembled a sizeable collection of printed journals, some of them dated all the way back to the 1910s, which reside in the basement of D’Angelo Library. Whenever an article request comes in, the KC staff descend to find the right journal, scan the article, and send it to the faculty/student in need.
But as time rolls on, technology changes, and new research is conducted, many of these print journal volumes become obsolete. The requests to scan the articles become scarcer, and the books continue to take up space. The time has come for the painful task: a collection weeding.
Most of this process will be (and has already been) invisible to the rest of campus. We have been measuring shelf space, tracking article requests, and formulating lists of journals that aren’t needed anymore. Soon, the real labor will begin. When the time is right, a mass effort by the library staff will remove all the hefty printed journals we no longer need, assembly-line moving them off the shelves. After that, the second labor begins, reorganizing the shelves to close the gaps where unused journals reside no more. (Moving a few of those books isn’t too bad, but try moving them constantly for hours on end. Expect to see buff biceps on your local librarians in the coming months!)
History buffs, fear not. We appraise each journal carefully before putting it on the removal list. The volumes with historical value (such as the first edition of the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, published in 1901) are kept as artifacts, and any journal that receives frequent requests will be retained. This weeding primarily targets midrange issues of lesser-known journals with little historical value, whose information is outdated and no longer useful.
Increasing shelf space is always useful, but culling our collection is good for us because it drives us to assess what is useful and what isn't. Eliminating unused resources (books, online journals, subscriptions) allows us to redirect our time, funds, and space toward things that will really benefit our students and campus community.
Ever-evolving, ever refining its processes, the MOBIUS system has added a new feature to streamline the interlibrary loan process.
(For those unfamiliar, MOBIUS is a consortium of Midwest libraries who share books, movies, etc. through a devoted courier service. Since KCU is part of that consortium, we can view other libraries’ collections as an extension of our own catalog. For more details on all the many wonderful things you can borrow through MOBIUS, check out the August 2025 library newsletter.)
Previously, when you requested a book that was owned by multiple libraries, the lending request automatically went to the library at the top of the list. Now, users can select which library they borrow from.
This doesn’t sound like a major change, but it can have a huge impact. Suppose the first library on the list can’t send that particular book. Maybe it’s lost, damaged, needed for a display, or for any other reason can’t travel right now. The lending library could cancel the request, but if you tried to borrow it through MOBIUS again, the request would route back to that same book, over and over. Now, you can choose which library you want it from. (Fun fact: this author used to work in the library of Truman State University, which has an extensive film collection. When borrowing a movie through MOBIUS, she often requests specifically from Truman out of nostalgia.)
Selecting a library also affects turnaround time. Some libraries simply get their books out the door faster than others, and geographic proximity plays a role as well. Now, you can choose the closest, fastest library and get your books/movies/music even sooner.
The MOBIUS teams are working on polishing up the extant system and adding new features, so more changes will come in the months ahead. Some of those changes won’t be obvious to anyone but the librarians. But even if you don’t notice the changes in the labelling system, or never see the streamlining of the request processing, you’ll hopefully feel the impact of an easier, more efficient lending process.
If you’d like to check out MOBIUS for yourself, here is the link to the step-by-step guide. We are also happy to answer questions! Nothing would make your KCU librarians happier than putting more books in the hands of people who want them.
Something Fun: Monster Teeth with Dr. Del Sol
Joining us in this newletter's edition of Something Fun is Dr. Aldo Del Sol Martinez, DMD, Assistant Professor of Pediatric Dentistry on our Joplin Campus. Dr. Del Sol was kind enough to provide us with some dental advice for Halloween monsters:
Happy Halloween from Dr. Del Sol!
Let’s take a bite into some spooky smiles!
How do you personally think vampire teeth work?
Q. Vampires are often revealed in the movies with the sudden appearance of fangs. How could it be possible to conceal them? What concerns might a vampire bring their dentist?
A. Vampires have long, sharp fangs, kind of like super-powered canines. They might hide them inside their gums, like snakes do with their fangs, and pop them out when it’s snack time. If I saw a vampire patient, I would tell them to brush after every meal, because blood can stain teeth. And maybe… fewer midnight snacks, please.
How about werewolves?
Q. Werewolves can transform from a human to a wolf, but sometimes they stop in a half-human, half-wolf state. What kind of changes do you think that would make to the werewolf’s mouth? Would they still be able to speak?
A. If a werewolf gets stuck halfway between human and wolf, their mouth would change a lot. Their jaws would be stronger. Great for biting, not so great for talking. Once your mouth turns into a snout, it’s hard to say “cheese!”
Any advice for the rotters?
Q. For Halloween monsters that could be described as ‘decrepit undead’ (such as zombies and mummies) missing a few teeth is customary. Given their rotting state, what kind of dental care should they be mindful of? How can the everyday working ghoul trying to lurch ahead in the world maintain both function and style in their dental hygiene?
A. Poor zombies and mummies, their teeth are falling out and their breath smells. They should stop chewing bones and skip the sugary brains. Rinsing with water (or swamp water, if that’s all they got) can help a little. And if they want fresh breath, mint leaves in the wrappings should do the trick.
How about for us, when the apocalypse comes?
Q. We all know society will crumble one of these days, due to nuclear fallout or global warming or robopocalypse. When the last Dollar General has finally been raided of toothpaste, what should we do to keep our teeth healthy? (Bonus question: what should people with braces do when their local orthodontist gets zombified?)
A. If the world ever runs out of toothpaste, don’t panic! You can use a small stick to brush, just chew the end until it’s soft. Rinse with water after eating and snack on crunchy fruits and veggies to clean your teeth. And if you have braces, keep them clean and do not let a zombie tighten them!
Final Bite
Even monsters need clean teeth! So please brush twice a day, floss every day, and keep those smiles spooky-bright. Happy Halloween!
