Sheila Thomas is the Research and Clinical Search Services (RCSS) Coordinator in the UAMS Library’s Education & Reference Services department. RCSS is a team of expert searchers providing literature searches for research, clinical and professional purposes for all UAMS faculty and staff. Her educational responsibilities include teaching classes on various databases. She holds a BA in Chemistry and a minor in English from the College of Saint Elizabeth in New Jersey. After working as a research technician in the Pharmacology Department at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey at Newark, Sheila earned her Master of Arts in Library Science from the University of Wisconsin — Madison.

Sheila began her medical librarian career at the William S. Middleton Health Sciences Library at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She later spent six years as a systems librarian in the MEDLARS Management Section of the National Library of Medicine. More recently, she served as Information Core Director for the Hopkins Population Center at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and reference librarian for the Delaware Academy of Medicine.

Publications & Presentations

Steelman S, Thomas S. Academic Health Sciences Librarians’ Contributions to Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees. Presented at the annual meeting of the Medical Library Association, Boston, MA. May 6, 2013.

Invited paper

Steelman S, Thomas S. Librarians AND *Neoplasms/di/dt/ed/px/rh/rt/su AND Work AND Life. Presented at the annual meeting of the Medical Library Association, Boston, MA. May 6, 2013

Publications

Alanazi AA, Nicholson N, Thomas S. (2017). The Use of Simulation Training to Improve Knowledge, Skills, and Confidence Among Healthcare Students: A Systematic Review. The Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice, 5(3), Article 2.

Gurley, B. J., Steelman, S. C., & Thomas, S. L. (2015). Multi-ingredient, caffeine-containing dietary supplements: History, safety, and efficacy. Clinical Therapeutics, 37(2), 275-301. doi:10.1016/j.clinthera.2014.08.012 [doi]

Steelman, S. C., & Thomas, S. L. (2014). Academic health sciences librarians’ contributions to institutional animal care and use committees. Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA, 102(3), 215-219. doi:10.3163/1536-5050.102.3.014 [doi]

Thomas, S. L. (2011). Library links on medical school home pages. Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 30(2), 102-106. doi:10.1080/02763869.2011.562762 [doi]

Professional Associations

• Medical Library Association
• South Central Chapter of the Medical Library Association

Education

Master of Arts in Library Science, University of Wisconsin – Madison

MEd, University of Maryland – College Park

BA in Chemistry; Minor in English, College of Saint Elizabeth, New Jersey