Category Archives: UC Libraries

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Nathan Wysinski Begins Work in the Health Sciences Library as the New Computer User Support Specialist

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On January 7, 2019, Nathan Wysinski began work as the computer user support specialist in the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library.

Nathan is not new to UC Libraries having served as a contract IT employee since April 2018 providing exemplary support of faculty, staff and student computing. Prior to this position, Nathan worked for the IT firm Pomeroy for three and a half years.  Nathan will be bringing his experience, expertise and professionalism to the Health Sciences Library in support of technologies and services for the faculty, staff and students on the health sciences campus.

Please join us in congratulating Nathan and welcoming him to the Health Sciences Library!

Paying Tribute to Leslie Schick as She Retires from the University of Cincinnati

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leslie schick

Leslie Schick poses in the Walter C. Langsam Library, 2018

This December, the University of Cincinnati Libraries will say goodbye to a valuable employee and one that has played a central part in great change in the Libraries. Leslie Schick, senior associate dean of library services and director of the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library, will be retire at the end of UC’s fall term.

Leslie has enjoyed a long, storied career with the university, beginning as an information services librarian with UC’s Health Sciences Library.

“When I started, everything was print. We had card catalogs – none of the local, regional or international online library catalogs we do now,” Leslie remarked. “When people would come looking for a particular book, if we didn’t have it in our card catalog, meaning we didn’t own it at the Health Sciences Library, as a reference librarian I’d pick up the phone and call other libraries. If it was a nursing book, for example, I would call the Raymond Walters Library (the former name for UC Blue Ash) to see if they might have it because they had a nursing program. You would have to think about who at the university might have this book and then you would call that library. It was our own version of OhioLINK or Interlibrary Loan. Looking back…the whole world has changed.”

leslie wth reference colleagues

Leslie with her fellow reference librarians in the 1980s

Over the course of her career, Leslie has seen an incredible amount of change. This nurtured a deep appreciation for her colleagues, one that would serve her well as her responsibilities increased and she took on roles in library management. She watched as new waves of talent joined the library, as well as those times when years of institutional knowledge were lost to retirements.

“For some people, the change from print to online was more difficult. We had the most amazing reference librarian at the Health Sciences Library when I started, Ruth Epstein. She’d come from the hospital library, which was consolidated into the medical center libraries when it was formed in 1974. Whenever someone had a difficult question in our library, she’d be the one to find the answer. We had a site visit for one of our IAIMS grants (Integrated Advanced Information Management Systems) back in the 80s, and one of the members of the site team asked her one the most awful reference questions anyone could think of. After she found what they were looking for they told her that they’d asked the same question at over 25 academic health science libraries in the country and she was the only person who’d given them an answer. She read everything, every issue of 15 to 20 medical journals – she said that was how you kept on top of things. That was the old-school way. When we started putting a computer at our reference desk and moving away from the traditional card catalogue, she retired…she wasn’t able to deal with the change.” Continue reading →

Library Student Worker, Brianna Williams, Publishes Three New Poems

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When she’s not providing reference service and fulfilling the needs and requests of library users, Brianna Williams, student worker in the Walter C. Langsam Library’s Research, Teaching and Services Department, is, among other things, a poet. She recently had three poems published in Call + Response, a student-run literary and arts journal providing a creative hub for new and emerging artists of color. You can read Bri’s poems online at https://callandresponsejou.wixsite.com/candr/art-lit/three-poems-by-brianna-williams.

Congrats, Bri!

Starting Dec. 15 Langsam Library’s 4th Floor will Close when the Desk@Langsam Closes during Winter Break

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extended hoursLangsam Library’s Winter Break Hours:

December 15-22

Mon-Fri – 8am-5pm
Sat & Sun – CLOSED

December 23-January 1

CLOSED (Winter Seasonal Days)

January 2-12

Mon-Fri – 8am-5pm
Sat & Sun – CLOSED

Langsam’s 4th floor will resume 24/7 hours on Sunday, January 13.

For a list of all UC Libraries hours, visit https://www.libraries.uc.edu/about/hours.html.

Have a safe and relaxing Winter Break!

