Spotlight: HSLS Escape Room Project Featured in Doody’s Core Titles

Do you think any of these librarians’ photos might be AI-generated?

Four individual headshots, some of which may be AI generated.

Many of our Pitt Health Sciences students are now learning how to distinguish between AI-generated and real photos, along with many other misinformation-busting skills.

Thanks to an Innovation in Education grant, four HSLS faculty members recently created a health misinformation-themed escape room, “The Case of the Charming Clinician.” Three research and instruction librarians, Kelsey Cowles, Rachel Suppok, and Rebekah Miller, and the HSLS instructional design lead, Sera Thornton, designed the escape room to help health sciences students navigate health information and misinformation in less formal contexts. This fall term, the library team is scheduled to bring their escape room activity to 15 Pitt health sciences courses, comprising nearly 300 students. Continue reading →

Explore Google NotebookLM as Your AI-powered Research Companion

Google NotebookLM helps you synthesize and understand complex information by working directly with the materials you upload. Instead of searching the open web, it turns your PDFs, web links, and notes into an interactive, citation-linked workspace you can question, summarize, and organize.

Key Features

  • Add up to 50 sources per notebook (PDFs, Word documents, PowerPoint slides, and URLs)
  • Automatic summaries highlight key themes and suggest questions to explore
  • Ask prompts like “What are the major conclusions across these papers?” and get concise, cited answers drawn from your sources
  • Save responses as notes and share notebooks for collaborative exploration

Getting Started

Go to notebooklm.google.com, login with your Pitt account, create a New Notebook, and add sources—research articles, book chapters*, policy documents, or web pages. NotebookLM builds a private, queryable knowledge base to accelerate literature reviews, briefing prep, and teaching materials. Continue reading →

Surgical Illustrations in Late Renaissance Europe

Falk Library’s copy of the 1564 book “Dix livres de la chirurgie” by Ambroise Paré, a French barber-surgeon who wrote about his experiences treating soldiers and kings, including images of the surgical instruments he invented.

Surgery was generally something to be feared in Renaissance Europe. Without anesthesia, antiseptics, or antibiotics, it was dangerous, painful, and often deadly. Yet surgeons were also among the most populous and valued medical practitioners at the time, and they took their jobs seriously. On November 11, the C.F. Reynolds Medical History Society lecture, titled “The Skillful Surgeon: Expertise, Authority, and Surgical Illustrations in Late Renaissance Europe,” will examine surgeons’ efforts to highlight their skill and competency, focusing on illustrated writings by surgeons who conducted elective surgeries: couching for cataracts, removing bladder stones by lithotomy, and operating on inguinal hernias. In the German-speaking regions of the 16th and 17th centuries, several specialist surgeons compiled ornately illustrated documentation of their expertise. In a bid to raise the status of specialists, historian Alisha Rankin argues, these upwardly-mobile surgeons used both text and images to celebrate their significant skill and portray these elective surgical operations as reliable and routine. Continue reading →

Learn @ HSLS: Identifying and Combating Health Misinformation

Join us for this class:
Wednesday, November 12, 2025, 10 – 11:30 a.m., Online
Taught by Kelsey Cowles, Rachel Suppok, and Rebekah Miller
Register for Identifying and Combating Health Misinformation*

Health misinformation is a widespread problem, with false or misleading information about both longstanding health concerns and emergent situations spreading rapidly. Sometimes questionable health information is obvious, but it can also be difficult to recognize and can potentially reach millions of people. This class will discuss strategies for identifying health misinformation and contextually appropriate methods for addressing it. Continue reading →

Happening at Falk Library in November

Visitors to Falk Library, located in Alan Magee Scaife Hall, are encouraged to check out these opportunities and displays:

Make Your Own Trail Mix

Wednesday, November 19 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Take a custom-made snack with you. Select from a variety of chocolate, Craisins®, pretzels, peanuts, and other small snack foods. This is offered as both a lunchtime and an evening session – pick which time works best for you. Pack your own tight-seal bag with your favorite goodies and enjoy throughout the day.

Look for our Guess-the-Candy game at the trail mix table. Winner with the closest guess to the number of candy pieces wins a prize!

Animal Friends Donation Drive

Wednesday, November 5 through Friday, December 5

Join HSLS in supporting Animal Friends during this month of thankfulness and giving. Our donation drive supports both pet-owner families and shelter pets. Look for the donation table near the library classroom.

Anyone inclined to donate can drop off pet food at the library in support of the Chow Wagon. The Chow Wagon supports financially struggling pet owners and feeds hungry companion animals across our region. According to Animal Friends, they serve 37 local food pantries and Meals on Wheels programs by distributing more than 14,000 pounds of food each month. A list of food donations accepted is posted at the donation table, or visit the Animal Friends Wish List page for details. Continue reading →