Tag Archives: Information

The University of Cincinnati Libraries Annual Progress Report, 2019-2020: A Year Like No Other

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annual progress report graphicWhat a year it’s been.

The University of Cincinnati Libraries Annual Progress Report, this year completely online, covers July 2019 through June 2020, an academic year that started off normally, but in the spring would be disrupted in ways never thought possible because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Fall semester was business as usual with students, faculty, researchers and staff accessing our facilities and resources for research and study, or simply to grab a cup of coffee between classes. Librarians and staff provided instruction on how to find the best research materials, offered reference assistance, collected and made our collections available and collaborated with faculty and researchers to translate information and data into knowledge. The usual activities in the library would come to a sudden halt spring semester.

This year’s report reviews how we responded to the Covid-19 pandemic, but it also celebrates our numerous accomplishments, highlights new special collections and library exhibits, spotlights the achievements of our faculty and staff and provides usage stats and financial information.

As the semester and 2020 come to a close, we wish you warm wishes for the holiday season. May the new year bring you health, harmony and joy.

Dorcas Washington takes on new role of data analytics specialist on the Research and Data Services Team

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dorcas washingtonDorcas Washington, formerly content analyst on the Content Services Team, has transitioned to the new role of data analytics specialist on the Research and Data Services (RDS) Team.

In her new role, Dorcas will provide leadership and expertise in the areas of quantitative and qualitative data analysis, as well as play a leading role in developing and executing a research reproducibility support program across disciplines. Dorcas holds a BA in mathematics, an MS in applied statistics with a concentration in bio-statistics and has recently been accepted into UC’s PhD program for environmental health: bio-statistics. In her new role, she will be able to utilize her knowledge and skill set to its fullest and to build upon her experiences gained as a member of the Content Services Team.

As data analytics specialist, Dorcas will be responsible for:

  • Leading library services related to the evaluation, manipulation and visualization of data and the use of statistical tools
  • Developing and delivering scalable research and data-related services and resources in collaboration with RDS, with the Digital Scholarship Center, and others as appropriate
  • Leading the development and implementation of consultation and instruction services for statistical and analytical methods
  • Promoting best practices for ethical and reproducible data production, analysis and dissemination
  • Developing and coding executable programs to automate processes to perform computational inquiries
  • Co-managing Informatics Lab operations within the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library.

“I look forward to getting back to my roots of mathematics and statistics by utilizing those skills to help people further research at UC,” said Dorcas. “This position interested me because it’s doing work I enjoy with a diverse group of people (students, faculty, staff and more).”

Those interested in services, should contact RDS via e-mail askdata@uc.edu.

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.

Life of the Mind lecture re-imagined to include celebration of UC scholarship

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Call for submissions from UC faculty and staff of 2019 creative and scholarly works by June 30.

publicationsThe University of Cincinnati Libraries is collaborating with the Faculty Senate, the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost and the Faculty Enrichment Center to bring back the popular Authors, Editors & Composers event and exhibit last held in 2013 and incorporate it into the Life of the Mind lecture series.

The re-imagined Life of the Mind will create one event that will celebrate the achievements of UC’s artists, authors, editors and composers together with a presentation by a distinguished faculty member and panel discussion to foster an interdisciplinary dialogue on an emergent theme.

Still named Life of the Mind, the event is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, in the Faculty Enrichment Center. An exhibit of faculty and staff submitted works and compositions will be on display at the event and then moved the following day for public display in the Walter C. Langsam Library’s fourth and fifth floor lobbies. The organizers are prepared to move the event and exhibit fully online if circumstances dictate the necessity to do so.

life of the mind logoTo include 2019 creative and scholarly works, UC faculty and staff are invited to submit via an online form by June 30. Include only those works performed or published between January 2019 and December 2019. Submissions are limited to three per category per artist, author, editor or composer. Categories may include: books, book chapters, journal articles, editing, artwork, photography, plays, musical scores, CDs or DVDs.

It is from the submitted works that the Life of the Mind Steering Committee will select the featured faculty speaker to give the Life of the Mind lecture.

The mission of Life of the Mind remains to celebrate UC research, scholarship and creative output and to foster the free and open exchange of ideas and discourse.

Questions? Contact Melissa Cox Norris, (513)556-1558 or melissa.norris@uc.edu.

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

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

In this issue of Source, Dean Xuemao Wang writes about how a digital core is part of a 21st-century liberal education.

Two exhibits that highlight women who fought for equality are featured in this issue along with an article by Kevin Grace, university archivist and head of the Archives and Rare Books Library, who writes of Mark Twain’s relationship with Cincinnati, including that quote attributed to Twain about where he hopes to be when the world ends.

This issue announces the exciting comeback of the former popular Authors, Editors & Composers exhibit that will combine with the current Life of the Mind lecture to form one event that will celebrate the achievements of UC’s artists, authors, editors & composers. We announce the 5th University of Cincinnati Libraries Annual Progress Report – A Year of Reflection.

Lastly, we announce two upcoming events – the second Hidden Treasures: An Adopt-A-Book Evening on March 12 and the upcoming annual Cecil Striker Lecture to focus on Dr. Christian R. Holmes and scheduled for May 7.

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.

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

Announcing the 5th Annual University of Cincinnati Libraries 2018/19 Annual Progress Report – A Year of Reflection.

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annual progress report coverThis past year the University of Cincinnati marked its Bicentennial led by the tenants: To Honor the past. Elevate the present. Bend the future. While
celebrating the Libraries’ vital role in the past 200 years of the university, we also took this opportunity to reflect on our goals, objectives, accomplishments and gaps as the next phase of our strategic direction.

Our year of reflection has resulted in the need for the creation of an emerging, and even bolder, Strategic Framework – one built upon the knowledge of our strengths and challenges, coupled with the needs and perspectives of our users, and that will propel us forward as we strive to become the globally engaged intellectual commons of the university – now and well into the future.

The University of Cincinnati Libraries Annual Progress Report, 2018/2019, available online at https://issuu.com/uclibraries/docs/uclannualreport18_19, makes note of the accomplishments and happenings of the previous year, as well as celebrates the people and donors integral to us fulfilling the work of our mission to empower discovery, stimulate learning and inspire the creation of knowledge by connecting students, faculty, researchers and scholars to dynamic data, information and resources.

Questions? Request a print copy? E-mail melissa.norris@uc.edu.

Happy Reading!

Welcome, Katie Hillery, the New Library Services Assistant in the Science and Engineering Libraries

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Tuesday, Nov. 12 marks the first day at UC Libraries for Katie Hillery, the new library services assistant in the Science & Engineering Libraries.

Katie has a B.A. in history and classics from Hillsdale College, and recently began the M.L.I.S. program at Kent State University.  She brings a valuable combination of work experience in library operations (public services, technical services) and archives/special collections (including the Hillsdale College archives, Carus Coin Collection, E.O. Grosvenor House archives).

Katie’s primary workspace is in the Geology-Mathematics-Physics Library (Braunstein Hall) where she will provide critical operational support and help to elevate our initiatives with STEM special collections.

Welcome to UC Libraries, Katie!

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!