The University of Cincinnati Press recognized for social justice publishing

The University of Cincinnati Press has been named a 2023 finalist in social justice publishing from the Next Generation Indie Book Awards for their book Surviving the Americas: Garifuna Persistence from Nicaragua to New York City by Serena Cosgrove, Jose Idiaquez, Leonard Joseph Bent and Andrew Gorvetzian.

“Since UC’s faculty senate and university administration chose social justice to be our core area of publishing, the press is thrilled to have elevated the university’s publishing efforts to an internationally recognized stage as a publisher of social justice scholarship,” said Elizabeth Scarpelli, director of the University of Cincinnati Press. “These awards signal to scholars, students and experts that UC is a global leader in peer-reviewed social justice scholarship, open access publications and regional books. This recognition will help bring more award-winning, globally impactful scholarly and regional authors to UC as part of the #Next phase – Acceleration.”

About the book

In Surviving the Americas, Serena Cosgrove, José Idiáquez, Leonard Joseph Bent and Andrew Gorvetzian shed light on what it means to be Garifuna today, particularly in Nicaragua. Their research includes over nine months of fieldwork in Garifuna communities in the Pearl Lagoon on the southern Caribbean coast of Nicaragua and in New York City. The resulting ethnography illustrates the unique social issues of the Nicaraguan Garifuna and how their culture, traditions and reverence for their ancestors continues to persist.

About the Next Generation Indie Book Awards

The Next Generation Indie Book Awards is the largest International awards program for indie authors and independent publishers. In its seventeenth year of operation, the Next Generation Indie Book Awards was established to recognize and honor the most exceptional independently published books in 80+ different categories, for the year, and is presented by Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group in cooperation with Marilyn Allen of Allen Literary Agency (formerly the Allen O’Shea Literary Agency).

Read Source for the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries

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Read Source, the online newsletter, to learn about the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries.

In this issue of Source, Lori Harris writes about some of the changes that have occurred this past year as she has served as interim dean and university librarian. We announce Elizabeth Kiscaden as the next dean and university librarian, as well as a new digital collection in honor of Dr. Lucy Orinthia Oxley, the first African American to graduate from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

Student workers are a key component to UC Libraries success, which is why the UC Libraries Student Worker Scholarship Fund was established. We announce the most recent winners of this scholarship. We spotlight the College of Engineering Library and look back at the successful inaugural year of Poetry Stacked. We interview ChatGPT to get its opinions about its potential role in libraries and academia and hype the new, and very popular, library stickers.

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.

Covidence Pilot

The HSL is piloting Covidence for the next year (until June 2024). Covidence is an online tool that streamlines the production of systematic reviews, scoping reviews, and other literature-intensive research projects. It coordinates the screening process of title/abstracts and full-text articles, and it facilitates the population of data extraction forms and risk of bias tables. This pilot allows all UC faculty, staff, and students to create an unlimited number of reviews. After the pilot, our librarians will perform an assessment of its use, its impact, and our budget to determine if the subscription will continue.

If you are interested in using this tool, please see our libguide and other helpful resources:

Covidence

Please note that the HSL will not be able to provide systematic review support (search creation, review process, etc.) to individuals outside of our liaison areas. If you are wanting to conduct a systematic or scoping review and are not at the CoM, CoP, CoN, or CAHS please explore our Systematic Review LibGuide or our self-paced module So you want to conduct a systematic review.

If you have questions or would like to discuss Covidence or Systematic Review assistance with a librarian please reach out at: https://libraries.uc.edu/about/contact.html.

Honoring Pride Month with UC Libraries Collections

By Nimisha Bhat, Assistant Librarian for History, Anthropology, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
With the start of summer and Pride month, it’s a great time to check out some highlights from UC’s library & consortium collections to celebrate trans history, queer culture and LGBTQIA liberation! Here are a few titles to learn from and enjoy:  Continue reading

Join us for UC ORCID Awareness Day Thursday, June 8

orcid id logoOn Thursday, June 8, the University of Cincinnati Libraries Research & Data Services (R&DS) team will host a UC ORCID AWARENESS Day as part of the Data and Computational Science Series. We invite you to come to Rm 540B in the Faculty Enrichment Center, 5th floor of the Walter C. Langsam Library, to activate or enrich your ORCID profile.

What is an ORCID

ORCID stands for Open Researcher and Contributor ID. It is a 16-number identifier unique to you as an author and researcher.

Why should I have an ORCID?

