New Chat Service, Using the UCBA Library Video, and Off Campus Access Updates

Posted on August 24, 2020 by Michelle McKinney

by Michelle McKinney and Kellie Tilton

Off Campus Access

UC Libraries have made a change to accessing resources from off campus this summer. Instead of the library login, you will now access resources through the standard UC login screen and DUO authentication. This means, if you’ve already logged into a UC resource, like Canvas, you’ll be able to seamlessly connect to library virtual resources.

For faculty and staff: to make sure links to library resources works with single sign on, please remember to use proxied links. Some databases generate a proxy link automatically with their permanent URL, but if you need to generate a proxy link of your own, UC Libraries has created a proxy link generator available at this page. More information on finding a resource’s permanent link and adding the proxy is available at this site.

Using the UCBA Library

Things look a bit different in the UCBA Library this semester. Here’s a quick video that covers the different ways to use the library this fall.

Chat with the UCBA Library!

Students, staff and faculty can now chat in real-time with the UCBA Library, Monday – Friday, 10am – 2pm. Visit the UCBA Library website and click on Questions? Ask the UCBA Library! button.

Virtual research support is also available Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. We reply to email and form questions within one day. Questions that occur outside of service hours will be addressed the following business day (if Friday, responses will be addressed on Monday).

Ask A Research Question about research assignments and information needs. Research support will be provided via email or online form during this time.
Email the Library with questions about hours, services, support or library resource access issues.
Embed library guides into your Canvas course to provide library support directly to your students.

From the desk of … Kellie Tilton

Posted on May 21, 2020 by Michelle McKinney

Hi! Welcome to my apartment! It’s small and I share it with an opinionated cat, but I’m enjoying taking advantage of the natural light, the nearby caffeine sources and the ability to use different setups depending on my mood!

: This is my “office” at home, which is actually just a nook. But it fits my desk and has a window to the right, so I don’t mind!

: A perfect space for me to work from home!

: The similarities of my work desk and work from home desk are threefold: all the tech, all the tchotchkes, and a chandelier. (Some of these tchotchkes are from my work office, though! Couldn’t leave Bob Ross!)

: Always have a chandelier in your office, I say. Even if it’s a tiny one! (This is a take on the Met’s famous Sputnik chandeliers!)

: I’m finding for most of my meetings, I like the ability to stand. So I’m using my kitchen counter accordingly. Grey Cat insisted on the ability to do the same. (Apologies to the books I’m using as a foot rest.)

: If the cat is getting really insistent, I will move to the couch to work so she can sit on my lap. Yes, she is spoiled. The end table was made by my grandpa and my mom made the pillow! (The making gene runs strong in our family.)

Banned Books Week at Your UCBA Library

Posted on September 24, 2019 by Michelle McKinney

banned books week graphic Your UCBA Library presents Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. It highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular. By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship.

Please stop by the library and check out our selection of books that have or are currently being challenged due to the ideas they present, the language they use, or content that has been deemed to be objectionable. Your UCBA Library remains committed to preserving your intellectual freedom from censorship and attempts to restrict access.

by Christian Boyles and Kellie Tilton

New Library Website Tutorial

Posted on August 27, 2019 by Michelle McKinney

By Kellie Tilton.

You may have noticed that things have changed a bit around the library’s website! Following the redesign of the entire UC Libraries’ 13 website into a more streamline, central website, some of the tools, services and links you previously used may have moved.

To help with this, we’ve created a quick video:

Check out a SPOOKY book at the UCBA Library

Posted on October 25, 2018 by Michelle McKinney

by Kellie Tilton

Spooky Book Display

“I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him.”
– The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe

From witches to aliens to monsters to ghosts, the UCBA Library has you covered for all your horror-related reading needs. Catch up with Edgar Allen Poe, read up on hauntings of college campuses or expand you horror film knowledge and more with books on display until Halloween.

UCBA Librarians Present at the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color

Posted on October 11, 2018 by Michelle McKinney

by Michelle McKinney and Kellie Tilton

UC Blue Ash librarians, Michelle McKinney and Kellie Tilton set off for Albuquerque, NM to attend and present at the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC). Continue reading →

UCBA Librarians in the Big Easy

Posted on June 27, 2018 by Michelle McKinney

by Michelle McKinney and Kellie Tilton

Michelle McKinney, Reference and Web Services Librarian

After a five year conference break, I was very excited to attend #ALAAC2018 in New Orleans! I spent the majority of the conference working with and for this year’s class of Spectrum Scholars. I had the honor of being named a Spectrum Scholar in 2005 and am currently serving as a member of Spectrum Advisory Committee. This year’s class of scholars networked, attended panels featuring Spectrum Alumni and took part in the greater conference, which included an Opening Session featuring Former First Lady Michelle Obama and Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden.

Michelle (front row, second from right) with other scholars awaiting Michelle Obama

I had the chance to reconnect with many colleagues and library friends, including fellow Spectrum Scholars from my class, during the Spectrum Scholars Founders Reception.

Michelle McKinney and three library colleagues

Michelle and fellow 2005 Spectrum Scholars: Brenda Linares, Nancy Kirkpatrick and Nia Lam

When I wasn’t in sessions or meetings, I wandered around the Exhibit Hall and enjoyed some of the local cuisine, including the required serving of beignets.

Kellie Tilton, Instructional Technologies Librarian

Unfortunately, my #alaa18 trip was way too short. I flew in to attend my last official duty as a member of the Alex Award Committee, which presents an award to 10 books published for adults that has a unique appeal to young adults. (Check them out!) Luckily, the last event is also one of the best, as we honor the award winners with a program and book signing for anyone to attend.

Alex Awards Book Signing

I also was able to visit the exhibit hall to say hello to many vendors and publicists and check out the new products coming to libraries near you!

