New Library Exhibit Explores Decolonizing the Library Catalog

decolonizing the library catalog

A new exhibit on display on the fourth floor lobby of the Walter C. Langsam Library explores “Decolonizing the Library Catalog.” An important purpose of a library catalog is to ensure discoverability of materials. In addition to keywords that may or not be present in the book title or other parts of the record, subject headings are assigned to indicate the topics of library resources. Subject headings are created and maintained by a group of authorities, such as the Library of Congress, to help users find materials on a given topic. Headings are generally based on standard, contemporary American English-language usage and are intended to reflect current literature. (Adler). Subject headings can be problematic when they center whiteness, include outdated or offensive terminology and omit concepts related to people’s experiences. The display explores these issues, includes examples of problematic subject headings and lists ways in which people are working to update and improve the Library Catalog.

“Decolonizing the Library Catalog” was curated by Susan Banoun, team leader in eResources & Access, Mikaila Corday, eResources Department, and Olga Hart, coordinator of library instruction. It was designed by Francesca Voyten, communications design co-op student. The exhibit is sponsored by the Libraries RESPECT (Racial Equity Support Programming to Educate the Community Team) in honor of Black History Month.

To learn more, a print bibliography is available at the exhibit and posted below as an image.

Announcing the 2022-2023 UC Libraries Annual Report

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Beginning Anew

Announcing the 2022-2023 University of Cincinnati Libraries Annual Report. My tenure as dean and university librarian began in mid-August 2023, a time of great growth at the University of Cincinnati. I’ve spent these past six months learning as much as I can about the Libraries – how 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” supports the university’s NEXT Lives Here Strategic Directions. Documents such as the Annual Report have been key to my education.

In this Annual Report, we look back at the top News & Events, applaud Staff Accomplishments & Milestones and look at the Libraries By the Numbers and Financially. Under the leadership of interim dean and university librarian Lori Harris, we welcomed a significant number of new librarians and staff members who will provide essential library services and research support and help move the Libraries forward. We acquired, processed, preserved and made available collections used for research. We held events to bring people into the Libraries to interact with our facilities and collections. We created welcoming places – both virtual and in-person – for people to study, research and collaborate. And, we provided our expertise to the students, faculty and researchers who rely on UC Libraries for their academic pursuits.

Looking Forward

While we celebrate the accomplishments of the past academic year, we also continue to move forward and plan for the future. This past fall we began the process of developing an updated strategic plan with goals and initiatives that will continue to advance the mission of the University of Cincinnati. This plan will build upon the successes of UC Libraries and respond to the rapidly changing landscape of higher education, as well as the increasingly diverse needs of our students, faculty and researchers. The strategic plan will be completed this summer and will guide our work for the next three years. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, enjoy reading the 2022-2023 University of Cincinnati Libraries Annual Progress Report.

Liz Kiscaden,
Dean and University Librarian

Join us January 31 for Poetry Stacked

The University of Cincinnati Libraries and the Elliston Poetry Room announce the next roster of poets for Poetry Stacked, a semi-regular poetry reading series held in the 6th floor east stacks of the Walter C. Langsam Library.

At the next event, scheduled for Wednesday, January 31 at 4:30pm, three poets will read their original work:

poets
  • Lisa Ampleman is the author of three full-length books of poetry, including Mom in Space (2024) and Romances (2020), both with LSU Press, and Full Cry (NFSPS Press, 2013), as well as a chapbook, I’ve Been Collecting This to Tell You (Kent State UP, 2012). Her work has appeared recently in journals including 32 Poems, Colorado Review, Cortland Review, Ecotone, Georgia Review, The Rumpus, Shenandoah, and Southern Review, and she was the recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award in FY22. She lives in Cincinnati and is the managing editor of The Cincinnati Review and poetry series editor at Acre Books.
  • Pauletta Hansel’s poetry collections include Will There Also Be Singing? (Shadelandhouse Modern Press, 2024), Heartbreak Tree (Madville Publications, 2022), which won the Poetry Society of Virginia’s 2023 North American Book Award, and Palindrome (Dos Madres Press, 2023), winner of the 2017 Weatherford Award for Appalachian poetry. Pauletta’s writing is featured in Oxford American, Rattle, Appalachian Journal, Cincinnati Review, Cutleaf, Sequestrum, Verse Daily and Poetry Daily, among others. She was the 2022 Writer-in-Residence for The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Thomas More University’s first Writer in Residence (2012-2015), and WordPlay Cincy’s first Writer in Residence (2015-2016).  She is a core member of the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition, and past managing editor of Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, the literary journal of the Southern Appalachian Writers Cooperative.
  • Dani Charles is a queer, Hispanic poet from McAllen, Texas, and recent MFA graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop; where they received the 2021 John Logan Poetry Prize, appeared in Poetry Magazine and Denver Quarterly. They’re currently in their first year of the Creative Writing PhD program at University of Cincinnati.
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UC’s Lynn Warner selected to complete Open Education Network’s Certificate in Open Education Librarianship

Lynn Warner, research and health sciences librarian in the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library, is among nine librarians selected to complete Open Education Network’s Certificate in Open Education Librarianship.

