Category Archives: UC

Developing Future Access to Cincinnati’s Third Protestant Memorial Church Collection

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By:  Alia Wegner, ARB 2017-2018 Intern

Third German Protestant Church

The Third German Protestant Church located at 829 Walnut Street, photo taken in the 1920s.

One of my internship projects this year is developing a digitization plan for the Cincinnati German Third Protestant Memorial Church Collection (Accession number GA-09-03).  Acquired a decade ago, the Third German Protestant Memorial Church was formerly known as the Third German Protestant Memorial Church of Cincinnati, the German and Evangelical Lutheran and Reformed Church, and the North German Lutheran Church.   This collection spans 1814 to 1982 and includes records of births, marriages, deaths, confirmations, along with financial records and a few photographs.  For the most part, it has been used by family historians but once it is digitized and available as a global resource, the records can be used by urban historians, religious scholars, ethnicity and immigration researchers, and many others, as well as providing excellent primary resources in teaching.

The collection forms an important part of the University of Cincinnati’s German-Americana holdings but poses some challenges for digitization. The TPMC collection is composed primarily of handwritten German documents that need to be transcribed as well as scanned.  Since transcribing foreign language documents adds an additional layer of processing, it is important to get a clear sense of the extent and composition of the collection. One of my first tasks in this project was creating a collection overview. Continue reading →

Coming to Celebrity Storytellers on Saturday? Check the Schedule for Your Favorite Celebrity.

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Celebrity Storytellers ~ Saturday, October 21, 2017 ~ Arlitt PlayScape

Schedule:

 1:00 pm       Kevin Youkilis

 1:20 pm       Kathrine Nero

 2:00 pm       Miss Sarah

 2:20 pm       A Bearcat Surprise!

 3:00 pm       Tiffany Grant

 3:20 pm       Thane Maynard

Homecoming invite

AP Trust Recap

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By:  Eira Tansey

University of Maryland mascot

University of Maryland’s mascot in front of the McKeldin Library

Preservation has always been central to the mission of research libraries, which are charged with preserving knowledge, in all its forms, for use. Digital material faces different preservation challenges than analog materials. Rapid changes in file formats, software and hardware mean that digital content created according to today’s best standards risks being unusable or degraded in the future.

At the University of Cincinnati Libraries, we have significant born-digital and digitized content. Much of this can be found in Scholar@UC, UCL Digital Collections, and Luna. Digital preservation refers to the various preservation measures undertaken to ensure long-term use and access of digital materials for enduring sustainable preservation. Archivists and librarians must make many key digital preservation decisions, such as whether to migrate old file formats to new ones, determining how and where to store files, and scheduling file integrity checks. Digital preservation is more than just backups, but storing extra copies of content is a critical component of a digital preservation strategy. To mitigate against complete loss, it is important to store extra copies in different locations. According to the National Digital Stewardship Alliance, increasingly enhanced levels of digital preservation emphasize greater geographic distribution of copies. Continue reading →

Books by the Banks Brings Bestselling Authors to Cincinnati

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books by the banksFor more than a decade, the region’s biggest book festival has brought the best in literature to downtown Cincinnati. This year’s festival is no different and will feature more than 130 authors, as well as literary themed activities for all ages.
The 11th annual Books by the Banks: Cincinnati Regional Book Festival will be held 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28 at Duke Energy Convention Center, 525 Elm St., Downtown Cincinnati. UC Libraries is an organizing partner of the literary event along with the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Mercantile Library, Northern Kentucky University Library, Gateway Community and Technical College, MidPointe Library System, Lane Libraries and Clermont County Library.

Many bestselling national authors will be present at the event, including:

  • Kate DiCamillo, the author of “Because of Winn Dixie” and one of only a handful of people to have been honored with not one, but two Newbery Medals.
  • Lauren Oliver, best-selling author of many young adult novels, including “Before I Fall,” which was recently adapted as a major motion picture.
  • Stephanie Powell Watts, a literary newcomer but already an award winner with her novel “No One is Coming to Save Us.”
  • Matt Bellassai, Buzzfeed writer and YouTube sensation.
  • Gretchen Carlson, returning to Cincinnati, cut her teeth as a reporter for WCPO before heading to Fox News. She has now become a spokesperson against sexual harassment in the workplace with her book “Be Fierce.”
  • It is again a banner year for children’s authors including Rafael Lopez, Ben Clanton, Will Hillenbrand, Loren Long, Chris Grabenstein and many more.

Several authors at the festival have a UC connection, including:

  • Phillip J. Obermiller, co-author of “The Cincinnati Human Relations Commission: A History, 1943 – 2013,” is a senior visiting scholar in the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning’s School of Planning.
  • Obermiller’s co-author, Thomas E. Wagner, is professor emeritus in the School of Planning.
  • Judy McCarty Kuhn, editor-in-chief of the 1966-67 “News Record,” is a retired Cincinnati English, history and journalism teacher. Her book, “The Other UC and Me: Editing the Sixties,” talks about her experiences at the newspaper.

