Jéanne Brooks will join the University of Cincinnati Libraries on September 30, 2024, as the new associate dean for operations and user services. In this role, she will have managerial responsibility for circulation, reserves, interlibrary loan, facilities and the user experience.
Brooks has an MBA in marketing from the University of Tennessee and an EdD in organizational leadership from the University of La Verne. She comes to UC from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, where she served as the senior director of library operations and development. In this role, she led staff and student assistants across five library units as well as communication, fundraising and facilities projects.
While at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Brooks implemented operational excellence principles, leading to improved efficiency and service quality, equitable library policies and higher employee morale. She also oversaw student-centered facility projects, including a new Graduate Resource Center, pop-up instruction space, tech lending storage and the Maker Studio expansion.
“I look forward to working with Jéanne and welcome her to the UC community,” said Liz Kiscaden, dean and university librarian. “As we embark on a new strategic plan, her expertise and background will be a true asset as we work collaboratively to advance the mission of UC Libraries.”
Earlier this year, “eclipse fever” struck the Cincinnati area when a total solar eclipse was visible across portions of North America. The timing of the 2024 celestial event coincided with recent research on a group of photographs documenting an 1869 total solar eclipse housed in the records of the Cincinnati Observatory, which are preserved at the Archives and Rare Books Library. Those photographs will be featured in the upcoming public television documentary “Capturing Life” (1839-1869), the first episode in the series, The Big Picture: A History of Photography in Greater Cincinnati, produced by Voyageur Media Group, Inc.
Photographs from an 1869 total solar eclipse and a handwritten letter on their origins are housed within the records of the Cincinnati Observatory at the University of Cincinnati’s Archives and Rare Books Library.
Voyageur’s production team conducted research on two subjects at the Archives and Rare Books Library for the series. Project Director, Tom Law, says the ARB staff helped him research documents about Dr. John Locke, a professor of Chemistry at the Medical College of Ohio. Dr. Locke was the first American to display an early form of photography, “photogenic drawings,” at a bookstore in Cincinnati in 1839.
The September 1869 issue of The Philadelphia Photographer featured some of the photographs taken during the Cincinnati Observatory’s scientific expedition.
Voyageur will also show twenty-four rare photographs of a total solar eclipse from the Cincinnati Observatory’s scientific expedition to study and photograph the eclipse along its path of totality in the Dakota Territories in 1869. Voyageur learned about the 1869 expedition when visiting an exhibit created by Mandy Askins, Assistant Collections Manager at the Cincinnati Observatory Center.
In the documentary, Askins describes how Cleveland Abbe, Director of the Observatory, led a team of scientists and photographer W.C. Taylor to Fort Dakota (near present-day Sioux Falls, South Dakota), to study and photograph the solar eclipse on its path of totality. Taylor took twenty-four photographs of the event, which were later printed by John Wildman Winder for the Cincinnati Observatory. It is Winder’s photographs that are preserved in the Archives and Rare Books Library at the University of Cincinnati.
“Capturing Life” (1839-1869) closes with examples of how archival photographs are being used today in books, classrooms and exhibits seen throughout the world. Tom Law says, “The documentary is dedicated to the scholars, curators, archivists, and librarians who are preserving the region’s rich photographic heritage for future generations.” More information about this project, including three, free public screenings in October, is available on Voyageur’s website: https://voyageurmedia.org/
“Capturing Life” (1839-1869) is a collaborative project among dozens of scholars and institutions throughout Greater Cincinnati. Two project scholars have ties to the University of Cincinnati. Author, professor emeritus, and former head of the Archives and Rare Books Library Kevin Grace is serving as a project advisor. Dr. Theresa Leininger-Miller, a professor in art history in the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, is featured in the segment on African America photographer James Presley Ball. Dr. Leininger-Miller is also serving as a project advisor.
The UC DATA Day keynote speaker is Kira Bradford, co-lead of the Data Management and Consultancy Group for the NIH HEAL Data Stewardship Group. The HEAL project, or Helping to End Addiction Long-term® Initiative, is a large-scale project focused on ending opioid addiction through basic science research and data sharing. The project brings together scientists, community members, the private sector and multiple levels of government and is a model for researchers navigating the new NIH data management and sharing policy.
In addition to the keynote speaker, the DATA Day schedule will include student lightning talks, workshops and a resource fair. A more detailed schedule is available on the DATA Day website. DATA Day is free and open for all to attend and is sponsored by the Office of the Provost through a universal provider grant. Lunch will be provided for registrants. Register today!
