Read the University of Cincinnati Libraries Guide & Facts to learn about the research, services, places and help available in the libraries.
Author Archives: Melissa Cox Norris
Langsam Library’s 4th Floor Now Open 24/7
As the university’s main library, the Walter C. Langsam Library — and especially the busy fourth floor — is a destination of choice for University of Cincinnati students. Beginning Aug. 21, UC students, faculty and staff looking for a place to study for an exam, access a public computer or meet with a project team to finish an assignment now have access to the fourth floor of Langsam Library 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
No library staff or services requiring assistance will be available after The Desk@Langsam closes; however, security will be present thanks to UC’s Public Safety. A valid UC ID is required to enter the library after The Desk@Langsam closes. The hours for The Desk@Langsam and the Student Technology Resources Center (STRC) are listed online at http://www.libraries.uc.edu/about/hours.html. Continue reading
Writing Support in the HSL Informatics Lab – Every Wednesday PM in September
Text version below image.
Writing Support in the Health Sciences Informatics Lab!
Drop in to receive free writing assistance on all documents including:
- personal statements
- grant applications
- reports
- articles
A Writing Center tutor will be available in the Informatics Lab from 12:45 pm to 5:45 pm every Wednesday in September on these dates:
- September 7th
- September 14th
- September 21st
- September 28th
This service is open to all. For more information, contact Dr. Joseph Cunningham of the Academic Writing Center at joseph.cunningham@uc.edu.
Visit UC Libraries Welcome Weekend for Treats and Selfies with Einstein and Neil Armstrong
UC’s Welcome Week kicks off Wednesday, August 17 as new students begin moving in. UC Libraries is part of the weekend festivities to acclimate students to campus.
Stop by Langsam Library Saturday and Sunday, August 20 & 21 from 1-5pm for lemonade, cookies AND a free print of your class schedule.
Visit any of the three Science and Engineering Libraries (College of Engineering and Applied Science, Geology-Mathematics-Physics, and the Chemistry-Biology) from 1-5pm on Sunday, August 21 for treats, beverages and brief tours of the libraries. At CEAS Library, visitors are welcome to grab a respectable selfie with Neil Armstrong (outside the library entrance) or with Albert Einstein (in the reading room)!
Welcome to UC Libraries!
Two of the Winkler Center’s oldest books
by Alex Bádue
The Winkler Center possesses a vast collection of primary sources that include monographs on every branch of medicine and the history of medicine in Cincinnati and in the United States. The scope of these rare books also go beyond medical topics and American borders. Two of these books date back to seventeenth-century Europe, marking some of the oldest books in the Winkler Center primary collection. In their own time, each of these books introduced groundbreaking content that planted the seeds for subsequent development in their respective areas.

Two of the oldest books in the Winkler Center: Thomas Carre’s Pietas Parisiensis (1666) to the left, and Filippo Ciucci’s Il Filo D’Arianna (1682) to the right.
Thomas Carre’s Pietas Parisiensis, Or A Short Description of the Pietie and Charitie Comonly Exercised in Paris, Which Represents in Short the Pious Practices of the Whole Catholike Church was published in Paris in 1666. Carre (1599-1674) was an English Catholic priest who lived in France for most of his life and spoke French fluently. Most of his output concerns the topic of spirituality, and he was the first to translate into English several books and treatises by major seventeenth-century French spiritual writers, such as those by Jean-Pierre Camus (1584-1652) and Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642), whom Carre knew personally. Carre also worked closely with Richard Smith (1568-1655), Bishop of Chalcedon, the second Bishop of England after Catholicism was banned in 1599. Smith moved to Paris in 1609 where he, too, met Richelieu and lived until his death. In Pietas Parisienses, Carre relates Bishop Smith’s work in aiding the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris. Carre provides a unique description of Parisian life in the seventh century and an account of the religious practices and charity in Paris, which the author believed should have been a model for English Catholics.
Carre’s real name was Miles Pinkney. He was baptized in the Church of England, but reconciled to the Catholic Church as a teenager. He started using the alias Thomas Carre in 1618, when he entered the English College at Douai (in Northern France). He moved to Paris in 1634, where with Richelieu and Bishop Smith, he oversaw the growth of an English-Catholic community.
Antonio Filippo Ciucci (who died in 1710) was and Italian physician of the seventeenth century. He published his book Il Filo D’Arianna in the city of Macerata, Italy, in 1682. This was one of the first treatises on forensic toxicology, i.e., the use of science for criminal and civil laws. This book is also considered the first treatise of legal medicine written in a secular language (ancient Italian) and not in Latin. Its content features original points regarding poisoning diagnosis, which were later furthered by other scientists and toxicologists.
