UC Libraries Announce Phased Approach to Re-Open Library Facilities

With the start of fall semester, UC Libraries will begin to re-open library facilities to the UC community in a limited, phased approach to ensure social distancing. Our priority remains to provide access to library resources to the extent possible while maintaining the health and safety of students, faculty and staff. The availability and use of locations and spaces within the libraries will be reviewed on a continual basis and updates will be posted on the Libraries website.library with tables and chairs


Beginning August 10
, the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library (HSL) is open for fall semester with limited in-person accessibility to library spaces.

Beginning August 17, the UC Blue Ash College Library is open with services available in person, virtually or both.

Tues-Fri, August 18-21, the 400 level of the Walter C. Langsam Library will be open from 10am-4pm. No library services will be available during this time.

Beginning August 24, the Walter C. Langsam Library, Albino Gorno Memorial (CCM) Library, John Miller Burnam Classics Library, Archives and Rare Books Library and UC Clermont College Library will open with limitations and protocols to ensure social distancing. Location specifics are listed at https://libraries.uc.edu/about/covid-19.html.

Other library locations remain closed at this time, but are under review for re-opening at a date to be announced. UC Libraries remains open and available online to provide users with access to library resources and services.

With limited exceptions in the Classics and CCM Libraries, there is no browsing of library materials in the stacks. The Click & Collect retrieval and pickup service allows UC users to request print library materials in the Library Catalog for pickup at designated locations. Pickup location details are available on the Click & Collect webpage.

Library users can once again request OhioLINK & Interlibrary Loan materials. Details are posted on the Libraries website.

A Different Approach to Public Engagement with Science – Great Lakes Science Boot Camp Virtual Talk

On Thursday, July 23rd, I gave a talk to ~60 Science Librarians across the country. This talk was a reflection on my experience taking a graduate course in the spring called “Public Engagement with Science” and was a way to inform fellow librarians on how they can make public engagement activities more intentional and meaningful. The final project of the course was to accomplish a public engagement with science activity in conjunction with a community partner drawing on the theoretical framework developed throughout the semester. My group worked with the Cincinnati Nature Center to host a poster contest that was in line with the mission of the Nature Center by aiming to increase awareness of the importance of native plants in the local ecology and to encourage people in the community to plant native plants.

I focused on ways the Center for Public Engagement with Science at the University of Cincinnati is working with community partners to engage in more intentional and informed science engagement activities. I discussed the process of working with community partners, the philosophy of public engagement that motivated our interactions and activity, the project we implemented including the development of relevant learning standards and a grading rubric, and shared some of the winning submissions.

If anyone would like to discuss my talk, my experience in the course, or see my slides, please email me at mark.chalmers@uc.edu.

UC Libraries Expands Click & Collect Retrieval Service to Additional Library Locations

Users can request print library materials by 9am Wednesday for Thursday pickup.

click and collect graphicThe University of Cincinnati Libraries is expanding its Click & Collect retrieval and pickup service providing users with access to print collection materials in order to support UC teaching and research. Users may now request print items for pickup at the following additional library locations:

  • College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) Library
  • College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH) Library
  • Geology-Mathematics-Physics Library
  • Walter C. Langsam Library

Plans are underway to provide access to the John Miller Burnam Classics Library collection to Classics faculty and graduate students and details will be announced soon.

The Click & Collect retrieval and pickup service allows UC users to request print library materials in the Library Catalog for pickup at designated library locations. Requests made by 9am Wednesdays will be available for pickup between noon-4pm on Thursdays. Due dates have been automatically set for August 10. When searching for print materials in the Library Catalog, items with the status of “Held By Library” are available for request. Items from one library location cannot be requested for pickup at another library location. Continue reading

UC Libraries planning to begin offering access to print collection materials

book stacksWhile all UC Libraries’ physical locations remain closed until further notice, we are finalizing plans to provide users with access to print collection materials in order to support UC teaching and research.

A print collection retrieval and pickup service is being planned to begin soon after June 8. Once all preparatory activities are completed, we will announce an official start date of the service. Library users will not be allowed inside library spaces, but will be able to request and pick up library materials in designated locations.

