Tag Archives: diversity equity inclusion

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

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

In this issue of Source, Liz Kiscaden, dean and university librarian, writes about Creating a shared vision for UC Libraries, and in an interview we learn more about her professional background, immediate goals for the new position and her early impressions of UC Libraries, as well as how she is having fun exploring Cincinnati.

We learn how Mikaila Corday did investigative work to catalog Japanese design books and the Digital Collections Team provides tips on how to digitize your home collections like a pro. We celebrate the return of the She-Wolf (Lupa) statue to Cincinnati and a new book published by the University of Cincinnati Press that focuses on the challenge for non-profits. We recap two recent events held in the Libraries: the Generational Summit and the Data & Poetry / Poetry & Data workshop.

Read these articles, as well as past issues, on the website. To receive Source via e-mail, contact melissa.norris@uc.edu to be added to the mailing list.

Announcing “The Bone Doctor’s Concerto: Music, Surgery, and the Pieces in Between” book launch August 8

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Join UC Libraries and the University of Cincinnati Press for an unforgettable afternoon with Dr. Alvin H. Crawford, MD as he launches his new book “The Bone Doctor’s Concerto: Music, Surgery, and the Pieces in Between.”

Date: Tuesday, August 8, 2023 
Time: 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
Location: Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library | Stanley J. Lucas Board Room (MSB E005HA)
 
A buffet lunch will be provided. This event is free and open to all. RSVP is required.

The Book Launch is an in-person event, however, a Zoom link will be provided to maximize attendance and create a hybrid event for those interested. Please register to indicate your desire to attend in person or remotely.

About the Book

the bone doctor's concerto book cover


The story of one of Cincinnati’s most influential leaders in medicine.

Born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1939, Dr. Alvin Crawford grew up and attended medical school in a segregated world. Beginning with his early life in Orange Mound—a self-contained community for freed slaves established in the 1890s—Crawford’s autobiography describes his flirtation with a music degree and time spent playing in jazz bands through the segregated South. In 1960, Crawford began his ground-breaking medical career with his entrance into the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, becoming the school’s first African American student. After completing his medical training and traveling the world as a surgeon for the Navy, Crawford found himself in Cincinnati, where he established the Comprehensive Pediatric Orthopedic Clinic at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center, the first in the region.

Underlying this story are the systemic and very personal incidents of racism Crawford experienced throughout his career. His autobiography is a personal account of segregation, integration, ambition, hard work and taking risks. “The Bone Doctor’s Concerto” is published by the University of Cincinnati Press.

alvin crawford

Alvin Crawford is professor emeritus in the UC College of Medicine Department of Orthopaedic Surgery with more than 35 years of clinical experience in diagnosis and treatment in orthopedics. He is the recently retired founding director of the Crawford Spine Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center and a renowned expert in spinal deformities and neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder often associated with scoliosis. He is the first Black president of the Scoliosis Research Society and has been recognized in “America’s Best Doctors” since 1996.

And be sure to check out…

The Opening Doors: Contemporary African American Academic Surgeons traveling exhibit hosted by UC Libraries and the US National Library of Medicine.

Where:  Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library | E-Level Exhibit Gallery

July 17, 2023 – Aug 11, 2023

opening doors flyer

Honoring Pride Month with UC Libraries Collections

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By Nimisha Bhat, Assistant Librarian for History, Anthropology, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
With the start of summer and Pride month, it’s a great time to check out some highlights from UC’s library & consortium collections to celebrate trans history, queer culture and LGBTQIA liberation! Here are a few titles to learn from and enjoy:  Continue reading →

RESPECT Presents a 20-Day Self-Education Against Systemic Racism

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20-day challenge graphicSystemic racism is defined as “policies and practices that exist throughout a whole society or organization, and that result in and support a continued unfair advantage to some people and unfair or harmful treatment of others based on race (Cambridge Dictionary).” How does systemic racism bleed into education? The University of Cincinnati Libraries’ R.E.S.P.E.C.T. developed a 20-Day Self-Education Challenge to explore examples of systemic racism – both past and present – that exist in various areas of education, along with ways in which we can help dismantle those practices.

Scheduled to take place May 22-June 16, the challenge is divided into four weeks, each with a different theme.

  • Week 1: Critical Race Theory – what is it?
  • Week 2: Systemic Racism in Education – a history
  • Week 3: Systemic Racism in Academia
  • Week 4: Systemic Racism in Academic Libraries

Learn on your own and then gather online each Friday at 11am via Zoom for a moderated discussion of each week’s module. Register now to watch, read and listen to informative pieces. The challenge is free and open to all. Each week’s module will be sent to those who register along with the Zoom link for the weekly conversation

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.

Tiffany Grant Awarded the 2023 Marian Spencer Equity Ambassador Award for Faculty

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tiffany grantTiffany Grant, PhD, assistant director for research and informatics and co-director of the University of Cincinnati Libraries Research and Data Services Unit, in a ceremony held April 4, was honored to receive the 2023 Marian Spencer Equity Ambassador Award for Faculty. Named for the celebrated civil rights activist, this award is designed to showcase current campus-affiliated individuals and groups whose efforts relate to diversity, equity and inclusion and who have had a positive impact on the university.

