Join us for the Annual Preservation Lab Open House, Thursday, May 1, 2-4pm, 3rd floor Langsam Library. “More than Conservation” will include tours of the lab, demonstrations of projects and treatments, cookies, bookmarks, and stickers!
Want a sneak peek of the work of the Preservation Lab? Stop by Langsam Library’s 4th floor to learn about artist’s books and book arts, Tuesday, April 15, 2-3:30pm; and Thursday, April 17, 10:30am-noon to learn about the anatomy of a book.
Formed in 2012, the Preservation Lab is a book and paper conservation lab. The Preservation Lab provides the full suite of preservation services to the University of Cincinnati Libraries and, for a fee, to other cultural heritage institutions. The Preservation Lab’s expertise is in book and paper conservation, with services available in general circulating materials repair, single-item conservation treatment, housing, exhibition prep, and preservation consulting.
Lindsay Taylor joined the University of Cincinnati Libraries Operations and User Services Team on March 17 as the new assessment and evaluation specialist. Lindsay brings a wealth of experience in library assessment, financial administration and instructional services to the university.
Lindsay previously served as an adjunct reference and instruction librarian at Cincinnati State and as a financial administrator at the University of Cincinnati’s Department of History. Additionally, she was a graduate assistant in library assessment while completing her MS in Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Lindsay is a proud alumna of the University of Cincinnati, with a B.A. in Classics and classical civilization. Her knowledge of UC and libraries will be invaluable as we strive to strengthen our organization by building a culture of assessment and data-informed decision making.
This is one of the new strategic staffing positions outlined in the UC Libraries Strategic Plan and we look forward to Lindsay working with the entire organization on assessment and evaluation.
The University of Cincinnati Libraries celebrated the International Edible Books Festival on Tuesday, April 1, 2025.
Lexi Davis – Dragons Love Tacos – Best Overall
This year, we had an impressive 24 entries from students, librarians and staff, along with family, friends and retirees. There are few restrictions in creating an edible book – namely that the creation be edible and have something to do with a book. Today’s entries covered all genres – from fiction to non-fiction, animals, food, classics, contemporary titles and more.
Popular books represented on screen and now as edible books were “Dune,” “Bridgerton,” “Pride and Prejudice,” and “Twilight.” Children’s books made for popular edible books. This year we had “Charlotte’s Web,” “Freckle Juice,” “Too Many Carrots,” “Black Hearts in Buttersea,” and “Matilda.” Young Adult books made a presence this year with “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and “Harry Potter.”
Animals were a theme this year with “Penguin Island,” “Dragons Love Tacos” and “How to Eat Fried Worms.” Both fiction, “The Warmth of Other Suns,” “Grapes of Wrath,” “The Silver Bone” and “White Teeth,” and non-fiction, “Eyes on the Prize,” “An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits,” and “How Infrastructure Works: Inside Systems that Shape our World” were represented. Along with the 18th-century classic “De montibus, silvis, fontibus”
In addition to promoting the reading of books, we also use this event to promote and “judge” the creativity of our colleagues and friends in creating edible books. Thank you to the two esteemed judges: Brian Gray, associate dean for collections (non-edible collections), and Usha (oo-sh-uh), student staff member in the CECH Library. And the winners are…
Melissa Cox Norris – Penguin Island – Most Adorable
Sam Norris – Too Many Carrots – Most Noteworthy
Carly Fledderjohann – The Cheese Touch (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) – Most Noteworthy
Deborah Weinstein – Charlotte’s Web – Most Imaginative
Stephen Norris – The Silver Bone – Most Outrageous
Avery Rice – Pride and Prejudice – Most Checked Out
Melissa Cox Norris – Difficult Women – Most Out of this World
Aja Bettencourt-McCarthy – How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems That Shape Our World – Most Creative
Luahna Winningham Carter – Freckle Juice – Most Gruesome
Jakob Elliott – Dune – Silliest
Jessica Ebert – Black Hearts in Battersea (“buttercream”) – Most Delicious
Josh Zack, Tim Zack, and Debbie Tenofsky – Eyes on the Prize – Most Frightening
Holly Prochaska – How to eat fried worms – Most Clever
Yu Mao – Atomic Habits – An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones – Most Literary
Alex Temple – De montibus, silvis, fontibus – Most Technical
Suzanne Bratt – The Warmth of Other Suns – Most Timely
Lisa Haitz – The Grapes of Wrath – Most Fun
Clara Kelley – Harry potter sorting hat – Best Student Entry
Lexi Davis – Dragons Love Tacos – Best Overall
Congratulations to all the edible books creators! View the entries and the winners on the UC Libraries Facebook Page. See you next year for Edible Books 2026!
