UC Libraries provides access to a wide range of Research Data and GIS services and resources for the campus community. Informationists and librarians assist researchers in managing and preserving research data, finding and acquiring external data and in utilizing GIS techniques and software. Research and Data Services (RDS) announces two programs this summer to engage with research experts — UC Open Research Day on May 27 and the Undergraduate Research Summer Learning Community running June 3 through July 22.
CECH Library Reading Room Grand Opening Celebration Tuesday, April 21 2:30-4:30pm (brief remarks at 3pm) 400 Level of Teachers-Dyer Complex, 2610 University Circle
The start of spring semester saw the opening of the CECH Library Reading Room. Located on the 400 level of the Teachers-Dyer Complex, and totaling more than 3,000 square feet, the reading room is accessible via the staircase in the CECH Library or directly with a Bearcat ID. It offers a variety of seating, library collections and a reservable study room (400B) with adaptive lighting and study and focus tools.
At the Grand Opening Celebration, tour the space, enjoy refreshments, hear remarks from UC Libraries and CECH and enjoy the refreshed space. At 3:30pm, venture downstairs to the 3rd floor CECH MakerLab for an informal showcase of innovative Making and STEAM kit projects created as part of the School of Education’s digital pedagogical support initiative.
The Grand Opening Celebration is open to all, so bring a colleague and a friend.
The University of Cincinnati Libraries celebrated the International Edible Books Festival on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. The event marked the 25th year of UC Libraries participating in Edible Books — and it was a momentous occasion!
Best Student Entry – Ellie Alfieri, Extra Yarn
This year, saw an impressive 24 entries from students, librarians and staff, along with family, friends and retirees. There are few restrictions in creating an edible book – namely that the creation be edible and have something to do with a book. Today’s entries covered all genres – from fiction to non-fiction, animals, food, classics, contemporary titles and more.
Contemporary fiction Seared on the Heart, The Song of Achilles, Holes, The Names, Intermezzo, along with classics Frankenstein and The Tell-Tale Heart were well represented. Non-fiction titles Feeding Ghosts, The Hidden Lives of Trees and Dirt: The Scoop on Soil were sure to educate and delight.
Numerous children’s books made people smile with The Hundred Dresses, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, Do You Have a Hat?, Great Sharky Shark, Extra Yarn and The Day the Crayons Quit.
Food-themed titles I am Grateful for Chicken Pot Pie (which was a virtual entry), Cakes and Ale, Triceramisu and Amaze! Rocky Road Cookies were delicious.
This year also saw two sets of identical entries — the fan-favorite Heated Rivalry and the popular book about to be a film Remarkably Bright Creatures.
UC Libraries is pleased to welcome Jordan Finkin, PhD, as the new head of the John Miller Burnam Classics Library. Jordan joins UC from Hebrew Union College, where he most recently served as deputy director of libraries, overseeing a four-campus system, as well as serving as the rare book and manuscript librarian. He brings extensive experience in library leadership, collection development and the stewardship of rare books and manuscripts.
Jordan holds a doctorate in Near Eastern studies and is the author of several scholarly monographs and numerous academic articles. He is also a productive literary translator from Yiddish, German and French, and the founder and director of the Naydus Press, a nonprofit publisher of Yiddish literature in English translation. His work with multilingual collections, together with his administrative experience, positions him well to steward the Classics Library’s exceptional collections and serve UC Libraries’ mission.
The John Miller Burnam Classics Library at the University of Cincinnati possesses one of the world’s largest and most distinguished collections of Classical Studies with particular strengths in Greek and Latin philology, Aegean Bronze Age archaeology, and Latin palaeography. It is unique in housing under one roof the full spectrum of sub-disciplines within the broad definition of Classics — language and literature, art and archaeology, history, philosophy, religion, law, science and medicine in addition to Modern Greek studies, papyrology, epigraphy, palaeography and more. The collection spans five millennia of recorded history and the vast geographic areas of Ancient Greece and the full expanses of the Roman Empire, including Eastern Rome (Byzantium) in addition to sizeable collections covering the Near East and Ancient Egypt.
The Classics Library is located at 417 Blegen Library and features a Reading Room, Palaeography Reading Room, Epigraphy and Papyrology Reading Room and impressive stack floors.
At the next event, scheduled for Wednesday, April 8 at 4:30pm, Amy Lemmon, UC alumna along with five undergraduate student poets: Madison Crock, Grace Harsh, Nate Murphy, Iris Rokvić and Madeline Schrand.
Amy Lemmon is the author of the poetry collections Saint Nobody (Red Hen Press) and The Miracles (C&R Press) and coauthor, with Denise Duhamel, of the chapbooks ABBA: The Poems (Coconut Books) and Enjoy Hot or Iced: Poems in Conversation and a Conversation (Slapering Hol Press, 2011). Her poems and essays have appeared in The Best American Poetry, Rolling Stone,Prairie Schooner, The Hopkins Review, The Cincinnati Review, The Journal, Marginalia, and many other magazines and anthologies. Recipient of fellowships from the Constance Saltonstall Foundation, Sewanee Writers’ Workshop, and Antioch Writers’ Workshop, Amy is Professor of English at the Fashion Institute of Technology-SUNY, where she teaches writing, literature, and creativity studies. She has performed her poetry widely including the KGB Bar-Lit series, the Montevallo Literary Festival, and the New York Public Library. She lives in Astoria, Queens.
