Author Archives: Melissa Cox Norris

Preservation and Exhibition: DAAP Library’s Teaching Collection and upcoming gallery talk on Dec. 5

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Reprinted from the Preservation Lab blog

For the past six months, the Preservation Lab’s Jessica Ebert and Catarina Figueirinhas have been working with the Robert A. Deshon and Karl J. Schlachter Library for Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP) on housing their Teaching art collection, including prior acquisition and newly acquired items. This collection consists of different art prints on paper, print plates and manuscript parchment leaves in need of long-term housing. In addition to housing, this collection is used for teaching in a classroom setting and for exhibition.

Most of the collection only requires simple matting systems, but some require more intricate matting systems such as the copper plate along with its print, a project mentioned in a previous blog post entitled How many magnets is too many magnets!?.

As some of the items of this collection were being prepared to go on exhibit, we had the opportunity to create mounts for other items, such as two parchment scrolls that were included in the exhibit. This was a fun project to work on, as it required us to create a support that would secure both scrolls, while providing an elegant solution for display.

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Langsam Library offers extended hours through exams

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Need a place to study for exams? Working late on a class project? The Walter C. Langsam Library has extended building hours now through exams. The Desk@Langsam will maintain regular hours.

Extended Building Hours:

Monday-Thursday, Nov. 26-Nov. 30: 8am-3am
Friday, Dec. 1: 8am-10pm
Saturday, Dec. 2: Noon-10pm
Sunday, Dec. 3: Noon-3am
Monday-Thursday, Dec. 4-7: 8am-3am
Friday, Dec.8: 8am-5pm

Winter Break hours begin Saturday, Dec.9.

UC Libraries closed for Thanksgiving holiday

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turkeys

The University of Cincinnati Libraries will be closed Thursday, November 23 and Friday, November 24 for Thanksgiving, with some locations closed the remainder of the holiday weekend and many library locations closing early on Wednesday, November 22 at 5pm. Check the listed hours for each library location’s specific hours.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Health Sciences Library display in honor of World AIDS Day December 1

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UC Libraries recognizes World AIDS Day on December 1st. This year, we are partnering with Caracole and other libraries across Cincinnati to coordinate educational displays that help raise awareness, challenge stigma and improve education about HIV.

display

Caracole is a nonprofit organization that is devoted to positively changing lives in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Caracole seeks to educate and empower both young and older adults with accurate information about HIV. It has been four decades since the first AIDS cases were reported in the U.S., but lack of HIV knowledge and stigma continues, especially among younger people who were not alive during the darkest days of the epidemic (Owning HIV Survey 2019).

To learn more, stop by the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library between Monday, November 20th and Sunday, December 3rd to view the World AIDS Day display. We encourage you to take a pin, take a brochure and browse a curated collection of books on HIV/AIDS.

With your help, we can raise awareness, de-stigmatize HIV and prevent future cases or HIV in our communities.

Angela Jackson joins UC Libraries as the associate to the dean and university librarian

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angela jackson

On October 31, 2023, Angela Jackson joined the University of Cincinnati as associate to the dean and university librarian. Angela has been a part of the University of Cincinnati and UC Health organization since 2015, providing executive support to physicians and executive leadership within the College of Medicine for UC Health. Prior to accepting this role, Angela was the executive assistant to the SVP, chief operating officer, and vice president of Physician Network within the Ambulatory administration for UC Health.

Angela is a native of Cincinnati, and in her spare time loves to spend quality time with family, binge watching episodes of HGTV and taking long walks outside while listening to music from the 80’s and 90’s.

Welcome, Angela!

Join UC Libraries in reading and discussing “The Sum of Us”

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sum of us

UC Libraries’ RESPECT (Racial Equity Support Programming to Educate the Community Team) is hosting a book club featuring “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We can Prosper Together” by Heather McGhee starting in January ’24 with monthly online discussions concluding with in an in-person talk in April.

The first 50 people to request a book will receive a physical copy.

In “The Sum of Us:”McGhee embarks on a deeply personal journey across the country from Maine to Mississippi to California, tallying what we lose when we buy into the zero-sum paradigm—the idea that progress for some of us must come at the expense of others. Along the way, she meets white people who confide in her about losing their homes, their dreams, and their shot at better jobs to the toxic mix of American racism and greed. This is the story of how public goods in this country—from parks and pools to functioning schools—have become private luxuries; of how unions collapsed, wages stagnated, and inequality increased; and of how this country, unique among the world’s advanced economies, has thwarted universal healthcare.

