The Case of the Wandering Model : Notes from the Oesper Collections, No. 35, November/December 2015

Hans Jaffé (1919-1989)

Hans Jaffé (1919-1989)

Issue 35 recounts the recent discovery of a plaster model of the electron density of naphthalene discovered in the bottom drawer of one of the filing cabinets belonging to the late Hans Jaffé, who served as the UC chemistry department’s specialist in quantum mechanics from 1954-1989.

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

 

Oesper News: 3 New Museum Booklets are Now Available

Dr. William B. Jensen has added three new Museum Booklets to the series on the history of chemical apparatus.   These new titles are:

  • Classic Voltaic Cells
  • Electrolysis Cells
  • Classical Molecular Weight Determinations

Each booklet contains several photos and illustrations of the chemical instruments and people involved in these aspects of chemistry history. You can access all the booklets by clicking here.

 

Self-Service Overhead Digitization Comes to Langsam

UC Digital Archivist Eira Tansey digitizes a book using her smartphone.

UC Digital Archivist Eira Tansey digitizes a book using her smartphone.

Have you ever been in the library and wanted to digitize a few pages from a book? Have you ever been working at the photocopier wishing you could be getting digital images and not paper copies?

Resulting image from Digital Archivist Eira Tansey's smartphone.

Resulting image from Digital Archivist Eira Tansey’s smartphone.

UC Libraries is conducting a pilot to determine the level of interest in self-service overhead digitization. In collaboration with UC carpenters, we have designed a prototype Bring You Own Device self-service digitization station. It is currently located next to the photocopiers and is easy to use.

Results from Self-Service Overhead Digitization

Other results from Self-Service Overhead Digitization

Simply walk up, lay your object on the table surface and place your smartphone on the clear platform. Use your camera app to start taking pictures. The station includes information on free apps that will OCR the images for you.

Please be sure to note your usage in the log attached to the station. Future decisions on this and other options for self-service overhead digitization will use this data!

Two Events in the Elliston Poetry Room This Week

Claudia Keelan

On Wednesday, September 16th at 4:00 poet, editor, and translator Claudia Keelan will read from and discuss Truth of My Songs: The Poems of the Trobairitz (Omnidawn, 2015), the new anthology of 12th century female troubadours (or “trobairitz”) that she translated and edited. Her most recent of her seven poetry collections are O, Heart (Barrow Street, 2014), Missing Her (New Issues Press, 2009), and Utopic (Alice James Books, 2001). As part of her visit to Cincinnati, Keelan will also give a reading at Xavier University’s Kennedy Auditorium at 7:30 on Tuesday night.

James McMichael, Photo Credit: Cindy Love

Photo Credit: Cindy Love

Then, on Friday, September 18th, James McMichael will visit the Elliston Room for two events — a Q&A with Don Bogen at 3:00 and a poetry reading at 4:00.  His most recent collections include Capacity (Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 2006), a National Book Award finalist, and The World at Large: New and Selected Poems, 1971–1996 (University of Chicago, 1996), and his honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Shelley Memorial Award, and a Academy of American Poets Fellowship.

Look for recordings of this presentation soon in the digital collection, The Elliston Project: Poetry Readings and Lectures at the University of Cincinnati.

Learn more about Events sponsored by the Elliston Poetry Fund.

From Alcohol Proof to Galileo : Notes from the Oesper Collections, No. 34, September/October 2015

A surviving set of “spirit bubbles: for testing the proof of alcoholic beverages.

A surviving set of “spirit bubbles:” for testing the
proof of alcoholic beverages.

Issue 34 explores some of the curious uses of glass balls to approximate the density of liquids.

 

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

 

 

 

 

The Youden pH Meter : Notes from the Oesper Collections, No. 33, July/August 2015

Our recently acquired Youden null-point pH meter. The Moir electrode system, minus one of the salt bridges, is to the left and a circa 1940 bottle of quinhydrone is displayed between it and the meter.

Our recently acquired Youden null-point pH meter. The Moir electrode system, minus one of the salt bridges, is to the left and a circa 1940 bottle of quinhydrone is displayed between it and the meter.

Issue 33 describes a recently acquired compact pH meter from the 1940s that uses a quinhydrone electrode, rather than either a hydrogen electrode or a standard glass electrode.

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

Countercurrent Distribution Once Again : Notes from the Oesper Collections, No. 32, May/June 2015

The circa 1949 Craig cylindrical countercurrent distribution apparatus recently donated to the Oesper Collections by Dr. Edward Bennett (Jensen-Thomas Apparatus Collection).

The circa 1949 Craig cylindrical countercurrent
distribution apparatus recently donated to the Oesper Collections by Dr. Edward Bennett (Jensen-Thomas Apparatus Collection).

Issue 32 describes the recent acquisition of an even earlier version of a Craig countercurrent distribution apparatus than the version that was described in issue 3 of 2010.

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

Nathan Tallman to Attend ILEAD USA

Nathan Tallman

Nathan Tallman

Nathan Tallman, digital content strategist and assistant librarian for digital collections and repositories at the University of Cincinnati Libraries, has been selected as one of 13 future library leaders to participate in ILEAD USA – Ohio 2015.

Sponsored by The State Library of Ohio, ILEAD USA is a multi-state program designed to help library staff understand and respond to user needs through the application of participatory technology tools. Ohio participants will join others from Wisconsin, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Delaware, North Dakota, New York, Maine, Illinois and Utah in this national initiative. Participants are organized into teams, mentors and instructors for the year-long program. Tallman and his team members, Jillian Carney (Ohio History Connection), Shannon Kupfer (State Library of Ohio) and Elizabeth Allen (Bexley Public Library), successfully submitted a proposal for a team focused on digital preservation of Ohio cultural heritage materials. Continue reading