Tag Archives: collections

UC Libraries Announce Phased Approach to Re-Open Library Facilities

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With the start of fall semester, UC Libraries will begin to re-open library facilities to the UC community in a limited, phased approach to ensure social distancing. Our priority remains to provide access to library resources to the extent possible while maintaining the health and safety of students, faculty and staff. The availability and use of locations and spaces within the libraries will be reviewed on a continual basis and updates will be posted on the Libraries website.library with tables and chairs


Beginning August 10, the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library (HSL) is open for fall semester with limited in-person accessibility to library spaces.

Beginning August 17, the UC Blue Ash College Library is open with services available in person, virtually or both.

Tues-Fri, August 18-21, the 400 level of the Walter C. Langsam Library will be open from 10am-4pm. No library services will be available during this time.

Beginning August 24, the Walter C. Langsam Library, Albino Gorno Memorial (CCM) Library, John Miller Burnam Classics Library, Archives and Rare Books Library and UC Clermont College Library will open with limitations and protocols to ensure social distancing. Location specifics are listed at https://libraries.uc.edu/about/covid-19.html.

Other library locations remain closed at this time, but are under review for re-opening at a date to be announced. UC Libraries remains open and available online to provide users with access to library resources and services.

With limited exceptions in the Classics and CCM Libraries, there is no browsing of library materials in the stacks. The Click & Collect retrieval and pickup service allows UC users to request print library materials in the Library Catalog for pickup at designated locations. Pickup location details are available on the Click & Collect webpage.

Library users can once again request OhioLINK & Interlibrary Loan materials. Details are posted on the Libraries website.

Read Source, the online newsletter, to learn about the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries.

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sourceRead Source, the online newsletter, to learn about the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries.

In this issue of Source, Dean Xuemao Wang remarks on the national and global protests sparked off by the May 25th murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers and how libraries must join the fight against systemic racism.

Read about how when UC Libraries closed its physical locations in mid-March in response to COVID-19, student supervisors transitioned quickly not just their own work online, but that of their library student workers. In addition, this issue highlights work to provide library services and resources online to UC faculty and staff during a crisis.

While working remotely, consider suggestions of resource and tools from Maggie Patel, business and data analytics librarian. Download Libraries backgrounds for your next Zoom meeting or spend time with the labor collections in the Archives and Rare Books Library.

Elizabeth Scarpelli, director of the University of Cincinnati Press, announces the launch of Platforms and Pathways in Social Innovation as part of the Press’s dynamic, open access publishing platform.

While the University of Cincinnati Libraries remains open and available online to provide users with access to library resources and services, the Click & Collect retrieval and pickup service allows UC users to request print library materials in the Library Catalog for pickup at designated library locations.

Lastly, in this issue of Source, we remind UC faculty and staff to submit their 2019 creative and scholarly works for including in the re-imagined Life of the Mind.

Read these articles, as well as past issues, on the web at http://libapps.libraries.uc.edu/source/ and via e-mail. To receive Source via e-mail, contact melissa.norris@uc.edu to be added to the mailing list.

UC Libraries Expands Click & Collect Retrieval Service to Additional Library Locations

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Users can request print library materials by 9am Wednesday for Thursday pickup.

click and collect graphicThe University of Cincinnati Libraries is expanding its Click & Collect retrieval and pickup service providing users with access to print collection materials in order to support UC teaching and research. Users may now request print items for pickup at the following additional library locations:

  • College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) Library
  • College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH) Library
  • Geology-Mathematics-Physics Library
  • Walter C. Langsam Library

Plans are underway to provide access to the John Miller Burnam Classics Library collection to Classics faculty and graduate students and details will be announced soon.

The Click & Collect retrieval and pickup service allows UC users to request print library materials in the Library Catalog for pickup at designated library locations. Requests made by 9am Wednesdays will be available for pickup between noon-4pm on Thursdays. Due dates have been automatically set for August 10. When searching for print materials in the Library Catalog, items with the status of “Held By Library” are available for request. Items from one library location cannot be requested for pickup at another library location. Continue reading →

UC Libraries launches Click & Collect service to offer phased access to library print materials

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Request library materials by 9:00 am Wednesday for Thursday pickup at select locations.

click and collect graphicBeginning immediately, the University of Cincinnati Libraries is providing users with phased access to print collection materials in order to support UC teaching and research.

