Create the winning design for our National Library Week buttons and win UCBA swag, sweets and bragging rights! Design submissions will be accepted from March 18 – April 4, 2019. The winning design will be determined using a blind submission and voting process among the UCBA Library Team.
Visit libraries.uc.edu/ucba/button.html for more details and to download the button template.
A highly stippled photo of Landolt’s balance with two of his counterpoised reaction tubes (7) – the one on the left before reaction and the one on the right after reaction.
Issue 55 summarizes, using the resources of the Oesper Collections, the work of the Swiss-German physical chemist, Hans Landolt, on the experimental verification of the law of conservation of mass in chemical reactions.
Click here for all other issues of Notes from the Oesper Collections and to explore the Jensen-Thomas Apparatus Collection.
Come see Assistant Professor of Design, Emil Robinson’s paintings in the Robert A. Deshon and Karl J. Schlachter Library for Design, Art, Architecture and Planning (DAAP). On display across from the circulation desk are: Tulips 1, Broken Bumper, Tulips 2–all three paintings are oil on panel and painted in 2019. He has paired them with books, which give clues to his technique/process. It’s a sneak peek of the spring we are all desiring. 
by Lauren Wahman
The UCBA Library is celebrating Women’s History Month and the amazing global contributions of women with two different displays! The first display (located in the Reference area) showcases books and media covering a wide range of topics from science, art, business, politics, law, activism, education, and social issues. It also includes UCBA’s Women of the World (WoW) schedule of events.
The second display (located in the Journals area) highlights women’s fiction with an array of titles from Amy Tan, Bharati Mukherjee, Alice Walker, Margaret Atwood, Yaa Gyasi, and more.
Stop by and borrow a book or DVD from one of the displays!
Explore Women’s History Month:
On the fifth floor lobby of the Walter C. Langsam Library is the exhibit “Animals in Antiquity: An exhibition from the collections of the John Miller Burnam Classics Library.”
Curated by Rebecka Lindau, head of the John Miller Burnam Classics Library, and Michael Braunlin, assistant head of the Classics Library, and designed by Michelle Matevia, library communication design co-op student, the exhibit highlights the role and importance of animals in Antiquity.
Cats were sacred in ancient Egypt. There was even a cat goddess, Bastet.
Animals were divinities, especially in Egypt. In Ancient Greece and Rome they were the companions or theomorphic stand-ins for gods and goddesses. Many animals were considered sacred to the ancient Greeks and Romans. However, as humans went from a nomadic existence to one of settlers and farmers, they began taming and using animals for their own purposes and so the status of animals began to decline.
After their domestication, bulls, cows, horses, donkeys, pigs, sheep and goats were used to plow fields, to provide milk and meat, transportation, and clothing. Wild boars were hunted for food and for “displays of manhood” by well-to-do young men as were various birds, deer, hares and even lizards. Some animals were made companions or pets such as sparrows, pigeons, doves, dogs, cats, monkeys and even wild animals, gazelles and cheetahs. Animals in Greece, rabbits, dogs, roosters and doves, were given as presents, also in courtship as “love gifts.”
Foxes were wild and often considered a nuisance for wine growers because they liked eating the vines.
Various kinds of fish were eaten in antiquity, but they, too, could be pets and were sacred to the gods. Animals such as horses and elephants were used in war and as entertainment, for example, among the Romans at the Colosseum where lions, tigers, elephants, giraffes, bears, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, wild donkeys, hyenas and ostriches were forced to fight to their deaths. Greek and Roman authors such as Plutarch, Aelian and Pliny the Elder wrote about animals in works on ethics, morals and natural history and prose, poetry and history writers such as Homer, Aesop’s Fables, Lucretius, Ovid, Seneca, Dio Cassius, Diodorus Siculus frequently used animals to tell stories and to illustrate the human experience.
Sections of the exhibit inform how animals were used as entertainment, as companions, for ritual sacrifice, even in war. In addition, the exhibit features animals in art, displayed on coins, vases and statues. A bibliography of resources used in the creation of the exhibit is available on site and online as a PDF.
To learn more about Animals in Antiquity, read about or visit the Classics Library located on the fourth floor of Blegen Library where the books and artifacts featuring the texts and images in this exhibition are housed and where the librarian is happy to answer questions and offer research advice on this or any other topic concerning classical antiquity.
Image from: maxpixel.net — CC0
We’ve previously discussed why you should consider adopting an open textbook. We understand the challenges associated with changing textbooks and the possibility that you’ve not identified one that meets the needs of your students. If you’re interested in the concept of an open textbook and open educational resources (OER), but haven’t yet made the leap, consider other ways you can incorporate affordable learning into your courses.