  • To distinguish you as a unique author
  • To build an online profile about your scholarship and research contributions
  • To help you easily access research infrastructure
  • To get ahead of possible coming requirements for having an ORCID

Does it take a lot of time to activate and maintain an ORCID?

To set it up will take about 5-10 mins, and you can use automated tools to maintain it.

Does it cost something?

To register for an ORCID is free.

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Details about UC ORCID AWARENESS Day

When:                  Thursday, June 8, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This is a free and open event.

Where:                 Faculty Enrichment Center (RM 540B, Walter C. Langsam Library)

What:                   Work with UC Libraries R&DS team members to active or enrich your ORCID profile using automated tools.

Who:                     Any researcher who publishes or applies for grants

Grab an ORCID Cookie and get started increasing your research impact.

Register to attend, although drop-ins are welcome.

RESPECT Presents a 20-Day Self-Education Against Systemic Racism

20-day challenge graphicSystemic racism is defined as “policies and practices that exist throughout a whole society or organization, and that result in and support a continued unfair advantage to some people and unfair or harmful treatment of others based on race (Cambridge Dictionary).” How does systemic racism bleed into education? The University of Cincinnati Libraries’ R.E.S.P.E.C.T. developed a 20-Day Self-Education Challenge to explore examples of systemic racism – both past and present – that exist in various areas of education, along with ways in which we can help dismantle those practices.

Scheduled to take place May 22-June 16, the challenge is divided into four weeks, each with a different theme.

  • Week 1: Critical Race Theory – what is it?
  • Week 2: Systemic Racism in Education – a history
  • Week 3: Systemic Racism in Academia
  • Week 4: Systemic Racism in Academic Libraries

Learn on your own and then gather online each Friday at 11am via Zoom for a moderated discussion of each week’s module. Register now to watch, read and listen to informative pieces. The challenge is free and open to all. Each week’s module will be sent to those who register along with the Zoom link for the weekly conversation

R.E.S.P.E.C.T. (Racial Equity Support & Programming to Educate the Community Team) is a UC Libraries committee charged with developing external programming that explicitly addresses the negative role that systemic racism plays in our society.

Data Center Planned Outage – Library Services Impacted

There is a power outage scheduled for the University of Cincinnati’s primary Data Center beginning at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, May 12, and lasting as late as 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, May 14. Digital Technology Solutions (DTS) will be performing maintenance in the Data Center during this time. Many commonly used cloud-hosted services will remain available.

The UC Libraries website will remain up during the outage; however, some parts of the website will be unavailable, including:

  • Browzine integration with Summon
  • The staff directory
  • The student employment application
  • Some Contact Us forms
  • The “Journals” and “Books” search tabs on homepage
  • My Library Record

In addition, the following library sites/services will be down during the outage:

  • uclid.uc.edu (Library Catalog)
  • scholar.uc.edu
  • journals.uc.edu
  • digital.libraries.uc.edu (including Luna)
  • data.libraries.uc.edu
  • libapps.libraries.uc.edu (including the Source blog, LiBlog, Omeka S and Exhibits

More information, and a list of UC services that will be affected during the outage, can be found on DTS’s internal website (UC access only).

Celebrate Preservation Week May 4 at the Preservation Lab’s Open House

Join the Preservation Lab on Thursday, May 4th from 2pm-4pm to celebrate ALA’s Preservation Week. Their annual Open House is open to the public and gives visitors an insight into what the Preservation Lab does to serve the collections and communities of Cincinnati Public Library and the University of Cincinnati Libraries. This year they will be sharing some of their favorite projects, treatments, and equipment. There will also be some fun keepsakes and activities for visitors, including the chance to win a handmade book!

preservation lab open house flyer

The Preservation Lab is a collaboration between the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library and the University of Cincinnati. The Lab is a jointly staffed and funded hybrid book & paper lab, treating both circulating collections and special collections from both institutions. Come meet our staff, learn about conservation, and have some fun in the process.

The Lab is located on UC’s Main campus on the 300 level of the Walter C. Langsam Library, 2911 Woodside Drive. Information about parking on campus, both metered and garage parking, is available on UC’s website. Woodside Garage and Campus Green Garage are the garages closest to Langsam Library. There will be signs directing visitors to the Lab’s floor from the main level of Langsam Library (400 level), but assistance is available at The Desk @ Langsam.

To learn more about the Lab, subscribe to the Preservation Lab’s blog and follow them on Instagram –@thepreservationlab or subscribe to the Lab’s YouTube channel.