Category Archives: UC Libraries

Dorcas Washington takes on new role of data analytics specialist on the Research and Data Services Team

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dorcas washingtonDorcas Washington, formerly content analyst on the Content Services Team, has transitioned to the new role of data analytics specialist on the Research and Data Services (RDS) Team.

In her new role, Dorcas will provide leadership and expertise in the areas of quantitative and qualitative data analysis, as well as play a leading role in developing and executing a research reproducibility support program across disciplines. Dorcas holds a BA in mathematics, an MS in applied statistics with a concentration in bio-statistics and has recently been accepted into UC’s PhD program for environmental health: bio-statistics. In her new role, she will be able to utilize her knowledge and skill set to its fullest and to build upon her experiences gained as a member of the Content Services Team.

As data analytics specialist, Dorcas will be responsible for:

  • Leading library services related to the evaluation, manipulation and visualization of data and the use of statistical tools
  • Developing and delivering scalable research and data-related services and resources in collaboration with RDS, with the Digital Scholarship Center, and others as appropriate
  • Leading the development and implementation of consultation and instruction services for statistical and analytical methods
  • Promoting best practices for ethical and reproducible data production, analysis and dissemination
  • Developing and coding executable programs to automate processes to perform computational inquiries
  • Co-managing Informatics Lab operations within the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library.

“I look forward to getting back to my roots of mathematics and statistics by utilizing those skills to help people further research at UC,” said Dorcas. “This position interested me because it’s doing work I enjoy with a diverse group of people (students, faculty, staff and more).”

Those interested in services, should contact RDS via e-mail askdata@uc.edu.

UC Libraries launches Click & Collect service to offer phased access to library print materials

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Request library materials by 9:00 am Wednesday for Thursday pickup at select locations.

click and collect graphicBeginning immediately, the University of Cincinnati Libraries is providing users with phased access to print collection materials in order to support UC teaching and research.

The Click & Collect retrieval and pickup service allows UC users to request printed library materials in the Library Catalog for pickup at designated locations. Requests made by 9:00 AM Wednesdays will be available for pickup between noon – 4:00 PM on Thursdays. Due dates have been automatically set for August 10.

At this time, Click & Collect is available for print collections in the Albino Gorno Memorial (CCM) Library, the Robert A. Deshon and Karl J. Schlachter Library for Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP), the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library and to some degree the Archives and Rare Books Library (see details below).

Plans to expand the Click & Collect library collection retrieval service are underway for other library locations and will be announced soon. Continue reading →

Standing in solidarity against systemic racism

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The University of Cincinnati Libraries supports our colleagues from the American Library Association and the Association of Research Libraries in their statements and actions against racism and violence perpetrated against black men and women and all people of color. We agree with President Neville Pinto’s message “that the time to act is now.” As libraries, we provide access to resources and information professionals so that citizens can educate themselves on how to contribute to meaningful change and combat systemic racism.

stamped from the beginningBelow is a short list of UC Libraries resources. While some do require UC affiliation, there are others that are open access. It contains a mix of current and historical perspectives as this is not a new issue our country is confronting, but the time to listen and to learn is now. This list is not meant to be comprehensive, but a starting point for education and conversation.  

Videos

Current exhibit on display in the Walter C. Langsam Library

women of the movement graphic

The Urban Studies Collection of the Archives and Rare Books Library holds information on two of the women featured in the exhibit, Louise Shropshire, originator of the Civil Rights anthem “We Shall Overcome,” and Marian Spencer, local Civil Rights icon, as well as Theodore “Ted” Berry, the first African American mayor of Cincinnati.

The University of Cincinnati Press

  • Issues in Race and Society, biannual journal distinguishes itself as an interdisciplinary, comprehensive, and global examination of the increasingly racial and racialized world that connects us all.

UC Libraries planning to begin offering access to print collection materials

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book stacksWhile all UC Libraries’ physical locations remain closed until further notice, we are finalizing plans to provide users with access to print collection materials in order to support UC teaching and research.

A print collection retrieval and pickup service is being planned to begin soon after June 8. Once all preparatory activities are completed, we will announce an official start date of the service. Library users will not be allowed inside library spaces, but will be able to request and pick up library materials in designated locations.

Details on exact timing and how to utilize the retrieval and pickup service will be forthcoming. For updated information, please visit https://libraries.uc.edu/about/covid-19.html.

In the meantime, the University of Cincinnati Libraries remains open and available online to provide users with access to library resources and services.

Chat Service Unavailable Monday, May 25

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In observance of Memorial Day, UC Libraries’ Chat reference service will not be available on Monday, May 25. We will resume normal hours, 10am-3pm, on Tuesday, May 26. Users seeking library resources on Monday, May 25, are encouraged to visit the Libraries website or Online Library for direct access to essential resources and services to enable online research and scholarly work.

New E-Books in Engineering and Computer Science

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The UC Science and Engineering libraries have recently added the newest collection of Morgan & Claypool’s Synthesis Digital Library of Engineering and Computer Science to its electronic resources. The books are on topics relevant to active research areas such as natural language processing and Human Computer Interaction.