The first part of the book’s long title translates to “The Thread of Ariadne, Or a True Faithfull Provision to Those who Exercise Surgery to Come Out of the Labyrinth of the Relations and Reconnaissance of Various Diseases and Deaths.” In Ancient Greek mythology, Minos, King of Crete, put his daughter Ariadne in charge of the labyrinth where sacrifices were made in honor of greater Gods, such as Poseidon and Athena. Ariadne fell in love with Theseus when he volunteered to kill the labyrinth’s Minotaur. She gave him a sword and a ball of thread so that he could find his way out of the labyrinth. Ciucci believed that his treatise provided enough information and resources for investigators, lawyers, and physicians to solve complicated crime scenes the same way that Ariadne’s thread successfully helped Theseus in his endeavor.
Free NCBI Training Workshop Series
The Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library of the University of Cincinnati is partnering with The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) to bring a series of workshops to educate researchers on a number of database housed within the NCBI domain.
The workshops will be held November 8th-10th 2016 in Kresge Auditorium in the College of Medicine. Each workshop will be 3 hours long and will be facilitated by NCBI experts and trainers.
Workshop topics include:
- Practical Guide to NCBI Blast
- Accessing Genomes, Assemblies and Annotation Products
- Accessing NCBI Human Variation and Medical Genetics Resources
- Exploring Gene Expression Information at the NCBI
- Principles of PubChem
Each workshop is free and open to the public, so please free to share this information with your friends and colleagues. We are extremely excited about these workshops and we hope you will be as well. More information about the workshops, registration, and the NCBI expert trainers can be found at http://libapps.libraries.uc.edu/sites/ncbi/.
We look forward to seeing you in November!
UC Libraries Offering Trial of APA Style CENTRAL, Learning Tools for Citation and Formatting Style
The University of Cincinnati Libraries is offering a trial for APA Style CENTRAL, a major new research service produced by the American Psychological Association. APA Style CENTRAL offers a wide range of resources and services for undergraduate and graduate students and faculty in the social sciences and related disciplines. The trial will run from August 1st through August 30th. We welcome you to explore this new APA service, and we encourage you to complete a short (6 question) survey after you have had the opportunity to evaluate this new service.
UC’s First Thesis Comes Home to UC Libraries
Eaton family gives historic documents, including letter from Thomas Jefferson, to UC Libraries
CINCINNATI – Thursday, July 21, 2016 – The University of Cincinnati Libraries today received the thesis of John Hough James, the first graduate of Cincinnati College, now the University of Cincinnati. In addition to the thesis, UC Libraries also received associated research materials, including an 1820 letter from Thomas Jefferson. The rare gift comes from siblings Russell Eaton III, James M. Eaton and Frances Eaton Millhouser, the great-great-grandchildren of John Hough James.
“My siblings and I are pleased to present to the University of Cincinnati our cherished family possessions of John Hough James (JHJ), our great, great, grandfather, the valedictorian of the university’s first class. These possessions include an 1820 letter from Thomas Jefferson to JHJ containing requested source material for his senior thesis, his hand written thesis booklet and his membership in a local volunteer fire company,” Russell said. Continue reading
Library Staffer, Ben Kline, among Next Group of Cincy StoryTellers Aug. 3
Haven’t we all made mistakes? Hopefully, we learn from them and move on. Come out August 3 to support UC Libraries’ Ben Kline, assistant director of research, teaching, and services, as he participates in Cincy StoryTellers and talks about his mistake “The Sound of the Holler in My Mouth.”
Hosted by Carol Montsinger, Ben will join five others in talking about My Biggest Mistake. The other StoryTellers include:
- Kelly Collette, stand-up comedian
- Brenda Hunda, Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology at the Cincinnati
Museum Center - Kick Lee, music producer, sound designer and composer
- Eric Schwetschenau, ear, nose and throat specialist at TriHealth
- Chris Varias, writer
Cincy StoryTellers will be held in the grand ballroom at The Phoenix, 812 8th St. in downtown. Doors and the cash bar open on the 3rd floor at 6 p.m. Storytelling begins at 7 p.m.
There is no fee to hear the stories, but you must reserve tickets at tickets.cincinnati.com.
The Enquirer and Cincinnati.com launched these nights in January 2015 as a way to bring storytelling to life and to give voice to some of the most interesting people in our community. For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/events/467315460120688/?ti=cl.
Making Sense of Biomedical Literature, a Clinical & Translational Research Training Workshop
Registration for the workshop can be completed here. | For more information, please contact Emma Jones (Emma.Jones@uc.edu)