Clara Kelley – Harry potter sorting hat – Best Student Entry
Last November, the University of Cincinnati Libraries announced the award of an Archives Grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission to the Libraries’ Archives and Rare Books Library (ARB). This grant supports the archival processing of records related to the lawsuit Bronson v. Board of Education of the City School District of the City of Cincinnati maintained by the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and donated to the University of Cincinnati in the 1980s.
The University of Cincinnati Libraries has been selected to participate in a cohort organized by Ithaka S+R to consider how existing information literacy frameworks can be adapted or revised to reflect AI-driven transformations.
According to Ithaka S+R: “Each participating institution will conduct qualitative research to understand the changing information practices and needs of students and instructors, using instruments developed in consultation with methodological experts at Ithaka S+R. Working in collaboration with Ithaka S+R and in conversation with other cohort members, participating institutions will identify how libraries and other university units can weave AI literacy into their existing operations, leveraging programs or initiatives that center on information, digital or meta literacy.”
Representing UC will be Madeleine Gaiser, online learning and instruction librarian, Lynn Warner, research and health sciences librarian, and Daniel Dale, assistant director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CET&L). Lori E. Harris, UC Libraries associate dean for research & instruction, will serve as administration liaison. The outcome of this work will be curriculum for an AI literacy workshop, which will be offered on an ongoing basis to the UC community.
“Supporting AI literacy is an extension of the important role that libraries and librarians fill in the information environment,” said dean and university librarian Liz Kiscaden. “Like our role in supporting information literacy, data literacy and digital literacy, supporting AI literacy will prepare our students and faculty to succeed in a new information economy. We are excited to be a part of the Defining AI Literacy cohort organized by Ithaka S+R, particularly as we will be undertaking this work with such a strong cohort of peer institutions.”
Ithaka S+R is a not-for-profit organization that helps academic and cultural communities serve the public good and navigate economic, technological and demographic change. Their work also aims to broaden access to higher education by reducing costs and improving student outcomes.
The AI cohort’s work will commence in April and is estimated to conclude in May 2026.
Ahron Leichtman (February 21, 1943 – October 12, 2018) was a national and regional leader in the quest to ban public smoking in the United States. He graduated in 1964 from the University of Cincinnati, with a Bachelor of Arts in political science, and earned a creative writing certificate from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1971.
During the 1980s and 1990s he founded multiple organizations to carry out anti-smoking initiatives. He established and led Citizens Against Tobacco Smoke (CATS), which was later renamed Citizens for a Tobacco-Free Society (CATS). Leichtman organized a coalition of over 90 nonsmoker’s rights, anti-smoking and environmental health groups to provide tireless grassroots support for the national campaign to ban airline smoking.
He created the Smoke-free Skies Campaign that led to the ban of smoking on all U.S. airline flights. Leichtman developed promotional materials to encourage the news media to cover the health, safety, legal and economic issues involved with airline smoking. He participated in numerous television network, nationally syndicated and radio interview programs about airline smoking, serving as the primary advocate for a total smoking ban on commercial airline flights.
At the next event, scheduled for Wednesday, April 16 at 4:30pm, a celebration of both National Poetry Month and the final event of the academic year, three poets will read their work:
Paige Webb is an interdisciplinary poet-scholar. Other categorical boxes to aid legibility: they’re a queer, neurodivergent being of settler descent and a doctor untrained in basic CPR. The aim of their work is to create space for curative touch in concert with the creative vitality in all beings (thanks to Gabrielle Civil, Hortense Spillers, and CAConrad for help with this language). They are a Charles Phelps Taft Fellow at the University of Cincinnati and recipient of [accolade], [accolade], [accolade]. You can find some of their work at Anomaly, Blackbird, Colorado Review, Denver Quarterly, DIAGRAM, Indiana Review, The Kenyon Review, Poets.org, Poetry Northwest, Verse Daily,Vinyl Poetry and Prose, West Branch and the chapbook Tussle.