 

 Natural Language Processing for Social Media

This book reviews the current research on NLP tools and methods for processing the non-traditional information from social media data that is available in large amounts, and it shows how innovative NLP approaches can integrate appropriate linguistic information in various fields such as social media monitoring, health care, and business intelligence. The book further covers the existing evaluation metrics for NLP and social media applications and the new efforts in evaluation campaigns or shared tasks on new datasets collected from social media.

https://www-morganclaypool-com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/doi/10.2200/S00999ED3V01Y202003HLT046 

Arduino I: Getting Started 

This book, Arduino I: Getting Started is written for those looking for a quick tutorial on the Arduino environment, platforms, interface techniques, and applications. Arduino II will explore advanced techniques, applications, and systems design. Arduino III will explore Arduino applications in the Internet of Things (IoT). Arduino I: Getting Started covers three different Arduino products: the Arduino UNO R3 equipped with the Microchip ATmega328, the Arduino Mega 2560 equipped with the Microchip ATmega2560, and the wearable Arduino LilyPad.

https://www-morganclaypool-com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/doi/10.2200/S01001ED1V01Y202003DCS058 

For the full list of recent books, click the “Continue Reading” link below.

Continue reading →

Life of the Mind lecture re-imagined to include celebration of UC scholarship

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Call for submissions from UC faculty and staff of 2019 creative and scholarly works by June 30.

publicationsThe University of Cincinnati Libraries is collaborating with the Faculty Senate, the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost and the Faculty Enrichment Center to bring back the popular Authors, Editors & Composers event and exhibit last held in 2013 and incorporate it into the Life of the Mind lecture series.

The re-imagined Life of the Mind will create one event that will celebrate the achievements of UC’s artists, authors, editors and composers together with a presentation by a distinguished faculty member and panel discussion to foster an interdisciplinary dialogue on an emergent theme.

Still named Life of the Mind, the event is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, in the Faculty Enrichment Center. An exhibit of faculty and staff submitted works and compositions will be on display at the event and then moved the following day for public display in the Walter C. Langsam Library’s fourth and fifth floor lobbies. The organizers are prepared to move the event and exhibit fully online if circumstances dictate the necessity to do so.

life of the mind logoTo include 2019 creative and scholarly works, UC faculty and staff are invited to submit via an online form by June 30. Include only those works performed or published between January 2019 and December 2019. Submissions are limited to three per category per artist, author, editor or composer. Categories may include: books, book chapters, journal articles, editing, artwork, photography, plays, musical scores, CDs or DVDs.

It is from the submitted works that the Life of the Mind Steering Committee will select the featured faculty speaker to give the Life of the Mind lecture.

The mission of Life of the Mind remains to celebrate UC research, scholarship and creative output and to foster the free and open exchange of ideas and discourse.

Questions? Contact Melissa Cox Norris, (513)556-1558 or melissa.norris@uc.edu.

Working for a Living. New online exhibit features Labor Collections in the Archives and Rare Books Library.

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Labor history concerns the lives of workers and their various and diverse struggles for workplace democracy, improved working conditions, collective bargaining, and their relationship to changing forms of work and economic production. A new online exhibit features the University of Cincinnati’s Archives and Rare Books Library labor collections. Part of the Urban Studies Collection, the labor collections include records from Cincinnati’s AFL-CIO Labor Council, the Regional Joint Board of the Amalgamated Clothing & Textile Workers, the Barbers’ Union Local 49, International Brotherhood of Painters & Allied Trades Local 308, and others.

The Working for a Living exhibit was curated by Eira Tansey, digital archivist and records manager in the Archives and Rare Books Library. It was designed by Emily Young, library communication design co-op student, and Melissa Cox Norris, director of library communication.

Henriette Davidis and Her Cookbooks in the German Americana Collection

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Cover of Henriette Davidis' Pratkisches KochbuchFood always provides a familiar comfort for people.  As anyone who has attempted to get baking supplies over the last few weeks may know, people have been turning to cooking for some solace and perhaps just something to do in these unusual times.  If you are looking for any historic recipes or information on a historic cookbook author or just something to read, this blog post is for you!

Several years ago, I discovered a cookbook by the author Henriette Davidis in the German Americana collection at the Archives and Rare Books Library.  Initially I was just looking for a sample cookbook and Davidis’ cookbook had a nice cover which would work well visually for showing a class.  As I began researching the author, though, I found that this cookbook and its author had an interesting story. Continue reading →

The Cooperative Engineer and The Great Depression

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We are taught that the Great Depression started with the stock market crash on October 29, 1929 or what is called “Black Tuesday”. In The Cooperative Engineer magazine, the quarterly publication of the students and alumni of the College of Engineering with its focus on industry partnered education, the word depression was not used to describe the current circumstances of the day until the October 1931 issue.  Over the course of 4 issues, starting in October 1931 and running through to the June 1932 issue, the editors ran a series of “Faculty Articles” dealing with that they termed “Present-Day Trends in Problems of Commerce and Industry” or what we would now call The Great Depression.

The first of the four Faculty Articles is a reflective piece titled “The Fourth Great Era” by Hermann Schneider, the then-current Dean of the College of Engineering and

known widely as the founder of cooperative education.  Schneider reflects on a talk he heard at a meeting of the Institute of Politics where the speaker argued there were

three great eras throughout history, defined by equality of legal status, religious liberty, and political liberty. The fourth era would be equality of economic status where

individuals are equal in their ability to be “masters of their livelihood”. But Schneider values engineer’s deep understanding of philosophy, art, and psychology and thinks engineers must synthesize their well-rounded knowledge to lift their fellowmen. This last bit is something Schneider thinks is too often left out of the definition of what it means to  be an engineer. Continue reading →