Penguin random house

Beginning in January, the book club will meet via Zoom to discuss the text over a series of three Fridays from 10:00-11:00am, January 26, February 23 and March 22. These meetings will culminate in a final wrap-up discussion on Friday, April 5 in-person and facilitated by Sinclair Community College’s Chief Diversity Officer Michael Carter. 

To sign up to participate and be sent more information, fill out this form. The first 50 people to request a book will receive a physical copy. Physical copies and ebook access are also available to check out through UC Libraries. For any additional questions, e-mail Nimisha Bhat at nimisha.bhat@uc.edu.

Unmasked: Black Heroes in Comics Exhibit, November 6-December 8

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The University of Cincinnati Libraries is hosting the traveling exhibit “Unmasked: Black Heroes in Comics.” On display on the fourth floor of the Walter C. Langsam Library through December 8, the exhibit was curated by the National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center and on loan from the Ohio History Center.

exhibit

The museum describes the exhibit as:

Unit 1 of the exhibit starts in the 1930s with the legendary Jackie Ormes, the first Black woman cartoonist. It, and other panels featuring creators includes photos of the artist and examples of their work. Comics highlighted include, All-Negro Comics (1947), the first all-Black created comic book, Ohioan Jay Jackson, who arguably created the first Black superhero ever and Gene Bilbrew, who only recently has had his story revisited. The last panel goes into detail about the current controversy around the first Black superhero and where the research is currently pointing.

Unit 2 covers comics that impacted the Civil Rights Movement and then highlights Black creators entering the mainstream at Marvel and DC. It starts with Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story and Youth in the Ghetto and the Blueprint for Change, two of the rarest comics related to the topic. Billy Graham, the first Black artist at Marvel is covered, along with Trevor Von Eeden, the first Black artist at DC Comics. The display ends with Black Women in Comics and the growing independent comics movement.

exhibit images

For more…

Attend the panel “From the Page to the Public Arena: How Comic Books, Graphic Novels, and Superheroes shape the American Experience” on Thursday, Nov. 9, 4pm, Digital Resource Commons in the Walter C. Langsam Library.

unmasked panel fyer

The traveling exhibit and corresponding events, is co-sponsored by Central State University and the University of Cincinnati: Academy of Fellows for Teaching and Learning, African American Cultural & Resource Center, Center for Studies in Jewish Education and Culture, Charles Phelps Taft Research Center, College of Arts & Sciences, College of Education, Criminal Justice, Human Services, and Information Technology, Department of Africana Studies, Department of History, Department of Sociology, Office of the Provost, University Honors Program and the University of Cincinnati Libraries.

UC Libraries closed Friday, Nov. 10 for Veterans Day

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UC Libraries will be closed Friday, Nov. 10 in observance of Veterans Day.

Regular library hours will resume Saturday, Nov. 11.

To learn more about veterans at UC, check out this online exhibit from the Archives and Rare Books Library entitled “School & Country: Military Life at the University of Cincinnati.”

veterans day graphic

The Italian American Community was out in force at the Dedication of the New Lupa

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Ceremony

On a gorgeous, albeit cold, November morning many Italian Americans, including a woman in her 90s who had attended the dedication of the original statue in the 1930s, a few Italian Italians, several Italophiles, and representatives from City Hall and Cincinnati Parks, some of Italian descent, channel 5, the Cincinnati Enquirer, and other press, gathered at Eden Park for the unveiling of the new Lupa statue with the original twin brothers Romulus and Remus on a marble base with gilded lettering announcing the gift of it from the Governor of Rome to the City of Cincinnati, the namesake of the Roman general Cincinnatus, in 1931 (not in place until 1932 as the “wrong” Lupa (a baby one) was initially sent). The governor in question was Prince Francesco Boncompagni Ludovisi (Governor 1928-1935) who was sacked by fascist leader Mussolini, landed on Hitler’s “most-wanted” list, and aided Italian partisans and allies, e.g., welcoming the British Red Cross to operate from his palace.

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