Nominated by her colleagues, Tiffany was commended for her commitment to promoting awareness of diversity, equity and inclusion; exhibiting sensitivity to people of various cultures; facilitating growth among colleagues and peers; preparing students, faculty and staff to thrive in a diverse and global workforce; and collaborating with colleagues to create and implement initiatives and policies that build an equitable and inclusive environment. One nominator wrote of Tiffany that she, “embodies the spirit and dedication to spreading awareness of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in all her work at the University of Cincinnati.” Continue reading →

OhioLINK DEI e-books now available

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Thanks to the State Library of Ohio awarding OhioLINK the ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) grant funded by IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services), we now have access to ‘Phase 1’ of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion electronic book collection (see complete Excel list)  . OhioLINK’s goal was to bring better representation of diverse communities and perspectives to the library collections.  Through the ProQuest platform’s curated librarian-selected collection that covers various subjects with diversity and representation in race, gender, religion, physical ability, age, political persuasion, and sexual orientation, that goal was met.

This dynamic digitally shared collection allows all OhioLINK member libraries to have an unlimited number of users and perpetual access to all 82 e-books.  Books can be accessed through a search in the UC Library Catalog or by following the directions below.  Check it out!

DEI ebooks

Langsam Library exhibits installed in honor of Black History Month pay tribute to trailblazers and display the enormous loss in the Middle Passage

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On display in the Walter C. Langsam Library are two new exhibits created and installed for Black History Month. The first pays tribute to Cincinnati African American Medical Trailblazers – Lucy Oxley and O’dell Owens. The second exhibit displays the enormous loss of life in The Middle Passage.

Cincinnati African American Medical Trailblazers

On display on the 4th floor lobby of Langsam Library, this exhibit features materials from the collections of UC Libraries about Lucy Oxley, MD, the first person of color to receive a medical degree from the UC College of Medicine, and O’dell Owens, renowned physician, former Hamilton County coroner and the first African American to sit on the board of the University of Cincinnati.

cincinnati african american medical trailblazers

The Middle Passage

On the 5th floor lobby of Langsam Library is a large map depicting the Middle Passage, which commonly refers to the experience of enslaved African people as they traveled across the Atlantic Basin to the Americas during the transatlantic slave trade. Illness, insanity, hunger, dehydration, torture, revolt, suicide and ship wreck led to the death of ~1.8 million Africans at sea during their Middle Passage.

The exhibit corresponds with the Uncommon Read of the book “Slavery at Sea: Terror, Sex, and Sickness in the Middle Passage” by Sowande’ M. Mustakeem. A Lunch and Learn with the author is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 23 from 12:30-2pm in the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library’s Stanley J. Lucas M.D. Boardroom (E005HA). Register to attend the Lunch and Learn.

the middle passage graphic

Both exhibits were curated by UC Libraries faculty and staff: Meshia Anderson, Susan Banoun, Sidney Gao, Tiffany Grant, Gino Pasi and June Taylor-Slaughter. It was designed by UC Libraries communications design co-op Jakob Elliott.

UC Libraries resources in celebration of Black History Month

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UC Libraries presents resources and collections in celebration of Black History Month.

black history month graphic

Louise Shropshire: An Online Exhibition
An online exhibit featuring Louise Shropshire a Cincinnati Civil Rights pioneer and composer.

Theodore M. Berry Papers Project
An exhibit highlighting the 2010 project to completely process the papers of Theodore Moody Berry, Cincinnati’s first African mayor.

Marian Spencer: Fighting for Equality in Cincinnati
An alumna of the University of Cincinnati (Class of 1942), Marian Spencer fought for Civil Rights in Cincinnati for nearly seventy years. This exhibit examines her career and her papers at the Archives and Rare Books Library.

The Colored Citizen
Published in Cincinnati sporadically from the height of the Civil War in 1863 until approximately 1869, The Colored Citizen was edited by a group of African American citizens from Midwestern cities, including Cincinnati. It was a paper with general news, but with a focus on the political, economic, and cultural affairs that had an impact on African Americans of the age. The Archives and Rare Books Library hold one issue of this paper.

Phillis Wheatley
In 1773, at the age of 20, Wheatley published Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, making her the first published African-American poet.

Lucy Oxley
Source article highlighting Lucy Oxley, MD, the first person of color ever to receive a medical degree from the College of Medicine. Continue reading →

Join UC Libraries’ RESPECT group in reading and discussing “Slavery at Sea”

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slavery at sea book coverThe University of Cincinnati Libraries Racial Equity Support & Programming to Educate the Community Team (RESPECT) and the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library are hosting a book discussion and Lunch and Learn with Sowande’ M. Mustakeem, author of “Slavery at Sea: Terror, Sex, and Sickness in the Middle Passage” on Thursday, Feb. 23 from 12:30-2pm in the Health Sciences Library’s Stanley J. Lucas M.D. Boardroom (E005HA). Register to attend the Lunch and Learn.

How to get the book:

“Slavery at Sea” Book Giveaway

RESPECT has purchased 20 copies of “Slavery at Sea” to give away free to the first 20 individuals who request a copy via the form.

OR Unlimited e-book access to “Slavery at Sea”

UC Libraries has acquired unlimited e-book access to “Slavery at Sea” for those wishing to read the book online. It can be accessed via the Library Catalog.

Join us for weekly Book Discussion Chats

RESPECT will sponsor weekly opportunities to discuss “Slavery at Sea.” These discussions will take place virtually via Zoom and will be held Thursday, February 2nd, 9th and 16th from 11am – noon. Register to attend one or more of the sessions.

RESPECT’s “Slavery and Sea” book discussions and Lunch and Learn are part of a larger Un-Common Read event being held throughout the university in celebration of Black History Month.

slavery at sea flyer

UC Libraries closed Monday, Jan. 16 for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. from LIFE Magazine

UC Libraries will be closed Monday, Jan. 16 in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.The Libraries will resume normal hours on Tuesday, Jan. 17.

Want to read up on Martin Luther King, Jr., his impact and legacy, and how you can make a difference? Check out these library resources and the Racial Justice Resources for Activists, Advocates and Allies Research Guide.