OpenRefine Workshop on October 31

UC Libraries is pleased to offer a new data science workshop this fall on OpenRefine. Join us in 850D Baldwin Hall (CEAS Library classroom) on Tuesday, October 31 from 10:00am – 12:00pm.  Register here (Central Login required).

OpenRefine, http://openrefine.org, is a free, powerful, and easy-to-use tool for cleaning up and transforming datasets in order to prepare them for analysis and sharing. In this workshop, you will learn how to leverage OpenRefine’s interface and scripting language for basic data exploration and bulk transformations. No prior knowledge necessary.  Please bring your own laptop for the hands-on exercises.

Contact Ted Baldwin with questions, Ted.Baldwin@uc.edu .

Welcome, Aja Hickman, HR Coordinator

Aja Hickman

Aja Hickman

On Monday, September 18, 2017, Aja Hickman joined UC Libraries as our new human resources coordinator.

Aja holds a BA in anthropology from Miami University. She comes to UC Libraries from the Kroger Company where she served for two years as an administrative recruiter supporting 120 stores nationwide.  Additionally, Aja served as professional development chair for the Kroger Company’s HR Cultural Council. In this role she was involved with many strategic training and development initiatives.

As UC Libraries’ HR coordinator, she will work closely with search committees and applicants. She will serve as primary leave administrator and provide administrative support to the HR operations.  In addition, Aja will also work closely with Regina Bourne, director of human resources and organizational development (OD), to assist with upcoming OD programs and initiatives.  We are so delighted that she is joining the Business/HR team!

Breaking in a New Stage

By: Sydney Vollmer, B.S., Marketing ‘17

Otto M. Budig Theater StageLast week, the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company said hello to their new home at the Otto M. Budig Theater with performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I was fortunate enough to be invited to their Media Night on September 7, when I got a first look at the space and the show.

The Theater

Located at 1195 Elm Street, the new theater features a modern style of architecture one might not expect for a company boasting Shakespeare’s name.  There is a large lobby area for everyone to gather before the show and during intermission and it is Otto M. Budig theater lobbypeppered with Shakespeare quotes and play titles everywhere you turn, from the steps to the seating. I personally am a fan of the bathroom sinks which read, “A little water clears us of this deed” – a direct quote from Lady Macbeth. When you go to a performance, see how many you can find!  Upstairs, an open room is used for classes and meetings for various presentations. During Media Night, Jeremy Dubin, Director of Creative Education, gave an informative presentation on the costuming and set design for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Continue reading

Provost Office Issues Call for Proposals from Faculty in the Humanities and Social Sciences

The Office of the Provost will award faculty grants as part of the Open Access Monograph Publishing Initiative. Submission deadline is Oct 2.

The University of Cincinnati is participating in a new initiative, the Open Access Monograph Publishing Initiative, of the Association of American Universities (AAU), Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) that is designed to advance the wide dissemination of scholarship by humanities and social sciences faculty by promoting and publishing free, open access, digital editions of peer-reviewed, professional monographs.

The Office of the Provost will award three grants of up to $15,000 each year for the next five years to support the publication of original long-form monographs by participating publishers.

The internal review committee is now accepting proposals. Continue reading

Langsam Library Exhibit Marks the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation

martin luther

Martin Luther

In 1517, Martin Luther wrote his 95 theses criticizing the practice of indulgences of the Catholic church. He was disturbed by the fact that the faithful were allowed to offer money as penance for their sins. The publication of the 95 theses is considered as the starting point of the Reformation, which marks its 500th anniversary on October 31, 1517, the date long assumed that Luther nailed his theses to the door of the Castle Church at Wittenberg.

A new exhibit on display on the 4th floor lobby of the Walter C. Langsam Library, as well as spread throughout the 4th floor of the library, highlights the complex and multifaceted legacy of the Reformation. It combines publications from the University of Cincinnati Libraries’ collections and the poster exhibition “Here I Stand. Martin Luther, the Reformation and its Results.” Included in the exhibit is a list of other Cincinnati events that commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation (listed below). The exhibit was curated by Richard Schade, professor emeritus of German studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Olga Hart, coordinator of library instruction in the Research and Teaching Services Department and German subject librarian. It was designed and produced by Sami Scheidler, summer communications co-op design student from the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, and Melissa Cox Norris, director of library communications.

95 thesesMartin Luther, and the movement he triggered in 1517, remain central topics in the history of the Western civilization. The Reformation forever altered the face of Europe. Century-old institutions disappeared, to be replaced by new ones. Borders changed, national churches emerged and religious tensions erupted into global conflicts. The Reformation’s positive repercussions can be seen in the intellectual and cultural flourishing it inspired on all sides of the schism—in the strengthened universities of Europe, the Lutheran church music of J.S. Bach, the baroque altarpieces of Peter Paul Rubens and even the capitalism of Dutch Calvinist merchants. The exhibit includes images of woodcuts, broadsheets, pamphlets and music that show the transmission of information and opinion during the Reformation. A Reformation Bibliography (PDF) of related library resources can be found at the exhibit and online.

