Book Review: How to be a Good Creature

Posted on February 1, 2019 by Penny McGinnis

In How to be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals, Sy Montgomery shares her life of loving and studying animals. Sy is a National Book Award Finalist and naturalist. Each chapter focuses on a different creature who transformed her life. Throughout the essays, she reflects on the effects the animals had on her and how she practiced life a bit differently, thanks to their influence. One of the most amusing stories involved a pig named Christopher Hogwood, a beloved pet.

How to be a Good Creature is available as an e-book and a hardback.

Penny McGinnis
Technical Services Manager
Clermont College Library

Students-Only Library Survey: Enter To Win a $25 Gift Card

Posted on January 22, 2019 by Katie Foran-Mulcahy

Your opinions can build a better library — you just have to share them!

In order to serve you better, please fill out the brief library survey delivered to your UC student email this week. Depending on your answers and typing ability, the survey should take 5 minutes or less to complete.

As a gesture of our thanks, you may provide your contact info at the end of the survey to enter a drawing for one of two $25 gift cards. We’ll draw the winners on February 4.

Together we can make the Clermont College Library a better space for resources and research.

Pardon Our Dust… New Student Spaces, Coming Soon!

Posted on January 15, 2019 by Katie Foran-Mulcahy

If you’ve been on the library’s first floor lately, you may notice power tools and construction crews — that’s because student-centered improvements are in the works!

Based on feedback from prior spring student surveys we’re proud to add two premium group study spaces on the library’s first floor this semester. Set to debut in early March 2019, the rooms will feature glass dry erase surfaces, wall-mounted flat screens, and modern finishes galore. We’ll also be adding additional soft seating all over the library’s first floor for meeting with groups or relaxing between classes.

This exciting project, made possible by a generous donor, is yet another example of the power of our supportive community. Thanks to everyone who worked tirelessly in support of this project.

Katie Foran-Mulcahy
Library Director

Take a Break in the Clermont College Library

Posted on November 29, 2018 by Katie Foran-Mulcahy

Colorful puzzle pieces jumbled

Free time between classes? Need to relax for a bit? Stop by the Clermont College Library.

We’ve set up a puzzle table in the library. Don’t have time to do the whole thing? No problem! Come in and add a few pieces. We’ll all work together to finish. Once a puzzle is complete, we’ll switch it out for another.

Taking a short break to play a game or work on a puzzle helps decrease stress and can improve critical thinking. It might be just what you need before you dive back in to study for a final or finish that research project!

The Case for Exploring Open Textbooks

Posted on November 8, 2018 by Penny McGinnis

Did you know that between 1998 and 2016, the cost of college textbooks increased 181%? That’s almost 4 times as much as all other consumer products during that same time period. The average Clermont College student should have budgeted $1500.00 for course materials in 2017-18. As a result, students may resort to delayed purchasing of a textbook, purchasing an older version, sharing a textbook, or never purchasing it at all.

So, what can we do to help with the burden of high textbook costs and ensure students have access to course information beginning the first day of a course?

Consider adopting an open textbook!

Open textbooks are free for students to use in electronic formats. Some are also available to order in print for a low cost. In addition, these textbooks can be adapted and repurposed by faculty to better align with specific course outcomes.

You might be asking yourself, how does a free textbook measure up to more expensive, traditional textbooks? It turns out, pretty well! A recent study showed that the use of open textbooks and open educational resources led to improved grades and decreased DFW rates for all students, with the most dramatic improvements occurring for at-risk populations.

Curious to learn more?

Check out the Open Educational Resources at Clermont library guide or consider speaking with a fellow faculty member. A number of Clermont College faculty have already adopted open textbooks. Dr. Noah MacKenzie, Associate Professor of Psychology, adopted an open textbook for the fall semester of 2018 and shared that, “student feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.” Assistant Professor Educator Carolyn Goodman surveyed her students and the results were all positive. Students appreciated that the language in the book was appropriate for their level and that they didn’t have to purchase a book. The academic results are impressive as well with 88% of her students showing mastery in early October.

