Today we officially welcome our new dean and university librarian Elizabeth Kiscaden on her first day at the University of Cincinnati Libraries.
Dean Kiscaden comes to UC from Creighton University where she was university librarian and assistant vice provost of library services. While at Creighton, she worked to modernize legacy library systems and infrastructure to support an anytime, anywhere, any device philosophy and oversaw the development of a single library enterprise, bringing together campus and health sciences libraries. She has extensive experience administering large grants and library services to support academic programs, faculty teaching and student learning. Her research largely focuses on consumer health information.
Samira Ahmed’s contemporary thriller Hollow Fires switches between two narratives: Jawad Ali, a middle schooler who loves to invent, and Safiya Mirza, a senior with a passion for journalism. Nothing connects the two, but to the rest of their Chicago neighborhood, they’re one in the same as they practice the same religion: Islam.
It starts with Jawad being labeled a terrorist over his Halloween costume, then his disappearance, then his murder. Safiya follows his story closely, as her majority-white school district sweeps the incident under the rug like it’s nothing. But when she starts receiving threats like Jawad did, it’s up to her and her friends to investigate, since the school and police don’t seem to care.
Throughout her novel, Ahmed includes multimedia pieces such as interviews, text messages, articles, and transcripts to emphasis the message. By not just jumping between Jawad (after he’s passed) and Safiya’s perspectives the novel also utilizes the literary technique of being a “frame story,” where it begins at the end and then takes readers on the journey to the end. Ahmed brings nonfiction into her novel, using real life circumstances and recent history to guide the haunting truth of Islamophobia and racism in American society in the 21st century.
Ahmed tackles modern issues within America, and this novel can be graphic in its realistic portrayal of these actions. This novel is a fantastic read, but it does tackle very heavy subjects so please read up on the content warning (CW) before reading.
Check out the Pride display all month long at the CECH Library!
Explore childrens’ and YA titles that span the spectrum of sexuality and gender identity and celebrate LGBTQIA+ figures and history. To find more LGBTQIA+ titles, check out our reading list available on the CECH Library website.
All University of Cincinnati Libraries locations will be closed Monday, May 29 in observance of Memorial Day. Regular library hours for all locations will resume Tuesday, May 30. Have a safe holiday.
We’re happy to announce that we have recently installed improved signage in the CECH Library. The new signage clearly identifies the locations of our various types of children’s literature, as well as high-traffic areas like our info desk, makerlab, and … Continue reading →
There is a power outage scheduled for the University of Cincinnati’s primary Data Center beginning at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, May 12, and lasting as late as 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, May 14. Digital Technology Solutions (DTS) will be performing maintenance in the Data Center during this time. Many commonly used cloud-hosted services will remain available.
The UC Libraries website will remain up during the outage; however, some parts of the website will be unavailable, including:
Browzine integration with Summon
The staff directory
The student employment application
Some Contact Us forms
The “Journals” and “Books” search tabs on homepage
My Library Record
In addition, the following library sites/services will be down during the outage:
uclid.uc.edu (Library Catalog)
scholar.uc.edu
journals.uc.edu
digital.libraries.uc.edu (including Luna)
data.libraries.uc.edu
libapps.libraries.uc.edu (including the Source blog, LiBlog, Omeka S and Exhibits
More information, and a list of UC services that will be affected during the outage, can be found on DTS’s internal website (UC access only).
The Words We Keep by Erin Stewart is a contemporary young adult novel that follows Lily Larkin, the younger sister of Alice, who ended up in a treatment center after a suicide attempt. Since The Night, her family has barely been holding it together, and Lily’s worried she might be “crazy” like her sister. When Micah, a boy that went to the program with Alice, joins her class, Lily begins to look into herself and the world around her.
This novel looks into the reality of mental illness and its impact on the self and the family, while also talking about what it means to be loved for who you are.
The University of Cincinnati Libraries empowers discover, stimulates learning and inspires the creation of knowledge by connecting students, faculty, researchers and scholars to dynamic data, information and resources. The University of Cincinnati Libraries comprises 10 locations that support the university’s undergraduate, graduate and professional programs. A new display on the 5th floor lobby of the Walter C. Langsam Library features the various libraries and encourages people to visit each one.
CECH Spotlight highlights recommended books in the the UC College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH) Library.
Ellen Outside the Lines / written by AJ Sass / 2022
CW: Queer character being outed
Ellen Outside the Lines by A.J. Sass is a contemporary juvenile novel that follows Ellen Katz, a queer, autistic, Jewish girl as she navigates life and friendship. Ellen’s Spanish class is going to Barcelona for two weeks, and she expects it to be a time for her to reconnect with her best friend Laurel. But during this trip, her carefully planned routines and expectations are thrown for a loop when she gets paired with a different group, allowing her to learn not just about herself but those around her.
This novel explores gender identity, queerness, religion, neurodivergence, and what it means to be a friend. It is a heartwarming story of growth and acceptance that makes it a read that you won’t want to put down until you’re done.
Thanks to the State Library of Ohio awarding OhioLINK the ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) grant funded by IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services), we now have access to ‘Phase 1’ of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion electronic book collection (see complete Excel list) . OhioLINK’s goal was to bring better representation of diverse communities and perspectives to the library collections. Through the ProQuest platform’s curated librarian-selected collection that covers various subjects with diversity and representation in race, gender, religion, physical ability, age, political persuasion, and sexual orientation, that goal was met.
This dynamic digitally shared collection allows all OhioLINK member libraries to have an unlimited number of users and perpetual access to all 82 e-books. Books can be accessed through a search in the UC Library Catalog or by following the directions below. Check it out!