The Learning Resource Center (LRC) at National University of Health Sciences (NUHS) was recently awarded a $5000 “Back to Books” grant from the State of Illinois. This is the second year in a row that NUHS has received the competitive grant, thanks to the work of Mr. Russ Iwami, reference librarian, who prepared excellent proposals for new book collections on behalf of NUHS.

The 2014 award to NUHS will fund the purchase of books focusing on “The Role of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) in Human Nutrition and Diet.”

Russ Iwami has solicited recommendations for books on this topic from key faculty members who teach and construct nutrition curricula for the university’s many health care degree programs.

Last year, NUHS won a similar award that allowed for the purchase of 195 books comprising a new spiritual therapies collection. “This time the new collection will have approximately 100 or so books, as the nutritional texts we’ve chosen are a bit more expensive,” says Mr. Iwami.

The grant comes with a deadline for disbursing the funds. Iwami says that this means we could have the new collection ready as early as the beginning of the Fall 2014 trimester.

“New collections like this are a real draw. Our students rely primarily on textbooks and electronic resources. When they come into the library, these collections serve as an appeal to explore new topics related to, but perhaps outside of, their normal curriculum. The new books also provide more relaxed reading in their free time,” says Mr. Iwami.

“We’re grateful to the Illinois State Library for this grant program that has brought so many wonderful additions to our health science library,” says Professor Joyce Whitehead, director of the LRC.

“Our LRC not only makes these new books available to our students,” says Ms. Tracy McHugh, vice president for administrative services at NUHS. “Our library is also open to community members and is an active participant in several inter-library loan systems. This brings our grant-funded books, as well as our existing resources, to a wider Illinois readership.”