Details on exact timing and how to utilize the retrieval and pickup service will be forthcoming. For updated information, please visit https://libraries.uc.edu/about/covid-19.html.

In the meantime, the University of Cincinnati Libraries remains open and available online to provide users with access to library resources and services.

New E-Books in Engineering and Computer Science

The UC Science and Engineering libraries have recently added the newest collection of Morgan & Claypool’s Synthesis Digital Library of Engineering and Computer Science to its electronic resources. The books are on topics relevant to active research areas such as natural language processing and Human Computer Interaction.

 


 Natural Language Processing for Social Media

This book reviews the current research on NLP tools and methods for processing the non-traditional information from social media data that is available in large amounts, and it shows how innovative NLP approaches can integrate appropriate linguistic information in various fields such as social media monitoring, health care, and business intelligence. The book further covers the existing evaluation metrics for NLP and social media applications and the new efforts in evaluation campaigns or shared tasks on new datasets collected from social media.

https://www-morganclaypool-com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/doi/10.2200/S00999ED3V01Y202003HLT046 


Arduino I: Getting Started 

This book, Arduino I: Getting Started is written for those looking for a quick tutorial on the Arduino environment, platforms, interface techniques, and applications. Arduino II will explore advanced techniques, applications, and systems design. Arduino III will explore Arduino applications in the Internet of Things (IoT). Arduino I: Getting Started covers three different Arduino products: the Arduino UNO R3 equipped with the Microchip ATmega328, the Arduino Mega 2560 equipped with the Microchip ATmega2560, and the wearable Arduino LilyPad.

https://www-morganclaypool-com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/doi/10.2200/S01001ED1V01Y202003DCS058 


For the full list of recent books, click the “Continue Reading” link below.

Continue reading

The Cooperative Engineer and The Great Depression

We are taught that the Great Depression started with the stock market crash on October 29, 1929 or what is called “Black Tuesday”. In The Cooperative Engineer magazine, the quarterly publication of the students and alumni of the College of Engineering with its focus on industry partnered education, the word depression was not used to describe the current circumstances of the day until the October 1931 issue.  Over the course of 4 issues, starting in October 1931 and running through to the June 1932 issue, the editors ran a series of “Faculty Articles” dealing with that they termed “Present-Day Trends in Problems of Commerce and Industry” or what we would now call The Great Depression.

The first of the four Faculty Articles is a reflective piece titled “The Fourth Great Era” by Hermann Schneider, the then-current Dean of the College of Engineering and

known widely as the founder of cooperative education.  Schneider reflects on a talk he heard at a meeting of the Institute of Politics where the speaker argued there were

three great eras throughout history, defined by equality of legal status, religious liberty, and political liberty. The fourth era would be equality of economic status where

individuals are equal in their ability to be “masters of their livelihood”. But Schneider values engineer’s deep understanding of philosophy, art, and psychology and thinks engineers must synthesize their well-rounded knowledge to lift their fellowmen. This last bit is something Schneider thinks is too often left out of the definition of what it means to  be an engineer. Continue reading

New Science and Engineering Ebooks

The UC Science and Engineering libraries have recently added new e-books to the collection. These books are on several topics relevant to active research areas such as nanotechnology, robotic design, sustainability, and biomedical engineering.

To locate many useful science & engineering resources for classes and research, please check out our updated Sciences library and CEAS Library websites. For help, contact Ask-A-Librarian or Ted.Baldwin@uc.edu .


