UC Libraries’ subscription to RefWorks is ending in May 2025 due to low usage and increasing costs. While UC Libraries’ subscription to RefWorks is ending, we support other citation managers such as Zotero and EndNote.
If you want to learn more about Zotero, register for the “Getting to Know Zotero” workshop hosted in CECH Library on April 15 at 12:30pm (you can bring your lunch!).
Zotero is a free, open source citation management software with both a desktop application and web platform. It has awesome features such as Microsoft Word integration, built-in PDF reader, and group libraries. Come to the workshop to see a demo, set up your Zotero, and test out its capabilities!
Madeleine Gaiser, online learning and instruction librarian CECH Library
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.”
Join us Wednesday, April 2 from 3-5pm in the CECH Library for our 2nd annual Tech & MakerLab Playground.
This open-house style event will offer a variety of hands-on exploration opportunities with our MakerLab and STEAM Kits. Check out projects from Trends in Learning Technology Innovation students, play with robots, and see demos of our newest MakerLab equipment. We’ll also offer visitors a special sneak-peak of our new Study and Focus Tools Collection.
Light refreshments available courtesy of the CECH Dean’s Office.
We hope to see you at this fun event — celebrating the intersections of learning, tech, and creativity.
The Health Sciences Library is currently featuring an exciting new display: From Medical Illustration & Comics to Graphic Medicine, which highlights our new collection of Graphic Medicine books.
Graphic Medicine, a term coined by Dr. Ian Williams, defines it as “the intersection between the medium of comics and the discourse of healthcare”. Not limited to medical education, this use of comics includes memoirs, educational texts for patients as well as healthcare personnel, and critique of the healthcare system and profession.
In addition to featuring our new collection of books, display cases explore medical illustration through the years. This includes drawings by the visionary Mary Maciel, who organized and led UC College of Medicine’s School of Medical Illustration from 1947 to 1972.
Not only can you enjoy the display and check out a graphic medicine book, but you can also create and share your own graphic medicine panels at the creation station!
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!
Most University of Cincinnati Libraries locations have reduced hours for Spring Break, March 15-23. Check the library website for a list of hours by location.
Have a safe and rejuvenating Spring Break, Bearcats!
The College of Education, Criminal Justice, Human Services, and IT (CECH) celebrates Stress Less Week this semester Monday, March 10th– Friday, March 14th. This semester the focus is on YOU! Explore resources that allow you to empower yourself all week long at the CECH Library.
CECH Library Programming for Stress Less Week:
3/10-14 - Stress Less & Empower Yourself with the CECH Library. Visit the CECH Library and explore the Stress Less display to find resources and materials to help you feel empowered.
3/10-14- Sticker-by-Number with the CECH Library. Visit the CECH Library during Stress Less Week to contribute to our community sticker-by-number art project. Don’t forget to stop by to see the finished product any time throughout the month of March.
3/12 10am-12pm- Study Tools Collection first look – Visit the CECH Library and learn from a CECH librarian about a NEW study tools collection coming soon to the CECH Library.
3/13 12pm-4pm- Study Tool Petting Zoo – Visit the CECH Library MakerLab to try out NEW study tools the library will be adding to our collection in AY26.
Sometimes the hardest part about studying is staying focused. Whether you’re antsy or someone’s phone call is more interesting than tomorrow’s exam, focusing on school work can be a challenge.
CECH Library is building a new Study and Focus Tools Collection (SFTC) to debut in Fall 2025. Checkout two great opportunities to get a sneak-peak of the collection and play with some awesome fidgets!
Wednesday, March 12 (10am-12pm): Get a first look at the collection. We’ll be tabling in the Teachers-Dyer Complex lobby (3rd floor).
Thursday, March 13 (1-4pm): Come to the CECH Library and visit our Fidget Petting Zoo. A table will be set up near the MakerLab.
Wednesday, April 2 (3-5pm): See our fidgets and study tools during the Tech & MakerLab Playground in CECH Library.
Gravity timer and fidget slugBlue light glasses and worry stones
After doing research and surveying library users, CECH Library selected 20 items to support students’ focus and study habits – white noise machines, sound muffs, fidgets, and more! These items will be available for anyone in the UC community to use and checkout beginning Fall 2025.