Join us Monday, September 18, 3-5pm on the 4th floor of Langsam Library for an opening reception for the Reformation 500 exhibit. Brief remarks will be given by Dan Gottlieb, interim associate dean for public services for UC Libraries, Richard Schade, Martin Wilhelmy, honorary consulate for Germany in Cincinnati, and Herbert Quelle, consulate general for Germany.

invite

Continue reading

Call for Nominations for the Fall 2017 Featured UC Faculty ‘Life of the Mind’ Presenter

The Nov. 14 lecture will celebrate UC faculty research, scholarship and creative output and foster the free and open exchange of ideas and discourse.

Life of the Mind LogoLife of the Mind, started in spring 2011, is an annual lecture series featuring interdisciplinary conversations with UC faculty from a variety of disciplines around a one-word theme. The fall lecture, scheduled for 3-5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14 will focus on the theme of “truth.”

Life of the Mind lectures feature one faculty member presenting his or her work and expertise in concert with the prescribed theme. The presentation is not simply be a recitation of the presenter’s work but promotes a point of view. A panel of three responds to and discusses the lecture from diverse perspectives, and a moderator encourages audience engagement.

The Life of the Mind Steering Committee seeks nominations for the featured UC faculty presenter. Each featured UC faculty presenter possesses:

  • Accomplished UC faculty member with national/international reputation.
  • Proven record of scholarship or creative works.
  • Recognized as an expert in their field of study, research or creation of works.
  • Experienced at presenting their work to an audience outside the classroom.
  • Excellent and engaging speaker able to relate to a non-specialist audience.
  • Provocative topic of study/research/creative work.

Continue reading

Most UC Libraries Closed Labor Day, September 4

labor dayUC Libraries will be closed Monday, September 4 for Labor Day, except for the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library, which will be open 9am-5pm. This closing includes the Langsam Library 4th floor space, which will close Sunday, September 3 at 11pm and re-open Tuesday, September 5 at 7:45am.

A complete listing of library hours can be found online at www.libraries.uc.edu/about/hours.html.

Enjoy the long holiday weekend.

The Graduate School Extols the Benefits of Scholar@UC

scholar@uc

A recent article by Danniah Daher, graduate assistant to the Graduate School Office, entitled Scholar@UC: The Archive You Need, talks about the need to preserve and protect scholarly work and research data by submitting it to the university repository. Linda Newman, head of digital collections and repositories, is quoted as saying, “The mission of Scholar@UC is to preserve the permanent intellectual output of UC…We are very serious about preservation. We’re also very serious about access. We want to make the content accessible—content that otherwise would just be sitting on someone’s hard drive in their office. We consider preservation and access our two most important jobs.”

The full article can be read online at http://grad.uc.edu/student-life/news/scholaratuc.html.

Available at https://scholar.uc.edu/, Scholar@UC is a digital repository that enables the University of Cincinnati community to share its research and scholarly work with a worldwide audience. Faculty and staff can use Scholar@UC to collect their work in one location and create a durable and citeable record of their papers, presentations, publications, datasets, or other scholarly creations. Students, through an approved process, may contribute capstone projects such as senior design projects, theses, and dissertations.

The mission of Scholar@UC is to preserve the permanent intellectual output of UC, to advance discovery and innovation, to foster scholarship and learning through the transformation of data into knowledge, to collect a corpus of works that can be used for teaching and to inspire derivative works, and to enhance discoverability and access to these resources.

UC Libraries and the Graduate School Host Workshop about the Open Science Framework

The University of Cincinnati Libraries and the Graduate School are pleased to host the Center for Open Science for a workshop on “Increasing Openness and Reproducibility in Quantitative Research” on Wednesday, Oct. 25.  The workshop will cover project documentation, version control, pre-analysis plans and the Open Science Framework.

There will be two duplicate sessions of the workshop, one on the Medical Campus from 9 a.m. to noon and one on the West Campus from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. The event is free and open to all. To register, visit https://goo.gl/Hf5neh. Participants should bring their own devices for the best workshop experience.

The Open Science Framework (OSF) is an open-source workflow management tool developed by the Center for Open Science. Appropriate for any discipline, OSF enables researchers to manage workflows, share files, view project analytics, and more. Available at osf.uc.edu, OSF for UC is the portal for students, faculty, staff and others to manage project files and documents. There is no cost to use OSF and sign-in is easy. Simply go to osf.uc.edu, click on the sign in button, choose University of Cincinnati, then enter your UC 6+2 Central Login.

Workshop Information:

Date: Oct. 25, 2017

Session 1
Time: 9 a.m.-noon
Location: Medical Campus – Troup Learning Space, Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library – MSB G005G

Session 2
Time: 1:30-4:30 p.m.
Location: West Campus – 480 Walter C. Langsam Library

Questions? E-mail Amy Koshoffer, science informationist, at ASKDATA@UC.EDU for more information.