The blog of the University of Cincinnati Libraries
All University of Cincinnati Libraries locations will be closed Monday, May 27 in observance of Memorial Day. Regular library hours for all locations will resume Tuesday, May 28. Have a safe and enjoyable holiday.
U.C. Libraries announces R.E.S.P.E.C.T.’s annual 21-Day Anti-Racism Challenge — a three-week long, self-guided learning exercise that focuses on different aspects of systemic racism, and how we can all fight against it. All are welcome to join the challenge as they are able, as each week has multiple resources in various media formats.
This year’s challenge, which begins June 3rd, includes a focus on contemporary issues such as structural racism in health care, white privilege and “not-racist” vs. “anti-racist.” The 21-Day Anti-Racism Challenge includes a variety of resources to read, watch and listen to, along with suggested ways participants can take action in the hope to build a stronger, more diverse and inclusive University of Cincinnati community.
This year’s 21-Day Anti-Racism Challenge is available online via a LibGuide and is comprised of three weeks’ worth of learning resources, with a different topic assigned to each week.
Register to participate
Participants are encouraged to engage with each week’s learning resources as they are able. It is not required to read, watch or listen to all resources if time does not permit.
At the end of week three, Thursday, June 20 from 10:30a.m. – 11:30a.m., R.E.S.P.E.C.T. will host a Zoom meeting to discuss the challenge, what was learned and how participants can take further action.
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.
The Archives and Rare Books (ARB) Library is happy to announce that Catherine Cubera began work at the University of Cincinnati Libraries on May 13, 2024, as beginning librarian and digital archivist. She is charged with developing and implementing digital workflows and policies, digitization of research materials within ARB and working with UC Libraries Content Services Department to support the discoverability and maintenance of digital collections and exhibitions.
Catherine holds a master’s degree in information science from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville (2023). She has worked as a library assistant at the University of North Georgia Library Technology Center, interned at The Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park in Buffalo, New York and was a Public Broadcasting Preservation Fellow at East Tennessee PBS, where she digitized and created metadata for audiovisual media.
Jonathan Kirkwood also joined UC Libraries on May 13, as associate librarian and records manager at the Archives and Rare Books Library. He is charged with managing the University’s records management program as well as appraising and processing collections and conducting reference services.
Jonathan holds a master’s degree in public history from Western Michigan University (2013) and another in library and information science from Wayne State University (2021). He has worked as an archivist, librarian and museum professional for 16 years. Lately, he comes from Sloan Museum of Discovery, in Flint, Michigan, where he served as archivist and curated the museum’s extensive automotive and local historical archival collections.
Welcome, Catherine and Jonathan!
by Lauren Wahman
The UCBA Library’s Research Lightning Talks is an annual event that showcases research efforts of UCBA faculty and staff, sparks conversation, encourages collaboration, and inspires action within the UCBA community. This year’s event (view recording) took place on March 5, 2024 and featured five faculty presentations:
Libby Anthony
Associate Professor of English
Pedagogies of Online Knitting Teachers
David Freeman
Professor of Mathematics
What Is a Number? And Why Does it Matter?
Smita Jadhav
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Integrating ChatGPT in General Chemistry Education
Rhonda Pettit
Professor of English
Immersion Research for Poetry
Heather Vilvens
Associate Professor of Health Promotion & Education
Stakeholder-Driven Strategies for Improving the Discharge Process in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Concept Mapping Study
On display on the main floor of the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library (MSB G Level) is the traveling National Library of Medicine (NLM) exhibit “Physician Assistants: Collaboration and Care.” The exhibit describes how the profession developed as a solution to meet the social and health care needs of the mid-20th century and continues to evolve today.
According to the exhibit website: “Collaboration has been the foundation of the profession since the first three PAs graduated from Duke University in 1967. PAs practice medicine alongside doctors, nurses and other health care professionals, treating patients in diverse communities and addressing health care shortages.”
In addition to the NLM banners, Lynn Warner, exhibit organizer and assistant librarian of research and health sciences, supplemented the exhibit with items loaned by the Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions board member Creighton Wright, MD, who studied under Eugene Stead, MD, the founder of the PA program. The other case highlights the profession’s roots in the military.
The exhibit will remain on display until June 15, 2024.
On display in the Stanley J. Lucas, MD, Board Room in the Winkler Center, Looking Back at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine Department of Neurology, showcases images and artifacts to highlight of some of the talented physicians and the work of UC’s Department of Neurology – both present and in the past.
The exhibit was produced in conjunction with the 2024 Cecil Striker Society Annual Lecture presented May 7th by Joseph Broderick, MD, professor and director of the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute at the University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center, and Director of the National NIH StrokeNet. Dr. Broderick is a distinguished stroke expert and neurologist and a founding member of the UC Stroke team, as well as a full staff member at all UC Health hospitals.
The exhibit was curated by Devhra BennettJones, archivist curator of the Winkler Center.
The University of Cincinnati Libraries is currently seeking two Associate Deans (AD) to join the senior leadership team and be a part of continuing the transformation of the research library at the university. As a member of the senior leadership team, the ADs work collaboratively to realize the UC Libraries vision and strategic directions.
