Author Archives: Melissa Cox Norris

Participate in the 19-Day Self-Education Challenge Against Systemic Racism

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respect's 19-day self-education challenge against systemic racismWant to learn more about issues pertaining to systemic racism in the United States but don’t know where to start? Inspired by the YWCA’s 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge, the University of Cincinnati Libraries’ R.E.S.P.E.C.T. committee developed a 19-Day Self-Education Challenge Against Systemic Racism just for you! Sign up now to watch, read and listen to informative pieces! The challenge is free and open to all. 

Scheduled to take place July 6-30, the challenge is divided into four weeks, each with a different theme. There will be weekly, open video-chat discussions every Friday. Details will be e-mailed weekly along with the challenge content. 

  • Week 1: Reparations and Narrowing the Wealth Gap 
  • Week 2: Police Brutality and Reform 
  • Week 3: Equity in Healthcare 
  • Week 4: Equity in Education 

Should you agree to accept this challenge, you will learn new information as well as receive an award upon completion of the event for your efforts to learn more about systemic racism and ways to combat it.  

R.E.S.P.E.C.T. (Racial Equity Support & Programming to Educate the Community Team) is a UC Libraries committee charged with developing external programming that explicitly addresses the negative role that systemic racism plays in our society. 

UpToDate Access for UC Academic Health Center Continues Until May 31, 2022

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Currently, UC Health owns the master contract for the UpToDate (UTD) subscriptions. However, the UC Libraries and the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library (HSL) have been providing funding toward this contract in order to provide the UC Academic Health Center with access to UpToDate. Due to budget constraints at the UC HSL, the UC Academic Health Center’s UpToDate access will come to an end on May 31, 2022.

UC Health and all of its Epic users also have access to UpToDate. UC Health is currently in the process of looking into how their clinical leadership and Epic users will utilize UpToDate after May 31, 2022. An update on the status of UpToDate access for UC Health will be shared on a later date.

If you use UpToDate as a UC Academic Health Center user and you are not a UC Health user, here are two options with similar content but not similar format that you may want to utilize after May 31, 2022.

The HSL is aware that many prefer to use UpToDate, and we regret that the library can no longer afford to provide access at the current or future cost.

Why not cancel other resources and continue to pay for access to UpToDate?

  • HSL collections serve 4 Medical Campus colleges, plus the broader university community, and we strive to balance support to all 4.
  • Most journals and e-books are in collections where the content is determined by the vendor, not the library.
  • Every year we must decide how best to maintain a balanced collection with the budget available.
  • Decisions on whether to continue access to resources are made based on a long-standing rubric of usage, use restrictions, cost, accessibility, and availability of similar content elsewhere.

Collection funding

  • Unlike colleges and programs, the number of students enrolled does not result in more funding for UC Libraries.
  • The Provost annually determines the Libraries’ funding.
  • The Libraries’ collection budget has been flat for many years, and flat funding does not accommodate annual subscription increases ranging from 3-8%.

The Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library remains committed to our mission to connecting students, faculty, researchers and scholars to dynamic data, information, and resources.  Please submit any questions you may have about UpToDate or other library resources using this form.

Read Source, the online newsletter, to learn about the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries

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sourceRead Source, the online newsletter, to learn about the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries.

In this issue of Source, Dean Xuemao Wang takes time to reflect as work begins to transition back on campus and we showcase UC Libraries innovation and impact during the pandemic. In addition to articles highlighting collections such as Albert Sabin’s papers and Obed Wilson’s library, this issue also marks the commemoration of the first national Juneteenth holiday and features an interview with the authors of the recent University of Cincinnati Press book, Bicycling Through Paradise. As our 19th year of publication comes to a close, we feature a retrospective of past covers and a look back at the 2009 Edible Books event.

Read these articles, as well as past issues, on the website. To receive Source via e-mail, contact melissa.norris@uc.edu to be added to the mailing list.

 

Join us June 18 for R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Each Other: The Lasting Impact of Juneteenth

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juneteenth event graphicJoin us for R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Each Other: The Lasting Impact of Juneteenth, an online WebEx event scheduled for Friday, June 18, from 10-11:30 am. Registration and link location are available online.

Juneteenth, also known as African American Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, is celebrated on June 19 to mark the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. The University of Cincinnati Libraries RESPECT Group invites you to learn about the history of the Juneteenth holiday and its lasting and impact on United States’ culture and society.  

This interactive session will introduce conversations around slavery, racism and modern-day injustices. A prepared presentation will include interviews with formerly enslaved people, videos of culture, music and poetry contrasting the past and present. Come prepared to reflect and share your thoughts and feelings on these topics in this safe space environment. In addition, the program will introduce the newly formed Racial Equity Support & Programming to Educate the Community Team (RESPECT), a UC Libraries committee charged with developing external programming that explicitly addresses the role that systemic racism plays in our society.   

