By: Alia Levar Wegner
Travel literature in 19th-century India was closely linked to the British empire. Behind every picture was an army. This is especially true of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Ramus Forrest’s illustrated book, A Picturesque Tour Along the Rivers Ganges and Jumna, In India, (SpecCol RB Oversize DS408 .F65) published in 1824.
Title page of A picturesque tour along the rivers Ganges and Jumna, in India. (Spec Coll RB Oversize DS408 .F65)
Xuemao Wang, dean and university librarian, announces that Brad Warren will join the University of Cincinnati Libraries as the associate dean of library services starting August 3, 2018.
Brad comes to UC Libraries from Yale University where he has served as the director of access service for Sterling Memorial and Bass Libraries since March 2009. Prior to Yale, Brad held various librarian positions at the University of North Carolina Charlotte J. Murrey Atkins Library and North Carolina State University Libraries. He received his BA in comparative literature and history from Indiana University and his Masters in library science from Indiana University.
Brad will be a member of the Dean’s Cabinet and his leadership portfolio will include Langsam Library’s Research, Teaching and Services Department, the Robert A. Deshon and Karl J. Schlachter Library for Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, the Albino Gorno Memorial Music Library, the John Miller Burnam Classics Library and the College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services Library.
Welcome to UC Libraries, Brad!
Cincinnati lies just at the border or outer edge of Appalachia, a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York to northern Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia and includes portions of Pennsylvania, Ohio, North and South Carolina and all of West Virginia. A new exhibit on display on the 4th floor lobby of the Walter C. Langsam Library showcases resources from UC Libraries in celebration of Appalachian culture and heritage. Included are resources from the collections of the Albino Gorno Memorial (CCM) Library, Geology-Mathematics-Physics Library, the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences Library, the Robert A. Deshon and Karl J. Schlachter Library for Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP), and Langsam. Also featured are online resources that showcase and inform about Appalachian culture.
The exhibit was curated by UC Libraries’ Mikaila Corday, Susan Banoun and Carissa Thatcher. It was designed and produced by Sam Kane, communications design co-op student, and Melissa Cox Norris.
A bibliography of Appalachian resources in the exhibit and more is available online.
It’s spring in Cincinnati, which means two things – the epic weather battle between winter and summer (snow yesterday, 71 degrees Fahrenheit tomorrow) and the annual Preservation Week Lab Open House!
This year marks the lab’s 7th year of participation in this national event, an American Libraries Association initiative aimed at raising “awareness of the role libraries and other cultural institutions play in providing ongoing preservation education and information.” Our event is open to the public – come one, come all!
The Open House will include a behind the scenes tour of the lab, a peek at amazing collection items being preserved for our parent institutions – the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County and the University of Cincinnati Libraries, and of course a new bookmark.
This year our theme highlights the versatility and artistry of the book, from a complex composite object such as a scrapbook to a simple one-page zine. We’ll also touch on the evolution of the book form, from cuneiform to artist’s book. As is our tradition, we’ll set up “stations” were visitors can roam, explore, and learn at their own pace.
We are looking forward to see you all on, Thursday, April 26th, 1:30-3:00 pm, 300 Langsam Library. And yes, there will be cookies!
Cramming for an exam? Need a safe, quiet place to study?
All three floors of the Walter C. Langsam Library space are open 24/7 Sunday, April 15 through Friday, April 27.
Regular hours will resume Saturday, April 28.
On display on the 5th floor lobby of the Walter C. Langsam Library, the exhibit – The Lucille M. Schultz Archive of 19th-Century Composition – celebrates the recent donation to the university by professor emeritus Lucille M. Schultz of an archive of 19th-century textbooks collected while she researched her award-winning book The Young Composers. To write her book, which analyzes writing curriculum for children and demonstrates its continued relevance today, Lucy visited dozens of archives where she was fascinated by the lively illustrations and unusual writing prompts in the old textbooks. The exhibit features some of these writing prompts along with illustrations from the texts.
Lucy’s archive is available for viewing via the university’s digital repository Scholar@UC.
The creation of the exhibit was a collaboration between the Libraries and Kelly Blewett, a doctoral candidate in rhetoric and composition at UC, along with her colleague and fellow graduate student Ian Golding. It was designed by communications College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP) design co-op student Sam Kane.
Best Overall – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Jessica Ebert
The University of Cincinnati Libraries celebrated the International Edible Books Festival for the 16th year on April 3, 2018.
A record 27 entries were created by students, faculty, staff, librarians, friends and family. This year included two mother-daughter teams and entire families participating. The edible books ranged from children’s books to literary classics to popular fiction and were made of cakes, cookies, candy, Peeps and even kale. Each entry was judged by our esteemed judges Lucille Schultz and Chris Wick and awarded a bookmark. Continue reading
New books have been added to the Chemistry-Biology, Geology-Math-Physics, and Langsam Libraries.
Click here to access the January-February 2018 list.
If you have any questions, contact Ted Baldwin, Director of Science and Engineering Libraries.
Me Cookie
The University of Cincinnati Libraries will celebrate the International Edible Books Festival with an event scheduled from 1-2 p.m., Tuesday, April 3, in the fifth floor lobby of Langsam Library.
At the event, a record 26 participants will present their edible creations that represent a book in some form. There are few restrictions in creating an edible book — namely that the creation be edible and have something to do with a book. Submitted entries include edible titles such as “Dragons Love Tacos” and “How to Eat Fried Worms.” Best sellers “The Help” and “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” are represented along with favorite children’s books “The Poky Little Puppy,” “Humpty Dumpty” and “Curious George at the Baseball Game,” among other literary greats. This year’s event will even feature two mother-daughter teams.
Interested in creating an edible book? E-mail melissa.norris@uc.edu by Tuesday, March 27 with your name and the title of your creation.
As in past years, entries will be judged according to such categories as “Most Literary,” “Most Delicious,” “Most Adorable” and “Most Gruesome.” In addition, the “Top Student Entry” and “Best Overall Entry” will receive a special prize. After the entries are judged they will be consumed and enjoyed by all in attendance.
According to the International Edible Book Festival website, the edible book was initiated by librarian and artist Judith A. Hoffberg during a 1999 Thanksgiving celebration with book artists. It became an international celebration in 2000 when artist Béatrice Coron launched the Books2Eat website. Traditionally, the event is celebrated on April 1 (April Fools’ Day) to mark the birthday of Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826), a French lawyer and politician who became famous for his book, Physiologie du gout (The Physiology of Taste). You can see images of the 2017 edible books on the Libraries Facebook page.
The Libraries International Edible Books Festival is free and open to the public. It is sponsored in part by Books by the Banks: Cincinnati Regional Book Festival. Come to celebrate (and eat) “books good enough to eat.”
The University of Cincinnati Libraries and IT@UC Research & Development and are pleased to announce the Data & Computational Science Series (DCS2) 2018, a speaker series supported by a Universal Provider award from UC’s Office of the Provost for faculty development.
The first speaker in the series, scheduled for Thursday and Friday, March 22 and 23, in the Walter C. Langsam Library room 475, will be led by Jeremy Fischer, a senior technical advisor from Indiana University’s Information Technology Services, who will host sessions on Jetstream. Funded by the National Science Foundation, Jetstream is a user-friendly cloud environment designed to give researchers and students access to computing and data analysis resources on demand — from their tablets, laptops or desktop computers. People interact with the system through a menu of “virtual machines” designed to support research in many disciplines including biology, atmospheric science, earth science, economics, network science, observational astronomy and social sciences. http://jetstream-cloud.org