The Click & Collect retrieval and pickup service allows UC users to request printed library materials in the Library Catalog for pickup at designated locations. Requests made by 9:00 AM Wednesdays will be available for pickup between noon – 4:00 PM on Thursdays. Due dates have been automatically set for August 10.

At this time, Click & Collect is available for print collections in the Albino Gorno Memorial (CCM) Library, the Robert A. Deshon and Karl J. Schlachter Library for Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP), the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library and to some degree the Archives and Rare Books Library (see details below).

Plans to expand the Click & Collect library collection retrieval service are underway for other library locations and will be announced soon. Continue reading →

Standing in solidarity against systemic racism

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The University of Cincinnati Libraries supports our colleagues from the American Library Association and the Association of Research Libraries in their statements and actions against racism and violence perpetrated against black men and women and all people of color. We agree with President Neville Pinto’s message “that the time to act is now.” As libraries, we provide access to resources and information professionals so that citizens can educate themselves on how to contribute to meaningful change and combat systemic racism.

stamped from the beginningBelow is a short list of UC Libraries resources. While some do require UC affiliation, there are others that are open access. It contains a mix of current and historical perspectives as this is not a new issue our country is confronting, but the time to listen and to learn is now. This list is not meant to be comprehensive, but a starting point for education and conversation.  

Videos

Current exhibit on display in the Walter C. Langsam Library

women of the movement graphic

The Urban Studies Collection of the Archives and Rare Books Library holds information on two of the women featured in the exhibit, Louise Shropshire, originator of the Civil Rights anthem “We Shall Overcome,” and Marian Spencer, local Civil Rights icon, as well as Theodore “Ted” Berry, the first African American mayor of Cincinnati.

The University of Cincinnati Press

  • Issues in Race and Society, biannual journal distinguishes itself as an interdisciplinary, comprehensive, and global examination of the increasingly racial and racialized world that connects us all.

UC Libraries planning to begin offering access to print collection materials

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book stacksWhile all UC Libraries’ physical locations remain closed until further notice, we are finalizing plans to provide users with access to print collection materials in order to support UC teaching and research.

A print collection retrieval and pickup service is being planned to begin soon after June 8. Once all preparatory activities are completed, we will announce an official start date of the service. Library users will not be allowed inside library spaces, but will be able to request and pick up library materials in designated locations.

Details on exact timing and how to utilize the retrieval and pickup service will be forthcoming. For updated information, please visit https://libraries.uc.edu/about/covid-19.html.

In the meantime, the University of Cincinnati Libraries remains open and available online to provide users with access to library resources and services.

Women of the Movement: Leaders for Civil Rights and Voting Rights

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women of the movement graphic
The exhibit, Women of the Movement: Leaders for Civil Rights and Voting Rights, currently on display on the 4th floor lobby of the Walter C. Langsam Library, profiles female leaders of the fight for civil and voting rights. Beginning with Sojourner Truth, former slave and abolitionist, and including contemporaries Diane Nash, a key player in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Cincinnati’s Marian Spencer, a champion for Civil Rights both locally and nationally, the exhibit spans history into current times.

Included in the exhibit are women instrumental to the Suffrage fight – Sojourner Truth who worked closely with Susan B. Anthony; Mary Church Terrell, founder of the National Association of Colored Women in 1896 as part of the Suffrage Movement after black women were excluded from the Women’s Suffrage Movement; and Mary McLeod Bethune who led voter registration drives following passing of the 19th Amendment.