UC ‘Life of the Mind’ Series Accepting Nominations for March 6 Lecture

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life of the mindLife of the Mind is an annual lecture series featuring interdisciplinary conversations with UC faculty from a variety of disciplines around a one-word theme. The spring lecture, scheduled for 2:30-4:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 6, will again focus on the theme of “Next.”

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 →

Art Education Exhibit in the DAAP Library

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Flavia Bastos’s Art Ed. 7041 Graduate Seminar created modified books that illustrate concepts in Art Education History. Please come to the library to view this exciting and creative exhibit! (Located across from circulation desk).

exhibit of art education artists' books

You Can Find the University of Press in the 2019 Library Publishing Directory

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press logo

The University of Cincinnati Press is now listed in the 2019 Library Publishing Directory. Published by the Library Publishing Coalition, the Directory highlights the publishing activities of 138 academic and research libraries and is openly available in PDF and EPUB formats and via the searchable online directory. The Directory illustrates the many ways in which libraries are actively transforming and advancing scholarly communications in partnership with scholars, students, university presses and others. Each year, the Directory‘s introduction presents a ‘state of the field’ based on that year’s data.

The Press’s listing is found at https://librarypublishing.org/directory/university-of-cincinnati-2019/.

Read the University of Cincinnati Libraries 2017/18 Annual Progress Report

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UC Libraries Progress ReportRead the University of Cincinnati Libraries 2017/18 Annual Progress Report where we ask the question: Have We Transformed Yet?

In this year’s annual Progress Report, we make note of the accomplishments of the previous year, as well as take a holistic view of UC Libraries since the Strategic Plan was launched five years ago. We celebrate the continued success of annual events that promote library collections and services, highlight milestones of major library initiatives and feature library spaces.

Integral to fulfilling the work of the Strategic Plan is the dedication of the faculty and staff of UC Libraries along with the investment of our donors. By highlighting the accomplishments of our hard-working staff and listing the current donors, both groups are recognized and celebrated in this Progress Report.

Finally, if all of the accomplishments listed in this report signal that we are at least on the road to transformation than we must ask ourselves the question…what’s next?

The Progress Report is available online at https://issuu.com/uclibraries/docs/uclannualprogressreport17_18.

Questions? Request a print copy? Email melissa.norris@uc.edu.

Happy Reading!

Mercantile Library Celebrating UC’s Bicentennial with an Event Featuring two Books Published Recently by the University of Cincinnati Press

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In Service to the City and From the Temple of Zeus book coversOn Wed, December 5, from 6:00 – 8:00 pm, the Mercantile Library will host Celebrating the University of Cincinnati Bicentennial, featuring David Stradling and Greg Hand who will speak about their books published recently by the University of Cincinnati Press. In Service to the City: A History of the University of Cincinnati, is a comprehensive history by Professor David Stradling. Its companion volume, edited by Greg Hand, From the Temple of Zeus to the Hyperloop: University of Cincinnati Stories, is an anthology that complements and enriches Stradling’s book by demonstrating the UC experience.

The event is free and open to the public. Registration is required at https://mercantilelibrary.com/calendar/celebrating-the-university-of-cincinnati-bicentennial/

More about the books:

In Service to the City: A History of the University of Cincinnati is a scholarly history by David Stradling, who holds the Zane Miller Chair in Urban History at UC. Stradling is a noted author of urban history, author of Making Mountains: New York City and the Catskills (University of Washington Press, 2007), The Nature of New York: An Environmental History of the Empire State (Cornell University Press, 2010) and Where the River Burned: Carl Stokes and the Struggle to Save Cleveland (Cornell University Press, 2015). Stradling’s book focuses on the evolving relationship between the University of Cincinnati and the City of Cincinnati and how these two entities influenced one another.

A companion volume, edited by Greg Hand, From the Temple of Zeus to the Hyperloop: University of Cincinnati Stories, is an anthology of 35 chapters that complements and enriches Professor Stradling’s book by demonstrating the breadth and diversity of the UC experience. Authors for this volume include Sarah Jessica Parker, former Governor Bob Taft, faculty, alumni, and current students. Most contributions are in the form of personal essays, but there is a play and a poem as well.