Paul Cauthen, Librarian in the CCM Library, Receives Honor

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Paul Cauthen, Assistant Music Librarian in the Albino Gorno Memorial Music Library, is the 12th recipient of the Music OCLC Users Group’s Distinguished Service Award.

Paul received this well-deserved award for his contributions to music cataloging over the past 20 years, during which time his cataloging output was cited as being of “exceptional quality” and that his work saved fellow catalogers “literally thousands of hours.” Paul received this prestigious award at the recent MOUG/MLA conference in Atlanta in February.

Congratulations, Paul!

The full announcement follows.

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Poetry Month and ARB-Phillis Wheatley's Poetry

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By:  Kevin Grace

anthropodermic binding     Last week we had the pleasure of hosting an English Department lecture by visiting University of Texas professor John Rumrich on John Milton’s poetry, who spoke on the sometimes very literal connection between a physical book and an author.  In the case of Milton, Professor Rumrich related the poet’s work to the curious custom that developed in the 18th century of binding books in human skin.  And, in preparation for his remarks, Rumrich examined the Archives & Rare Books Library’s anthropodermic binding.

An odd volume in our holdings for over half a century, this binding encloses the poetry of Phillis Wheatley, an 18th century African American poet.  Though there is no indication at all that the binding has a connection to the poet in any way, and really is an altogether other topic for discussion, it did call our attention to the Wheatley body of work, appropriate enough for a month devoted to poetry. Continue reading →

UCBA Library Celebrates National Library Week

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NLW

Join the UCBA Library as we celebrate National Library Week, April 14th-18th by taking part in any of the following activities:

  • All Week
    • Library Question of the Day: Each day we’ll post a question related to libraries, reading or books. Answer the question, snag an Info Geek button with your submission and enter for a chance to win a $10 Bleecker Street Gift Card.
    • Library Trivia: Interesting library facts will be posted daily on the rolling chalkboard directly across from the library entrance.
      triva
    • Library Survey: Share your thoughts and ideas about the library on a short survey and enter for a chance to win a $10 UCBA Bookstore Gift Card.
  • Wednesday, April 16th
    • Pick up a nerdy treat at the Info Desk from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
    • Check out the library staff as they rock their library gear and bling.
  • Friday, April 18th: Winners for the Bleecker Street and UCBA Bookstore Gift Cards will be chosen at noon. Winners will be notified by email.

 

A Poem in Your Pocket All Month Long: T.S. Elliot

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pocketpiece-01Morning at the Window
by T.S. Eliot

They are rattling breakfast plates in basement kitchens,
And along the trampled edges of the street
I am aware of the damp souls of housemaids
Sprouting despondently at area gates.

The brown waves of fog toss up to me
Twisted faces from the bottom of the street,
And tear from a passer-by with muddy skirts
An aimless smile that hovers in the air
And vanishes along the level of the roofs.

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On John Milton and "Reading Blood"

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By:  Kevin Grace

On the south parapet of Blegen Library are carved these words from John Milton’s Areopagitica written in 1644:

For books are not absolutely dead things

But do contain a potencie of life in them

To be as active as those whose progeny they are.

John MiltonMilton (1608-1674) is one of the greatest poets and essayists in the English language.  The quote, which is part of his work condemning censorship and pleading for free speech, is part of the architectural design in the library, which opened as the University of Cincinnati’s Main Library in 1930.  Intended to inspire students and scholars, they are words meant both to establish the primacy of books and the written word in human culture and to draw the reader within the building to explore, to learn, to consider, and to share knowledge.

The Department of English and Comparative Literature sends this information for a lecture this Friday at 1:00 pm in 814 Blegen, the Schott Seminar Room in the Archives & Rare Books Library: Continue reading →