Join the Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions and the Oesper Collections in the History of Chemistry for a Lunch & Learn about inventions that save lives. Scheduled for Monday, April 20, at noon in the Science Library’s Intersect Space (240 Braunstein Hall), Bill Heineman, distinguished research professor emeritus in chemistry, will speak on Leland Clark, Jr. – his life and legacy as a scientist and inventor.
Leland Clark, Jr. has been widely acknowledged as one of the founders of biosensors. His inventions are numerous and highly impactful. He invented the first blood-oxygen sensor, glucose sensor and made fundamental progress on the heart-lung machine. He served as a professor of research pediatrics and head of the division of neurophysiology at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Research Foundation from 1968 until retirement in 1991.Clark’s achievements led to numerous honors, including special recognition as the “Father of Biosensors” at the 1992 World Congress on Biosensors and the National Academy of Engineering’s prestigious Fritz and Delores Russ Prize, an award that recognizes bioengineering achievement, in 2005. Heineman, accepted the Russ Prize on Leland Clark’s behalf, co-authored his obituary published in Biosensors and Bioelectronics and was a friend and colleague. Clark’s papers are housed in the Winkler R. Center History of the Health Professions.
The Lunch & Learn is open to all to attend. A pizza lunch will be provided.
Ahron Leichtman was a national and regional leader in the quest to ban public smoking in the United States. He graduated in 1964 from the University of Cincinnati with a Bachelor of Arts in political science, and earned a creative writing certificate from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1971.
“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” will discuss the nonsmokers’ rights movement and the impact on public health. The panel, led by local historian and journalist Dan Hurley, will include journalists Peter Bronson and Fred Anderson, former mayor David Mann and UC physician Peter Lenz who will provide their insights and expertise on the nonsmoking movement in Cincinnati.
Know of a good book to eat?! Create an Edible Book for UC Libraries International Edible Books Festival!
Dragons Love Tacos. Edible book by Lexi Davis, 2025 Best Overall
It’s time once again for the fan-favorite International Edible Books Festival scheduled for Wednesday, April 1, 2025, 11 a.m. on the 4th floor of the Walter C. Langsam Library. UC Libraries is seeking people interested in creating an edible book for the enjoyment of all in attendance. There are few restrictions – namely that your creation be edible and have something to do with a book – so you may let your creativity run wild.
As in previous years, entries will be judged according to such categories as “Most Delicious,” “Most Creative,” “Most Checked Out” and “Most Literary.” Those awarded “Best Student Entry” and “Best Overall” will win UC swag.
Looking for inspiration? View images from last year’s Edible Books on the Libraries Facebook page.
Interested in creating an Edible Book? Complete the entry formby Wednesday, March 25.
In response to the growing cost of course materials, the University of Cincinnati Libraries is launching the Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) Grant Program. Available to UC faculty to apply, the aim of the program is to incentivize and support the adoption of either open educational resources (OERs) or library resources into general education and high-enrollment courses at UC. The program will provide material support in the form of grants for adopting, adapting, creating or maintaining zero-cost course materials and will build resources and infrastructure for success within UC Libraries and the UC community at large.
The ZTC Grant Program supports the integration of OERs and existing library resources into course curricula with the goal of replacing paid textbooks and course materials with the zero-cost model and maximizing student savings. To ensure this, the program is committed to providing financial, structural and instructional support to address common barriers to engagement.
Grants will be awarded in four categories: Adoption, Adaptation, Creation and Maintenance. They will have a staggered launch with Adoption, Adaptation and Maintenance grants launching in March 2026 (with awards administered in FY 2026–2027) and Creation grants tentatively scheduled for launch in October 2026.
At the next event, scheduled for Wednesday, March 11 at 4pm, three poets will read their original work:
Dr. Taylor Byas, Ph.D. is a Black Chicago native currently living in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her debut full-length, I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times from Soft Skull Press, won the 2023 Maya Angelou Book Award, the 2023 Chicago Review of Books Award in Poetry and the 2024 Ohioana Book Award in Poetry. Her second full-length, Resting Bitch Face (2025), was a September pick for Roxane Gay’s Audacious Book Club. She is represented by Noah Grey Rosenzweig at Triangle House Literary.
Jim Palmarini has been facilitating and participating in public poetry readings for more than 40 years. He currently hosts the Word of Mouth Cincinnati series, now in its 12th year, at Over the Rhine’s MOTR Pub. His work has appeared in numerous journals, online and in print, including Shellys, ClayDrum, Jawbone and For a Better World. His narrative poem, “Welcome to the Reading”, was included in the Fall, 2023 edition of The Cincinnati Review.
Luca Campagnoli is a fourth-year fiction writer and poet majoring in creative writing at the University of Cincinnati. His work is forthcoming or has appeared in Solid State, Mr. Bull and Short Vine Journal. He serves as president of the university’s Writer’s Circle and Poetry Collective. He also works at Household Books, an independent bookstore in Cincinnati.