Kristi Maxwell is the author of nine books of poems, including Wide Ass of Night (Saturnalia Books, 2025); Goners (Green Linden Press, 2023), winner of the Wishing Jewel Prize; Realm Sixty-four (Ahsahta Press, 2008), editor’s choice for the Sawtooth Poetry Prize and finalist for the National Poetry Series; and Hush Sessions (Saturnalia,2009), editor’s choice for the Saturnalia Books Poetry Prize. She’s the director of creative writing and an associate professor of English at the University of Louisville. Kristi holds a PhD in literature & creative writing from the University of Cincinnati and an MFA in poetry from the University of Arizona.
Dior J. Stephens is a Black, Queer poet, writer and the co-editor-in-chief of Foglifter Journal and Press. They are currently in the final year of their PhD in philosophy with a focus on creative writing at the University of Cincinnati. Dior’s debut full-length poetry collection, CRUEL/CRUEL (2023), was nominated for the 2024 Ohioana Book Award, and their collection Atomic I is forthcoming from Nightboat Books. A Cave Canem, Sewanee and Lambda Literary fellow, Dior has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the Best of the Net. Their work critically engages with themes of language, identity, and resistance, contributing to the broader conversations in poetics and the Black/Diasporic experience.
Read Source, the online newsletter, to learn about the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries.
In this issue of Source, Liz Kiscaden, dean and university librarian, writes about how UC Libraries is taking advantage of funding opportunities to Invest in Strategic Priorities. The Archives and Rare Books Library announces receipt of a national grant to process historic Cincinnati schools desegregation case records.The Carl Solway Gallery Archive in the Robert A. Deshon and Karl J. Schlachter Library for Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP) Library is featured. Ted Baldwin, head of the Sciences Libraries, writes about how the razing of the iconic Crosley Tower will necessitate the move of the current Chemistry-Biology Library space to Braunstein Hall where it will merge with the Geology-Mathematics-Physics Library to become the Science Library opening fall semester.
Read these articles, as well as past issues, on the website. To receive Source via e-mail, contact melissa.norris@uc.edu to be added to the mailing list.
Celebrate books good enough to eat at the International Edible Books Festival April 1st
Once again, the University of Cincinnati Libraries will celebrate the International Edible Books Festival with an event scheduled for Tuesday, April 1, from 11 a.m. to noon on the 4th floor of the Walter C. Langsam Library.
At the event, over 20 participants will present edible creations inspired by an book. There are few restrictions in creating an edible book — namely that the creation be edible and have something to do with a book.
Popular books represented on screen and now as edible books will be “Dune,” “Bridgerton,” “Pride and Prejudice,” and “Twilight.” Numerous children’s books will make people smile with such titles as “Charlotte’s Web,” “Freckle Juice,” “Too Many Carrots,” “Black Hearts in Buttersea” and “Matilda.” Young Adult books have a presence this year with “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and “Harry Potter.” Animals are a theme this year with “Penguin Island” and “Dragons Love Tacos.” Both fiction, “The Silver Bone” and “White Teeth,” and non-fiction, “Eyes on the Prize” and “How Infrastructure Works: Inside Systems that Shape our World” are represented. See these delicious entries and more at the event.
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 UC merch. 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 1st (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).
The Libraries International Edible Books Festival is free and open to the public. Following the event, pictures of the edible books and their awards will be posted on the Libraries Facebook page. Come to celebrate (and eat) “books good enough to eat.”
Before social media, even before xerox-copied zines and flyers, marginalized communities used simple copying techniques- hectography (gelatin printing) mimeography (stencil printing) and spirit duplication (alcohol transfers, also known as “ditto”)- to make their voices heard. From political activists struggling for independence in India to the early gay rights activists in New York City, and from the dissident writers of Samizdat (self publishing) in the Soviet Union to the striking migrant farm workers of Southern California, these analog copiers were used to spread the word through words and pictures in the 20th century.
Each year, librarian, zinester and lover of “arcane technologies” Rich Dana sets out across the US on a series of in-person workshops to demonstrate these low-cost techniques and how contemporary artists and writers can use them to publish editions of zines, chapbooks, prints, and flyers. The Archives and Rare Books Library and the Elliston Poetry Room are sponsoring Rich’s Cincinnati stop of his Obsolete Roadshow series on April 7, 2025.
Rich will present a hands-on workshop for UC students in the morning (sign up online or via the QR code below; space is limited to 25). In the afternoon, the public is invited to hear Rich talk about the history and use of the technologies and receive a hands-on experience, as well.
Both events will take place in the Elliston Poetry Room (Langsam Library 646). Come join us and get some ink on your hands!