Ready to explore open textbooks in your area?

Your liaison librarian would be happy to help you identify or adapt a textbook that will work for your class. If you aren’t ready to adopt an open textbook, but are interested in exploring other open educational resources, we can help with that as well.

Any questions? Let us know how we can help!

Heather Mitchell-Botts
Instruction Librarian

photo from: https://opensource.com/education/13/2/boundless-free-alternative-textbooks

Manuel Iris, Cincinnati Poet Laureate, to visit Clermont College Library

Posted on November 1, 2018 by Penny McGinnis

Please join us November 7, 2018 at 2:30 pm for a reading and book signing by Manuel Iris, author of Translating Silence/Traducir el silencio. Appointed Cincinnati Poet Laureate in 2018, Manuel is charged with “promoting poetry appreciation, encouraging the reading and writing of poetry throughout the city, and composing and reading poems for special events and occasions.” (City of Cincinnati) Come listen as he brings his poetic inspiration to UC Clermont.

He will also host a Q & A and writing workshop the same day, at 10:10 am in Student Services, room 240.

Penny McGinnis
Technical Services Manager

Guggenheim Grant-Winning Essayist John Jeremiah Sullivan to Speak at UC Clermont

Posted on October 30, 2018 by Penny McGinnis

In collaboration with the UC Clermont English, Languages & Fine Arts Department, the Clermont College Library is proud to announce An Evening With John Jeremiah Sullivan on Wednesday, November 14. John Jeremiah Sullivan is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and the southern editor of The Paris Review. He writes for GQ, Harper’s Magazine, and Oxford American, and is the author of Blood Horses and Pulphead.

Tickets for Sullivan’s talk are $5. Tickets to a VIP reception with the author (to include the talk, refreshments, and a signed copy of Pulphead) are also available on a limited basis. Proceeds from the event will benefit Clermont College scholarships.

Reserve your seat today and support the future of UC Clermont students: https://foundation.uc.edu/sullivan

Katie Foran-Mulcahy
Library Director

Learn More About Women in Science

Posted on October 24, 2018 by Penny McGinnis

In celebration of this year’s UC Common Read, the Clermont College Library and the Academic Support Committee presented a panel discussion entitled Women in Science: Conversations to Spark Success. Moderated by Dr. Margaret Hanson, Associate Dean for Natural Sciences at UC’s College of Arts and Sciences, the panel engaged science and math faculty in conversation about their professional pathways.

Our Clermont College faculty panelists included Dr. Krista Clark, Professor of Biology; Carolyn Goodman, Assistant Professor Educator of Mathematics; and Dr. Jill Shirokawa, Annual Adjunct Assistant Professor of Chemistry.

For more information about the UC Common Read, Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie, A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss, please view this UC Libraries guide: https://guides.libraries.uc.edu/commonread/2019/radioactive

Want to learn more about women in science, check out these books:

Visionary women : how Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, Jane Goodall, and Alice Waters changed our world by Andrea Barnet

Wonder women : 25 innovators, inventors, and trailblazers who changed history by written by Sam Maggs ; illustrated by Sophia Foster-Dimino

Maria Sibylla Merian & daughters : women of art and science by Ella Reitsma ; assisted by Sandrine Ulenberg ; [translation, Lynne Richards]

She’s such a geek! : women write about science, technology & other nerdy stuff by edited by Annalee Newitz & Charlie Anders

The science on women and science by Christina Hoff Sommers, editor

Headstrong : 52 women who changed science–and the world by Rachel Swaby

Scientific pioneers : women succeeding in science by Joyce Tang

Sisters in science : conversations with black women scientists about race, gender, and their passion for science by [interviews by] Diann Jordan

So you want to be a scientist? by Philip A. Schwartzkroin

Hidden figures : the American dream and the untold story of the Black women mathematicians who helped win the space race by Margot Lee Shetterly

Beyond Curie : four women in physics and their remarkable discoveries, 1903 to 1963 by Scott Calvin