UC Libraries Mark Chalmers named Drexel University LEADING Fellow

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mark chalmersMark Chalmers, science and engineering librarian, has been accepted into Drexel University’s highly selective Library Information Science (LIS) Education and Data Science Integrated Network Group (LEADING) program as a 2021 LEADING Fellow.

The LEADING program is a Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian (LB21) National Digital Infrastructures and Initiatives project, supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and hosted at Drexel University’s College of Computing & Informatics (CCI). The LEADING program scales-up the highly successful LEADS-4-NDP initiative and will prepare a diverse, nation-wide cohort of 50 LIS doctoral students and early to mid-career librarians for data science endeavors.

LEADING Fellows will complete the following:

  • self-paced online preparatory curriculum,
  • an online data science bootcamp with Drexel and other LEADING fellows,
  • six-month virtual data science internship at a LEADING hub or node,
  • development of a communication plan to connect with mentor/s on a regular basis, and
  • development of research output (e.g., a paper, poster, presentation, published data, etc.).

Mark’s LEADING Fellow research project will focus on “Assessing Overlap and Aggregation Potential of Open-Source Software Platforms and Their Data.” LYRASIS, a consortium that provides access to the world’s shared academic, scientific and cultural heritage, currently offers six hosted services on open-source software. Five of the six of which involve academic libraries and their cultural heritage assets. As a result, LYRASIS seeks expertise in cultural heritage metadata and data science to assist in assessing this overlap between platforms. In addition, they seek recommendations on how machine learning models can be leveraged to connect data in different platforms and to assess how researchers can be served by access to data across the different platforms.

“I am eager to work with Drexel and LYRASIS to grow my competencies in the domains of data science, data integration, large scale machine learning and exploratory feasibility projects,” said Mark upon learning of his acceptance into the LEADING program.

“The experience and skills Mark will gain as a LEADING Fellow will not only contribute to the completion of the LYRASIS research project, but he will bring new knowledge back to his role in the Science and Engineering Libraries while at the same time contributing to the university’s digital future and open access agenda,” said Xuemao Wang, vice provost of digital scholarship and dean and university librarian.

UC’s Digital Scholarship Center presents “Digital Integrator and Transdisciplinary Research Partner”

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This Association of College and Research Libraries’ (ACRL) Spring 2021 Digital Scholarship Section featured “Digital Integrator & Transdisciplinary Research Partner,” a virtual panel highlighting the University of Cincinnati’s Digital Scholarship Center’s (DSC) unique model and work with research teams focused on misinformation and missing information.

The DSC partnered with UC Libraries’ Research and Data Services Team and the Department of Journalism to research Twitter’s impact on misinformation, false information and conspiracy theories about coronavirus. Using machine learning and linguistic analysis, the team also partnered with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center to understand the role of missing information in electronic health records as it relates to social determinants of health. During the presentation, the panel discussed the unique organization of the DSC and its partnerships on campus and how health information professionals and the DSC work together on research projects involving social media, social justice and social determinants of health. The recording and slides are available online.

cover slide for presentation Continue reading →

April 20 Service Note: Access to library resources is currently down

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UPDATE: All access has been restored.

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All access to library resources through the proxy server is currently down. OCLC is working on the issue and we expect a resolution shortly. We apologize for the inconvenience.

If you know the resource URL you are attempting to access, try this page: https://libapps.libraries.uc.edu/proxy/proxygoto.php. The URL for the library catalog, for example, is uclid.uc.edu. You will then be prompted to login using your UC credentials.

“Off the Shelf and into the Lab” May 6th webinar to highlight medical history, preservation and the UC Libraries’ Adopt-A-Book program

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Join the Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions and the Cecil Striker Society for the History of Medicine, Thursday, May 6 at 7:00 p.m. for the 3rd lecture in the Cecil Striker Webinar series. Off the Shelf and into the Lab: Medical History, Preservation and the University of Cincinnati Libraries’ Adopt-A-Book Program will demonstrate how the work of the Preservation Lab protects Winkler Center collections and how those interested can support their work through the Libraries’ Adopt-a-Book program.

The webinar will be held on Zoom and the link available soon on the Winkler Center’s website at https://libraries.uc.edu/libraries/hsl/winkler-center/cecil-striker.html.

Speakers:

  • Christa Bernardo, director of development
  • Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer, conservator and co-manager of the Preservation Lab
  • Holly Prochaska, preservation librarian and co-manager of the Preservation Lab

cecil striker flyer

Originally formed in 1976, the Cecil Striker Society for the History of Medicine was called the Medical History Society. One month after its first meeting Dr. Striker died, prompting members to rename the organization the Cecil Striker Society. Its purpose is to promote and perpetuate an interest in the history of medicine and all related disciplines in the health care field.