The day-long festival will feature book signings, author panels and activities for the entire family to enjoy in the Kids’ Corner and Teen Scene. The popular “Writing and Getting Published” series returns this year with panel discussions covering hot topics for writers and workshops to help hone the craft of writing. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet authors and purchase signed copies of their books. Books by the Banks features writers in various categories, including fiction, non-fiction, cooking, children’s literature, local travel, sports and more.

All events are free and open to the public. For more information, and to see a complete schedule of events, visit www.booksbythebanks.org.

Named Glassware, Notes from the Oesper Collections, No. 46, September/October 2017

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Assorted 19th-century round-bottom wine flasks from the Oesper Collections

Assorted 19th-century round-bottom wine flasks
from the Oesper Collections

Issue 46 explains that common laboratory glassware is often named after famous chemists of the past, though the exact reason for these name choices is not always obvious.

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

 

 

 

 

 

Nobel Prize in Literature Awarded to Kazuo Ishiguro

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The 2Kazuo Ishiguro017 Nobel prize in literature has been awarded to the British author Kazuo Ishiguro “who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world”.

Ishiguro was born in 1954 in Nagasaki, Japan. His family moved to England in 1960.  He was raised bilingual and bi-cultural. He received a B.A. with honors in philosophy and literature from the University of Kent and a M.A. in creative writing from the University of East Anglia. He published his first novel, A Pale View of Hills, in 1982. It was recognized with Winifred Holtby Award from the Royal Society of Literature in 1983. Ishiguro’s second novel, An Artist of the Floating World (1986) was also a success as evidenced by Whitbread Book of the Year Award. In 1989 the author won the prestigious Booker Prize for his bestseller The Remains of the Day. Ishiguro was named to the Order of the British Empire for his literary work in 1995.

Two of Ishiguro’s novels were adapted into feature films: The Remains of the Day (1993, starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson) and Never Let Me Go (2010, directed by Alex Garland).

His most recent novel, The Buried Giant (2015), is set in the times of King Arthur and explores themes from British folklore.

UC Libraries’ collections feature a number of books by Kazuo Ishiguro, including records of conversations with the author. Library databases, such as Literary Resource Center and Literature Resources Center, provide a wealth of information about Kazuo Ishiguro and his works.

The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to 114 authors since 1901. Past laureates include Rabindranath Tagore, Bob Dylan, John Steinbeck, Pablo Neruda, Gabriel García Márquez, and Ernest Hemingway.

 

 

 

 

 

Olga Hart

References

“Facts on the Nobel Prize in Literature”. Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 5 Oct 2017. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/facts/literature/index.html

“Kazuo Ishiguro.” Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2016. Literature Resource Center. Accessed 5 Oct. 2017.

“Kazuo Ishiguro.” Contemporary Literary Criticism Select, Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center. Accessed 5 Oct. 2017.

“The Nobel Prize in Literature 2017”. Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 5 Oct 2017. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2017/

Posted in UC

Revealing the Cincinnati Irish

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By:  Kevin Grace

Mollie Gilmartin Death CertificateIn 1866, dozens of Cincinnatians, many of them veterans of the Civil War, helped launch an unsuccessful Irish invasion of Canada.  After capture by British and Canadian forces, these Cincinnati Irish were repatriated and they came home.  In 1894, a young Irish immigrant by the name of Mary “Mollie” Gilmartin, living in Cincinnati’s West End, was killed by a man who had stalked her from County Sligo.  Mollie was buried without a grave marker and then forgotten for almost a century.  In 1908, a little girl from the Avondale neighborhood wrote her Christmas letter to Santa Claus.  Elainae, the six-year-old of a wealthy family asked for a doll and for an Irish maid.  And in the 1920s, Ireland’s political leader Éamon de Valera came to Cincinnati to raise money for his emerging independent country.  The Cincinnati Irish had deep pockets with an abiding connection to their heritage.  These are all fairly disparate stories that touch upon just one of the ethnic groups that shaped Cincinnati then, but what meaning is to be found in them now?  How are commonalities with other groups, other eras, and other places discovered and studied? Continue reading →

Beginning Nov. 12 UC I.D. Required to Enter Blegen after 5pm

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blegen hoursBeginning Sunday, Nov. 12, a valid UC I.D. is required to enter Blegen Library, home of the Archives and Rare Books Library, John Miller Burnam Classics Library, the Albino Gorno Memorial Music (CCM) Library and the Classics Department, after 5pm.

Public Access: doors to 400 level will be unlocked:

Monday-Friday: 8am-5pm

Saturday: 10am-5pm

Sunday: 1pm-5pm

UC Community Access: doors to the 400 level will be locked and accessible with a UC I.D:

Monday-Thursday: 7:30am-11pm

Friday: 7:30am-6pm

Saturday: 9:30am-6pm

Sunday: 12:30pm-11pm

Individual library hours vary, so check each libraries hours online at https://www.libraries.uc.edu/about/hours.html