Sustainable Water Treatment: Engineering Solutions for a Variable Climate (2019)

The book offers a challenging, diverse, holistic, multidisciplinary, experimental and modelling-orientated case study, covering topics such as natural wetlands, constructed treatment wetlands for pollution control, sustainable drainage systems managing diffuse pollution, specific applications, such as wetlands treating dye wastewater and ecological sanitation systems recycling treated waters for the irrigation of crops.

http://proxy.libraries.uc.edu/login?url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/book/9780128162460


Humanoid Robots: Modeling and Control (2019)

The book starts with a historical overview of the field, a summary of the current state of the art achievements and an outline of the related fields of research.  It moves on to explain the theoretical foundations in terms of kinematic, kineto-static and dynamic relations. A chapter focuses on simulation environments, specifically on the step-by-step design of a simulator using the Matlab® environment and tools.

http://proxy.libraries.uc.edu/login?url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/book/9780128045602


Nanoengineered Biomaterials for Regenerative Medicine (2019)

This book showcases the advances that have taken place in recent years as an increasing number of nanoengineered biomaterials have been targeted to various organ tissues. The book systematically explores how nanoengineered biomaterials are used in different aspects of regenerative medicine, including bone regeneration, brain tissue reconstruction and kidney repair. It is a valuable reference resource for scientists working in biomaterials science who want to learn more about how nanoengineered materials are practically applied in regenerative medicine.

http://proxy.libraries.uc.edu/login?url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/book/9780128133552


For the full list of recent books, click the “Continue Reading” link below.

Continue reading

Emergency Online Access to Science and Engineering Books via HathiTrust Digital Library

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HathiTrust Logo

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of physical library spaces, the HathiTrust Digital Library has opened up emergency temporary access to digitized materials usually protected by copyright. This Emergency Temporary Access Service (ETAS) is available for HathiTrust member institutions like UC and will remain available until regular access to UC libraries physical collections is restored.  The service allows UC users to “checkout” books that we have identified as owning in print that are also part of the HathiTrust digital collection.

Susan Hight, Technical and Public Services Specialist, did fantastic work tracking down science and engineering textbooks and highly circulating print books that are now available digitally under this Emergency Temporary Access Service.

  • Check here to browse newly available digitized textbooks.
  • Check here to browse  highly circulating print books.

The science and engineering libraries maintain access to many online textbooks for students which can be browsed here. As always, please check out our updated Sciences library and CEAS Library websites. For help, contact Ask-A-Librarian or Ted.Baldwin@uc.edu.

Freely-Available ISO Standards: Help with COVID19 Crisis

 

 

 

To speed response efforts for the COVID-19 global health crisis, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is providing free access to a group of key ISO international standards.

These 31 standards, from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), concern medical / PPE equipment and devices including ventilators and respiratory equipment; protective clothing used in health care settings; and business continuity management, security, and resilience.

To access these free ISO standards, you must accept the license agreement and register. Once registered, log in at https://asc.ansi.org

(Note: These standards are accessible in read-only format. Download/printing is not available.)

These free ISO standards build upon UC Libraries’ existing subscriptions to all standards from ASTM, IEEE, NFPA and other organizations.  Access all online sources at http://proxy.libraries.uc.edu/login?url=http://guides.libraries.uc.edu/ceasstandards .

For help accessing these or other standards, Ask a Science & Engineering Librarian.

New Science & Engineering Online Resources

Good news! We have expanded access to online encyclopedias & compendiums on some major science & engineering topics.


The UC Science & Engineering Libraries have added several brand-new and updated online reference works from ScienceDirect / Elsevier. Enjoy these new resources for extensive information on science and technology topics, including details on current discoveries and research.

To locate many useful science & engineering resources for classes and research, please check out our updated Sciences library and CEAS Library websites. For help, contact Ask-A-Librarian or Ted.Baldwin@uc.edu .  Thanks!


Comprehensive Biotechnology (3rd edition) 2019
— one-stop shop on all aspects of biotechnology (4,800+ pages), including scientific fundamentals, engineering considerations and applications in industry, agriculture, medicine, the environment, socio-economics and government regulatory overviews.

http://proxy.libraries.uc.edu/login?url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/referencework/9780444640475/comprehensive-biotechnology

Comprehensive Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (2nd edition) 2019
— 1,800+ pages detailing every aspect of this growing field, including the latest updates on biological devices, nanomaterials, nanochemistry, nanofabrication, and applications of nanotechnology.

http://proxy.libraries.uc.edu/login?url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/referencework/9780128122969/comprehensive-nanoscience-and-nanotechnology


Additional NEW encyclopedias: