Category Archives: Digital Collections

Paper featuring Scholar@UC Gets Best Research Paper Award!

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Congratulations to Dr. Nan Niu and his research team!re16_bestresearchpaperaward_niu

Recently Dr. Nan Niu traveled to Beijing, China to attend the RE16 conference- Requirements Engineering16 http://re16.org/downloads/RE16%20program.pdf. He took with him high hopes for the requirements engineering research paper he and his team submitted together with Linda Newman, Head of Repositories and Digital Collections and Amy Koshoffer, Science Informationist. For the beginning of this story and more on the models created using Scholar@UC use cases, see the blog entry “Scholar@UC Goes to Class” (https://libapps.libraries.uc.edu/liblog/2016/01/scholaruc-goes-to-class/).

Dr. Niu has made all the research materials supporting this work available through Scholar@UC https://scholar.uc.edu/works/documents/wm117q084.  Dr. Niu is making brilliant use of Scholar@UC as a teaching tool, a research subject, data preservation tool and an open data/access model.  Again congratulations to Dr. Niu and the whole team!!

Behind the Scenes with UC’s Digital Archivist: Making Sense of It All

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By Eira Tansey, Digital Archivist/Records Manager

When archivists first make contact with a large group of records, they often perform some form of appraisal. You might think of appraisal as being the calling card of the much-loved PBS television show Antiques Roadshow, in which average people realize that Great Aunt Milly’s painting is a valued masterpiece – or a total dud.

Unlike appraisers, when archivists appraise something they generally aren’t assigning a monetary value, but seeking to articulate the value of the records and the information they contain. The Society of American Archivists defines (http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/appraisal#.V2hA1jXERmM)  appraisal as:

  1. ~ 1. The process of identifying materials offered to an archives that have sufficient value to be accessioned. – 2. The process of determining the length of time records should be retained, based on legal requirements and on their current and potential usefulness. – 3. The process of determining the market value of an item; monetary appraisal.

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Liebig and Combustion Analysis : Notes from the Oesper Collections, No. 40, September/October 2016

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Justus von Liebig (1803-1873) posing with his apparatus for combustion analysis.

Justus von Liebig (1803-1873) posing with his apparatus for combustion analysis.

Issue 40 outlines the history and importance of the chemical technique known as combustion analysis and highlights a reproduction of Liebig’s famous 1831 instrument for this purpose made by the late Dr. Melvyn Usselman of the University of Western Ontario and donated to our museum collections in 2005.

Click here for all other issues of Notes from the Oesper Collections and to explore the Jensen-Thomas Apparatus Collection.

 

 

 

 

Behind the Scenes with UC’s Digital Archivist: Much Ado About Digital

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By Eira Tansey, Digital Archivist/Records Manager

Within the archives profession, “Digital Archivist” is one of the fastest-growing job titles (http://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/provenance/vol31/iss2/5/). The Society of American Archivists offers a Digital Archives Specialist curriculum and certificate (www2.archivists.org/prof-education/das).   And library and archives conferences abound on topics of an electronic and digital nature – like Saving The Web (https://www.loc.gov/loc/kluge/news/save-web-2016.html), the Digital Library Federation (https://www.diglib.org/), and the Software Preservation Network Forum (http://www.softwarepreservationnetwork.org/spn-forum/).

So what does a digital archivist do? Every digital archivist’s responsibilities will look slightly different depending on institutional mission, priorities and resources. As the first link indicates, there isn’t even professional consensus whether a digital archivist is one who works with digitization of analog material (like paper documents and manuscripts, rare books, maps, etc), or someone who works with “born-digital” materials. In many institutions, both of those responsibilities may be within the Digital Archivist’s charge. As UC’s Digital Archivist/Records Manager, my responsibilities center on working with born-digital archives, digital preservation, and overseeing UC’s Records Management program. I also work closely with my colleagues in Digital Collections on digitization projects (http://digital.libraries.uc.edu/).

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The Steelyard Balance : Notes from the Oesper Collections, No. 39, July/August 2016

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A recently acquired 19th-century Chinese steelyard or so-called “opium balance” with an 11” ivory beam and accompanying “teardrop” storage case

A recently acquired 19th-century Chinese steelyard or so-called “opium balance” with an 11” ivory beam and accompanying “teardrop” storage case

Issue 39 briefly outlines the history and principles underlying traditional single pan or “steelyard” balances and illustrates their evolution using examples from our museum collections.

Click here for all other issues of Notes from The Oesper Collections and to explore the Jensen-Thomas Apparatus Collection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Epicurus and Atomism : Notes from the Oesper Collections, No. 38, May/June 2016

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Our recently acquired bust of Epicurus (341-270 BC)

Our recently acquired bust of Epicurus
(341-270 BC)

Issue 38 describes a recently acquired bust of the Greek philosopher Epicurus and his importance to the history of atomism.

Click here for all other issues of Notes from The Oesper Collections and to explore the Jensen-Thomas Apparatus Collection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check Out the Latest Issue of Source

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

This latest issue of Source includes an article announcing the new UC academic press, a Q&A about a new position in the Office of Research, and A Note from the Dean: IFLA Coming to Cincinnati. Updates to library websites are showcased in A New Look at Digital Collections and in an article about the Neil A. Armstrong display and website. There are two articles about recent awards –  the Provost Technology Innovation Awards and Recognizing Library Student Workers. Read these articles and more.

Source is available on the web at http://libapps.libraries.uc.edu/source/ and via e-mail. To receive Source via e-mail, contact melissa.norris@uc.edu to be added to the mailing list.

The Search for Sulfur Iodide : Notes from the Oesper Collections, No. 37, March/April 2016

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The mysterious antique bottle of “sulfur iodide.”

The mysterious antique bottle of “sulfur iodide.”

Issue 37 explores the consequences of trying to determine the true contents of an antique bottle of so-called “sulfur iodide” recently donated to the museum.

Click here for all other issues of Notes from the Oesper Collections and to explore the Jensen-Thomas Apparatus Collection.

The 25th General Hospital of WWII Experience: Airbase A-92 at Sint-Truiden

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Airbase A-92

Modern photograph of Airbase A-92, Brustem.
Photo credit: Sue Carney.

By: Nathan Hood

While the University of Cincinnati’s 25th General Hospital was departing for the World War II European Theater of Operations in the early 1940’s, Germany had already invaded Belgium and had secured a small, Belgian military airbase in the village of Brustem. Brustem remains today as a part of the Sint Truiden community (also known in French as Saint-Trond) and exists only a handful of miles North-West of the Belgian Caserne buildings in Tongres which were occupied by the University of Cincinnati 25th General Hospital beginning in 1945.

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Poison!: Notes from the Oesper Collections, No. 36, January/February 2016

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An overview of OSHA’s rating system for laboratory chemicals

An overview of OSHA’s rating system for laboratory chemicals

Issue 36 provides a brief insight into the history of labeling chemical bottles.

Click here for all other issues of Notes from the Oesper Collections and to explore the Jensen-Thomas Apparatus Collection.