Most of the library’s resources are not considered OER due to licensing, copyright, and limited ability to re-purpose, modify, and share widely. However, because UC students have access to our resources, you can add them to your course at no additional cost to students.
How can library resources add to your course?
In addition, Clermont College Library and UC Libraries are continuously developing online learning resources to support students and faculty. These include research guides and videos about information literacy and using library tools.
Interested in adding library resources to your course?
Your library liaison would be happy to help you identify resources to enhance your course. We can also assist with providing permalinks, embedding video, creating research guides, and much more. You can also reference the Open Educational Resources at Clermont research guide for additional information.
Survey of Federal Archives project (Ohio History Connection)
With the Green New Deal in the news, there is renewed interest in President Franklin Roosevelt’s original New Deal. The New Deal was a series of federal programs meant to combat the major issues of the Depression, including soil loss, stabilizing the banking system, and providing jobs and relief for the unemployed. One of the famous programs of the New Deal was the Works Progress Administration, popularly known as the WPA. The WPA was responsible for constructing many of the significant buildings, roads, and infrastructure that the American public still uses. But the WPA also employed many writers, musicians, playwrights, artists, historians, clerks, and other unemployed white-collar professionals.
One of the most comprehensive, but least known programs to come out of the WPA was the Historical Records Survey. Originally envisioned by American archivist TR Schellenberg, it was expanded into a workable program by Luther Evans, who would go on to become the Librarian of Congress and UNESCO director. The Historical Records Survey had two major programs: a survey of federal records located in offices outside of the Washington DC area, and a survey of state and local records. During its initial operation, the Historical Records Survey was part of the Federal Writers Project, which was known for producing travel guides for 48 states and many large cities, as well as compiling narratives of ex-slaves.
The Historical Records Survey lasted between 1935 and 1943. Its largest achievement was surveying county records – of the 3,066 counties in existence at the time of the survey, fieldwork was completed for 90% of them. WPA workers carried out the field work by going to county courts and administrative agencies to determine what kinds of records existed, where they were located, and a short description of the records. The field work also generated significant information about the history of the states and their counties. In some areas, municipal records surveys were also completed, such as for the city of Cleveland. Although there had been some attempts to survey America’s local and state records before (mainly through the efforts of the American Historical Association’s Public Archives Commission), the WPA Historical Records Survey was a significant advance in trying to establish a comprehensive picture of the overall condition of America’s public records.
Unfortunately like many worthy archival projects, the Historical Records Survey had some significant setbacks. Only 20% of county inventories were published. At least 27 county inventories were published in the state of Ohio, including for major counties such as Cuyahoga, Franklin, Hamilton, Lucas, and Summit. In the guide to the Hamilton County records, the introduction stated there would be a guide issued for every county. Perhaps the suspension of the Historical Records Survey in 1943 ended the publication of these guides. The remaining records from the Historical Records Survey of Ohio can be found at the Ohio History Connection and the Western Reserve Historical Society.
In fact, the fate of the multitude of records generated by the field workers of Historical Records Survey across the country varied wildly. Many of the records ended up in universities and state and local historical societies. But in some cases, they did not and in fact met a fairly tragic fate – when archivist and National Archives employee Leonard Rapport went searching for Maine’s Historical Records Survey field records in the 1970s, he eventually found that they had been dumped into a bay.
If you would like to learn more about the Historical Records Survey, I recommend Loretta Hefner’s 1980 guide to the unpublished records of the Historical Records Survey, and Sargent Child and Dorothy Holmes’ inventory of publications associated with the Survey (Z1223.Z7 C52, ARB Reference). For additional study, Marguerite Bloxom’s guide Pickaxe and Pencil contains an extensive bibliography arranged by WPA program.
A joyful opening ceremony on February 28 marked the beginning of WorldFest 2019 at the University of Cincinnati. This year’s program includes 15 cultural programs and events, all of them free and open to the public!
On March 6th UC Libraries and the Quiz Team will co-host an annual Trivia Night.
Come and show off your knowledge of geography, history, cultures, and miscellaneous facts! You don’t have to compete! You will still learn a lot, meet interesting people, and enjoy free food, including Bearcat pizza.
We are sure that the competitors will be as strong as in the past. The top three teams will win the prizes shown below.
Have you ever pondered pi? Does 3.14 and beyond interest you? Whether you find this mathematical constant fascinating or not, you will want to be a part of our Pi Day celebration.
Beginning March 1, sign up to win a Pi t-shirt. The winner’s names will be drawn on March 14. Five shirts will be given away. Stop by the Clermont College Library and fill out an entry with your name, email, and preferred size.
On March 14, our math professors will be passing out pi(e) and coffee in the hallway, in front of the library. If you are up to a challenge, stop by Dr. Malla’s table and write out pi to as many digits as you can remember.
Penny McGinnis
Technical Services Manager