The Associate Dean for Collections champions the implementation of the UC Libraries strategic plan and takes responsibility for meeting goals pertaining to collection management, preservation and special collections. The AD has programmatic, strategic, budgetary, managerial and operational responsibilities for the following libraries and departments in the University of Cincinnati Libraries: Collections, Content Services, Preservation, the Archives & Rare Books Library, Classics Library and College-Conservatory of Music Library.
The Associate Dean for Operations and User Services has programmatic, strategic, budgetary, managerial and operational responsibilities for the following libraries and departments in the University of Cincinnati Libraries: circulation, reserves, interlibrary loan, facilities and user experience.
More information on both AD positions, including qualifications and how to apply, are available on the UC Libraries web site.
This spring, we had many exciting things happening in the Marcotte Library @ UC Clermont.
This summer we hope to make more facilities changes based on feedback from our student survey. Keep an eye for these changes in the Fall semester!
CECH Spotlight highlights recommended books in the the UC College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH) Library.
This book was purchased with funding provided by a 2024 CECH Diversity Grant and selected using the Framework for Selecting Children’s Literature With d/Deaf Representation created by Emma Kist’s ASL 2003 students.
Give Me a Sign / written by Anna Sortino (2023)
Anna Sortino’s summer camp contemporary romance Give Me a Sign will pull at your heartstrings the entire read, while also leaving you giddy with what is to come next.
This novel follows Lilah, a seventeen-year-old who happens to be deaf in one ear. All her life, her parents encouraged her along the oral route, where she got hearing aids and took years of speech classes to blend in with those around her. To Lilah, the only time she’s ever felt seen is when she attended Camp Gray Wolf, a summer camp for the Deaf and Blind. So, when she gets the opportunity to be a junior counselor for the upcoming summer, Lilah can’t say no. Throughout the summer, Lilah immerses herself in Deaf* culture, American Sign Language, true friendship, and romance. But she still has some things to learn about herself, and parts of her identity to come to terms with.
Give Me a Sign is more than just a fun, summer romance. It shines a much-needed light on the spectrum of Deafness*, the importance of accommodations, the negative aspects of having a disability, and the struggle of accepting one’s identity. One of the biggest topics that carries throughout is the idea of ‘being Deaf enough’. Lilah struggles with this as she is surrounded by people who are fluent in ASL, who are more immersed in the culture, who are from a multi-generational Deaf family.
Early on we are introduced to Lilah’s brother, Max, who happens to have the same type of deafness, though slightly more advanced. Max acts as a foil to Lilah, being shown to prefer the oral route to Lilah’s manual preference. Max’s character helps open the discussion of hearing devices like hearing aids and cochlear implants, which are often given to young children in hopes of integrating them into the hearing world more easily. Sortino’s novel examines so many hard-hitting topics that impact the Deaf* community such as hearing people using ASL for clout or even faking disabilities when it is convenient.
There is a quote from Sortino’s author’s note that I felt extremely poignant: “I simply hope [my novel] gives readers a glance into the depth and complexities of Deaf culture, as well as an understanding of why I and so many others are proud to be Deaf”. This novel shines a light on the ups and downs of Deafness* and basks in the pride it has for the Deaf* community.
This book is available for checkout in the CECH Library, as well as via the OhioLINK and SearchOhio lending networks.
NOTE: In alignment with the UC ASL/Deaf studies department, I use Deaf* above to include and acknowledge the different cultures and ways of being Deaf.
Review by Alice Somers, CECH Library Student Assistant | Early Childhood Education and Deaf Studies, CECH 2026
Meet the newest two Preservation Lab staff members, Matt and Nicole, at the annual Open House on Thursday, May 2, 2024, 2-4pm, Walter C. Langsam Library 300 Level.
In May of 2023, Matthew McCoy joined the Preservation Lab as a conservation specialist with over seven years of library experience with the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library collections. He received a MLIS from San Jose University. Additionally, Matt comes with experience in construction and remodeling, bringing his ability to perform detailed work requiring manual dexterity in a variety of forms. Matt is also an accomplished jazz double-bassist with a B.A. in music performance from Northern Kentucky University, and he still performs in his spare time.
Nicole Browning joined the Preservation Lab March 18, 2024 as a conservation assistant. Nicole holds a BA in anthropology from Eastern Kentucky University. Her background with collections and exhibits include experience at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and the Cincinnati Museum Center. Most recently, Nicole has worked as a library customer adviser at the Bond Hill Branch at the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library. In her personal time, she crochets and rides horses.
Meet Matt and Nicole, along with the rest of the talented people who work in the Preservation Lab, at their upcoming Open House on Thursday, May 2 from 2pm-4pm as they celebrate Preservation Week. Located in the 300 Level of the Walter C. Langsam Library, the Preservation Lab’s Open House theme is “Back to Basics” and will feature samples of their work, opportunities to meet and greet preservation colleagues and cookies!
LiBlog uses Accessibility Checker to monitor our website's accessibility. Read our Accessibility Policy.