The Archives and Rare Books (ARB) Library is pleased to announce that Alex Temple has transitioned to the position of reference services coordinator effective September 9, 2024. Alex has worked as a contract archivist at ARB since September 2021 working on many projects, including the archival processing of the Al Gerhardstein papers, coordinating an inventory of the rare books collection, providing reference services and supervising student employees.
In his new role, Alex will be responsible for coordinating reference services at ARB, both in-person and remote, managing the reading room to ensure professional and prompt service to visiting researchers, providing primary source instruction, creating subject guides and outreach tools for ARB’s collections and scheduling and supervising student employees.
Alex is a familiar face around the University of Cincinnati Libraries, first helping out in the Preservation Lab in 2013 before moving to ARB and the Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions. It’s safe to say Alex has a thorough knowledge of our archives and special collections. Welcome, officially, to Alex!
The Archives and Rare Books Library (ARB) will soon begin utilizing new space at an offsite storage facility maintained by the University of Cincinnati Libraries. This will free up much needed collections space in Blegen Library for new acquisitions and newly organized materials. Consequently, ARB staff be taking part in a major collections shift during the weeks of September 16th and September 23rd.
During that time, services at ARB may be disrupted. This includes fielding reference questions and communications. We apologize for any inconvenience during this time but look forward to enhancing collection services following the shift!
Our research ecosystem at UC is spread across many departments and it can be a challenge to find the help you are looking for. UC Libraries Research and Data Services team has a webpage with links to many of the resources that can help you find the right person to answer your questions and connect you to the tools that enhance your research.
When you visit the Geology-Math-Physics (GMP) Library this fall, you may notice big space changes that are now in progress. As an early step to open up space, several map cases and cabinets that once lined the eastern and southern walls (entry level) have been moved to remote storage (UC Fishwick facility). Cases of maps for the Tri-state region (Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky), highly used for teaching and research, remain onsite and have been consolidated in the library’s southwest corner.
To access maps, we highly recommend that you seek a digital version of any map. One great resource for digital maps is the USGS, particularly for topographical maps. If you need help locating digital maps, email the libraries’ Research & Data Services team at askdata@uc.edu.
For more information on print maps, including those which remain at GMP Library and those which are now located in remote storage, please review our research guide page on the map collection. Please visit the GMP Library for assistance with any map located onsite. To request a map in remote storage, please complete this form and a member of the Science and Engineering Libraries team will contact you and help with your needs.
UC’s science libraries – GMP Library and Chemistry-Biology Library – are undergoing major space changes and consolidation in light of the demolition of Crosley Tower, including the Chemistry-Biology Library space, in late 2025. In preparation for this, the Chemistry-Biology Library will close after spring semester 2025 and its research collections will relocate to GMP Library over time. We look forward to realizing a long-term vision for a combined science library.
Thank you to Marcia Johnson for the June 2024 image.
UC Libraries is running a trial for Sage Campus, a platform for online learning of skills and research methods. To access the trial, please visit the Campus trial information page: Univ of Cincinnati and Sage Campus Trial Information Page. The trial will run from August 19 to November 22, 2024.
Courses cover topics such as:
Research Planning
Getting Started with Data
Collecting Managing Data
Analyzing Data
Report Findings
Getting Published
Information Literacy
Check out the courses offered, share with your students, and let us know what you think of this resource. Email askdata@uc.edu to share your feedback.
At the next event, scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 11 at 4:30pm, three poets will read their original work:
Armando Romero, poet, narrator, literary critic and UC Charles Phelps Taft Emeritus Professor. He belonged to the initial group of Nadaism, literary avant-garde in Colombia. He has lived in numerous countries in both America and Europe. Armando has published numerous books of poetry, fiction and essays. In 2022 his book No era aquí. Álvaro Mutis: faces and traces of Maqroll el Gaviero, appears in Madrid published by the Center of Modern Art. His anthological book of prose poems, Poeta di Fiume, is published this year by the Fili D’Aquilone publishing house, Rome, Italy. Armando will be accompanied by his wife, Constance Lardas, who will read English translations of his poems.
James O’Bannon is a Black writer from Cincinnati, Ohio. His writing reflects on grief, Black mental health and how we engage with our own memory. James owes everything to his grandmother, who instilled a love of reading and language in him from a young age. James is a Tin House Workshop Alumna, and a finalist for the Ghost Peach Poetry Prize. His work has appeared in Waxwing Literary Journal, Nomadic Press as part of the Nomadic Ground Series, Triquarterly, Northwest Review, among other journals.
Erin Noehre is a poet currently writing and studying at the University of Cincinnati, where she is an Albert C. Yates Fellow. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Arizona State University where she was a 2020-2021 June Jordan Teaching Fellow. Her work has been featured in Pigeonholes, Sonora Review, Passages North and elsewhere.