Civil Rights activists on display include Fannie Lou Hamer, who famously said, “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired;” Daisy Bates, an integrated schools advocate; and Ida B. Wells, a journalist, educator and one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The exhibit’s design is inspired by a recently created ArtWorks mural in Cincinnati’s Avondale neighborhood honoring Louise Shropshire, composer of the hymn, “If My Jesus Wills,” that became the well-known mantra “We Shall Overcome” during the Civil Rights Movement. Louise Shropshire’s papers are located in the Archives and Rare Books Library.

Women of the Movement: Leaders for Civil Rights and Voting Rights was curated by June Taylor-Slaughter, public services supervisor in the Geology-Mathematics-Physics Library, and was designed by Michelle Matevia, UC Libraries communication design co-op student. A handout is available at the exhibit with more information on the women featured in the exhibit.

Bibliography:

  • Alexander, Shawn Leigh. An Army of Lions : The Civil Rights Struggle Before the NAACP. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012. Print. LANGSAM; CLERMONT E185.61 .A437 2012
  • Bracey, Earnest N. Fannie Lou Hamer: The Life of a Civil Rights Icon. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2011. Print. LANGSAM E 185.97.H35 B73 2011
  • Brooks, Maegan Parker. A Voice That Could Stir an Army: Fannie Lou Hamer and the Rhetoric of the Black Freedom
    Movement. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2014. Print. LANGSAM E 185.97.H35 B76 2014
  • Harwell, Debbie Z. Wednesdays in Mississippi: Proper Ladies Working for Radical Change, Freedom Summer 1964. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2014. Print. LANGSAM E185.93.M6 H37 2014
  • Christenson, Dorothy H, Keep on fighting: the life and civil rights legacy of Marian A. Spencer. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2015. LANGSAM  F499.C553 S643 2015
  • Frontline feminism 1975-1995 : essays from Sojourner’s first 20 years / edited by Karen Kahn ; foreword by Robin Morgan. San Francisco : Aunt Lute Books, c1995. LANGSAM. HQ1402 .F76 1995

The GDJA at the MGSA Symposium in Sacramento, CA

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Modern Greek Studies in the United States and Grecian Cincinnatians
Modern Greek Studies generally finds its home in Classics departments in the U.S. (which was true also for UC which used to have a professor and lecturers in Modern Greek in addition to a curator of the Modern Greek collection in the Classics Library, Eugenia Foster) in acknowledgement of its Ancient Greek legacy.  Also, most librarians of Modern Greek Studies at U.S. institutions are classicists. I guess because Modern Greek is closer to Ancient Greek than Italian is to Latin and Greeks do not share the same influential medieval and Renaissance past as Italians (although one might argue that the importance of Byzantium has been much undervalued), so contemporary Greeks feel maybe a closer connection to antiquity.  Italy was also not ruled by a foreign empire for several hundred years, thus not allowing for more modern Greek cultural expressions to develop. The concept of Philhellenism, love of Greece, is also still alive and well among many humanities scholars, especially among ancient historians, classical archaeologists, and philologists. However, there are some American institutions that have recently opened Centers for Hellenic Studies focusing primarily on Modern Greece such as UCLA and the University of Chicago. The UC Classics Library is aware of its history and believes very strongly in continuity with regard to collection strengths. Even though some might argue that our Modern Greek collection fills no function since UC does not teach Modern Greek at the moment, we acknowledge that academia is not immutable and that having a distinguished historic collection requires curating it and continuing to acquire important titles to remain an important resource and that UC as an academic research institution has a responsibility towards scholarly communities beyond UC.

Continue reading →

Arlene Johnson to Head New Collection Development Services and Engagement Department

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arlene johnsonThe University of Cincinnati Libraries announce a new strategic endeavor and department aimed at creating a holistic strategy for collections and the services provided for them. Effective Oct. 1, the new department is called Collection Development Services and Engagement and is to be led by senior librarian Arlene Johnson.

In her new role, Arlene will be responsible for:

  • development of a collections development services strategy for UC Libraries.
  • oversight and day-to-day management of all UC Libraries resource sharing activities.
  • development of services and strategies for remote storage of physical collections.
  • continuation as the selector and liaison to the Romance and Arabic Languages and Literatures Department.