Selection into the cohort was a competitive process based on the candidate’s “experience, passion and commitment to advancing the goals of the open education movement,” according to the program’s documentation. Administered by the Open Education Network (OEN), the Certificate in Open Education Librarianship is a professional development program that aims to create effective open education program leaders who want to be stewards and advocates for high-quality, public domain, open and adaptable educational resources (OER).

lynn warner

The cohort begins in January, 2024 and runs through September. After completing the eight-month OEN course, in addition to serving as OER advocates, the librarians will be prepared to support and advise faculty interested in transitioning from commercial to no-cost-to-student teaching materials.

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DAAP Library exhibit features medieval illuminated manuscripts and early modern prints from UC collections

An exhibit on display at the entrance to the Robert A. Deshon and Karl J. Schlachter Library for Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP) features 20 items of woodcuts, engravings, etchings and illuminated manuscript leaves and scrolls from the UC Art Collection and DAAP Library Special Collections. Featuring intricately designed prints and lavishly illuminated manuscripts, the exhibit explores late medieval and early modern European art in a global perspective. It focuses on the visual and material traces of social and political connections between Europe and Africa, Asia and the Americas from the 15th to 17th centuries.

The installation was curated by Aaron Cowan, director of the UC Art Collections, Galleries and Museum Studies Program, Elizabeth Meyer, head of the DAAP Library, and Christopher Platts, assistant professor of art history in the School of Art at DAAP.

scrolls

The Preservation Lab’s Jessica Ebert and Catarina Figueirinhas assisted with preparing the exhibit for display by creating housing, matting and mounts for the items, including for this parchment scroll.

The exhibition will be up through December 13, 2023.

UC Libraries closed for Thanksgiving holiday

turkeys

The University of Cincinnati Libraries will be closed Thursday, November 23 and Friday, November 24 for Thanksgiving, with some locations closed the remainder of the holiday weekend and many library locations closing early on Wednesday, November 22 at 5pm. Check the listed hours for each library location’s specific hours.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Health Sciences Library display in honor of World AIDS Day December 1

UC Libraries recognizes World AIDS Day on December 1st. This year, we are partnering with Caracole and other libraries across Cincinnati to coordinate educational displays that help raise awareness, challenge stigma and improve education about HIV.

display

Caracole is a nonprofit organization that is devoted to positively changing lives in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Caracole seeks to educate and empower both young and older adults with accurate information about HIV. It has been four decades since the first AIDS cases were reported in the U.S., but lack of HIV knowledge and stigma continues, especially among younger people who were not alive during the darkest days of the epidemic (Owning HIV Survey 2019).

To learn more, stop by the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library between Monday, November 20th and Sunday, December 3rd to view the World AIDS Day display. We encourage you to take a pin, take a brochure and browse a curated collection of books on HIV/AIDS.

With your help, we can raise awareness, de-stigmatize HIV and prevent future cases or HIV in our communities.

Angela Jackson joins UC Libraries as the associate to the dean and university librarian

angela jackson

On October 31, 2023, Angela Jackson joined the University of Cincinnati as associate to the dean and university librarian. Angela has been a part of the University of Cincinnati and UC Health organization since 2015, providing executive support to physicians and executive leadership within the College of Medicine for UC Health. Prior to accepting this role, Angela was the executive assistant to the SVP, chief operating officer, and vice president of Physician Network within the Ambulatory administration for UC Health.

Angela is a native of Cincinnati, and in her spare time loves to spend quality time with family, binge watching episodes of HGTV and taking long walks outside while listening to music from the 80’s and 90’s.

Welcome, Angela!

Join UC Libraries in reading and discussing “The Sum of Us”

sum of us

UC Libraries’ RESPECT (Racial Equity Support Programming to Educate the Community Team) is hosting a book club featuring “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We can Prosper Together” by Heather McGhee starting in January ’24 with monthly online discussions concluding with in an in-person talk in April.

The first 50 people to request a book will receive a physical copy.

In “The Sum of Us:”McGhee embarks on a deeply personal journey across the country from Maine to Mississippi to California, tallying what we lose when we buy into the zero-sum paradigm—the idea that progress for some of us must come at the expense of others. Along the way, she meets white people who confide in her about losing their homes, their dreams, and their shot at better jobs to the toxic mix of American racism and greed. This is the story of how public goods in this country—from parks and pools to functioning schools—have become private luxuries; of how unions collapsed, wages stagnated, and inequality increased; and of how this country, unique among the world’s advanced economies, has thwarted universal healthcare.

Penguin random house

Beginning in January, the book club will meet via Zoom to discuss the text over a series of three Fridays from 10:00-11:00am, January 26, February 23 and March 22. These meetings will culminate in a final wrap-up discussion on Friday, April 5 in-person and facilitated by Sinclair Community College’s Chief Diversity Officer Michael Carter. 

To sign up to participate and be sent more information, fill out this form. The first 50 people to request a book will receive a physical copy. Physical copies and ebook access are also available to check out through UC Libraries. For any additional questions, e-mail Nimisha Bhat at nimisha.bhat@uc.edu.

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.