ALA Conference Decorations

It was awesome to be in New Orleans for its 300th birthday and the best way to celebrate was a late night run to Cafe du Monde for their famous beignets!

NOLA 300th birthday sign

It may have only been about 48 hours, but ALA is always a blast and a reminder how awesome the library profession is!

Bookish Travels

Posted on January 23, 2018 by Michelle McKinney

by Christian Boyles, Michelle McKinney and Kellie Tilton

UCBA Library staff and faculty, Christian Boyles (Collections Services Manager), Michelle McKinney (Reference and Web Services Librarian) and Kellie Tilton (Instructional Technologies Librarian) hit the road and visited a few bookish places over the holiday season. Click on the images to get a better view of the photos.

Christian Boyles / Washington DC / Library of Congress: In December, the missus and I went to DC for her birthday. Along with visiting many great Smithsonian museums, walking a gazillion miles, seeing grand architecture, priceless works of art and ephemera and the new Star Wars film, we went to the Library of Congress. For someone who has worked in libraries for a gazillion years, going there felt like what going to the Vatican must feel like to a Catholic.

The building itself is an amazing and imposing structure designed in the Beaux-Arts style with a bonkers fountain out front featuring the Roman god Neptune, some sea monsters and a bunch of naked people riding what I guess are horse snakes. What that has to do with literature and the centralized housing of knowledge was lost on me. Inside is no less impressive. Walking in, I was legitimately awestruck by the LOC’s grandeur. Imagine if St. Peter’s Cathedral and some enlightenment era French king’s home had a baby and you’re still nowhere close to how awesome it is. Probably the crown jewel of the place is the reading room. Housed under a dome, it is a masterpiece of archetecture featuring arched stained glass windows, semetrical study carrells, Corinthian columns, and statues of some of the great minds in religion, poetry, commerce, philosophy, etc. Just looking in on that, I’m pretty sure I felt my IQ nudge up a couple points. Throughout the building, there were displays of ancient manuscripts going back hundreds and thousands of years.

Unfortunately, we were running short on time, so we couldn’t take the tour. But, we did manage to check out a very cool exhibit on the American experience of World War 1. In a perfect world, I would have spent a day, if not more, discovering all the cool features and offerings. Insider tip: if you’re in DC and are having a sugar crash, the LOC’s vending machines are very comprehensive and cheap.

Michelle McKinney / Louisville, KY / Wild Fig Coffee & Books: In early January, I treated my husband to a quick trip to Lexington for his birthday. Before heading back home, I discovered a bookstore just down the street from where we were having breakfast. Wild Fig Coffee & Books is located near UK’s campus and is owned by award-winning author, Crystal Wilkinson. The independent bookstore has an eclectic selection of new and old books, including a wide range of graphic novels. Wild Fig also carries a variety of bookish and feminist gifts such as mugs, socks and greeting cards. The coffee is pretty tasty too!

Kellie Tilton: On Christmas Day, 2017, a friend from college and I hopped the pond to begin an epic two week, three country excursion that was kick started because we snagged tickets to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts I & II in the West End. With our tickets falling in the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, we decided to make the most of the time frame.

We spent a handful of days in London – mostly in pursuit in all the Harry Potter-related attractions London had to offer – then it was up to Edinburgh, Scotland to bring in the New Year with their Hogmanay celebrations. We made a quick trip across the Channel via the Chunnel to have a gandar at Paris (and basically eat a million croissants) before landing back in London to spend one more weekend catching the things we missed the first time.

Highlights of this adventure include, but are not limited to, The Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio Tour, The British Library (and it’s History of Magic exhibition in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone publishing), the play (obviously), Hogmanay, Kensington Palace, and the Paris Catacombs. I brought back four new editions for my Harry Potter in Translation Collection. It just goes to show, your literary loves will provide ample reasons to travel the world!

UCBA Librarians Present Bullet Journaling 201 Workshop

Posted on November 21, 2017 by Michelle McKinney

Please join UCBA Librarians Michelle McKinney and Kellie Tilton for Bullet Journaling 201.

10 am – 11:30 am, Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Muntz 117, Learning & Teaching Center

This workshop is open to UCBA faculty, staff and students and will include:

Tips and tricks for setting up Bullet Journals
A BuJo Petting Zoo to try out supplies and tools
Hands-On time to work or start planning your Bullet Journal

Please register at http://uc.libsurveys.com/bujo201

If you have Bullet Journaling supplies (i.e. notebooks, pens, etc.), please bring them to the workshop!

What I Did On My Summer Vacation, Part II

Posted on August 28, 2017 by Michelle McKinney

by Kellie Tilton

Hi, again! Kellie Tilton, UCBA Librarian, back to give you part two of my Summer Vacation Library Adventures. If you miss the first one, it is available here!

Kellie and Becky posing in front of the EduLearn sign.

Our very official EduLearn portrait.

In July, I was fortunate enough to travel to Barcelona, Spain to present at the 2017 EduLearn Conference with Becky Leporati, my colleague in the Langsam Library. We had submitted two presentations for consideration and both were accepted. The first, A Flipped Classroom is an Inclusive Classroom, was about incorporating Universal Design into eLearning projects and the second, Format Choices are Content Choices, involved selecting the right format to design eLearning projects.

The conference itself was an international, with 80 countries represented. I met educators from the UK, South Africa, Sweden, Australia and more and was able to learn so much about the similarities and differences in our approach to technology in education.

It was also my first trip to Spain and it was absolutely beautiful. I took a few days of vacation so I was able to visit Madrid and Toledo, as well. All three cities were awe-inspiring, the people were friendly and welcoming and taking in the culture and heritage of Spain there only made me want to go back again.

It was an amazing experience and I am so grateful I was able to present and attend!