The goals of this new initiative and department are to create a sustainable collection development services approach by looking across all disciplines at UC Libraries, understanding OhioLINK and other nationwide and international trends in resource sharing and ensuring that long-term remote storage needs will meet and exceed users’ expectations. Over the next six months, Arlene will work collaboratively with College and Departmental Library heads, liaison/selector faculty librarians and content management faculty and staff to perform an environmental scan of current best practices, as well as national research trends and approaches, so as to identify and articulate a series of recommendations to the UC Libraries community for feedback, development and implementation.

Arlene has 19 years of service and scholarship with UC Libraries, serving previously as co-director of the Digital Scholarship Center and before that head of the Libraries’ Circulation and Multimedia Services Department.

“Arlene brings an outstanding skill-set and experiences to lead this important strategic endeavor,” said Brad Warren, associate dean of public services for UC Libraries. “Her understanding of the role of the liaison coupled with the changing landscape of scholarship and the unique needs of the academic community, make her the ideal choice to head up this new department.”

“I would like to thank Arlene for her recent work with the Digital Scholarship Center,” said Xuemao Wang, vice provost of digital scholarship and dean and university librarian. “She played an instrumental role in introducing the concept of digital humanities to both UC Libraries and to our colleagues at the university, as well as in the early establishment of the Digital Scholarship Center.”

Congratulations to Arlene on her new position and responsibilities!

Book of the Month for September 2019

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Your UCBA Library’s Book of the Month for September:

Money: 5000 Years of Debt and Power 

by Michel Aglietta 

Money book cover 

As the financial crisis reached its climax in September 2008, the most important figure on the planet was Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke. The whole financial system was collapsing, with little to stop it. When a senator asked Bernanke what would happen if the central bank did not carry out its rescue package, he replied, “If we don’t do this, we may not have an economy on Monday.” 

What saved finance, and the Western economy, was fiscal and monetary stimulus – an influx of money, created ad hoc. It was a strategy that raised questions about the unexamined nature of money itself, an object suddenly revealed as something other than a neutral signifier of value. Through its grip on finance and the debt system, money confers sovereign power on the economy. If confidence in money is not maintained, crises follow. Looking over the last 5,000 years, Michel Aglietta explores the development of money and its close connection to sovereign power. This book employs the tools of anthropology, history and political economy in order to analyse how political structures and monetary systems have transformed one another. We can thus grasp the different eras of monetary regulation and the crises capitalism has endured throughout its history. 

Is it checked out?  Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered: 

The Ascent of Money: a Financial History of the World (DVD)
HG171 .A83 2009 

Bestselling author, economist and historian Niall Ferguson takes a look at how money evolved, from the concept of credit and debt in the Renaissance to the emergence of a global economy and the subprime crisis we face today 

A History of Money (E-Book) 

A History of Money looks at how money as we know it developed through time. Starting with the barter system, the basic function of exchanging goods evolved into a monetary system based on coins made up of precious metals and, from the 1500s onwards, financial systems were established through which money became intertwined with commerce and trade, to settle by the mid-1800s into a stable system based upon Gold. This book presents its closing argument that, since the collapse of the Gold Standard, the global monetary system has undergone constant crisis and evolution continuing into the present day. 

Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits and Millionaires Trying to Reinvent Money 
HG1710 .P68/ 2015

The notion of a new currency, maintained by the computers of users around the world, has been the butt of many jokes, but that has not stopped it from growing into a technology worth billions of dollars, supported by the hordes of followers who have come to view it as the most important new idea since the creation of the Internet. Believers from Beijing to Buenos Aires see the potential for a financial system free from banks and governments. More than just a tech industry fad, Bitcoin has threatened to decentralize some of society’s most basic institutions. An unusual tale of group invention, Digital Gold charts the rise of the Bitcoin technology through the eyes of the movement’s colorful central characters, including a British anarchist, an Argentinian millionaire, a Chinese entrepreneur, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, and Bitcoin’s elusive creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Already, Bitcoin has led to untold riches for some, and prison terms for others. 

 

by Christian Boyles