Tag Archives: Library News

Two Librarians Recognized for Excellence

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Each year, The Office of the Provost and the Office of Research collaborate to present the Dean’s Award for Faculty Excellence, which recognizes faculty members who represent excellence in all its forms. Each Dean nominates faculty from their respective units whom they deem worthy of this honor. This year, Dean Xuemao Wang recognized the work of Elna Saxton, head of Content Services in the Walter C. Langsam Library, and Tiffany Grant, interim assistant director for research and informatics at the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library. Below is more about their awards. Congratulations, Elna and Tiffany!

elna saxton

(l to r) Dr. Patrick A. Limbach, VP for Research; Elna Saxton; and Peter E. Landgren, Interim Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost

Excellence Award for Faculty-to-Faculty Research Mentoring 2016-2017 – Elna Saxton

Elna has a long history of mentoring faculty members who work as part of her team.  She encourages them to develop their positions and skill sets and provides encouragement and other support to them.  Elna’s support of faculty in her unit is unconditional, even if that means they need to leave her team to move on to other career objectives within University of Cincinnati Libraries or elsewhere.

“Receiving this award is an honor and reflects on the many successful colleagues that I’ve had the good fortune to work with.  It is very rewarding to work with new faculty and engage with their professional and career development,” said Elna.

Tiffany Grant

(l to r) Dr. Patrick A. Limbach, VP for Research; Tiffany Grant; and Peter E. Landgren, Interim Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost

Award for Faculty Excellence 2016-2017 – Tiffany Grant

Tiffany has served as co-PI on the NIH Informationist Supplement grant “The Relationship Between Vortices, Acoustics, and Vibration in Vocal Fold Asymmetries”, working collaboratively with Dr. Khosla and his team.  Dr. Grant also coordinated the writing of and now implementation of the Faculty Development Grant UC Libraries received this year for the pilot of Electronic Lab Notebooks at the University of Cincinnati.  Last fall, Dr. Grant also invited the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) to come to the University for a series of workshops for UC faculty and staff.

“I am profoundly grateful to have been considered for such an honor. I truly enjoy the work that I do and those that I work with. My work in the Libraries has been tremendously rewarding, and I’m thankful for the continued support of my Health Sciences Library and University of Cincinnati colleagues. Any “excellence” that I may have achieved has largely been due to your example and support,” said Tiffany.

Exciting News from the Archives and Rare Books Library!

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The Archives and Rare Books Library is proud to announce our partnership with the Cincinnati Museum Center. The Museum Center just announced their Shakespeare exhibit, which ARB is helping them prepare! Opening August 25th, the exhibit will be centered on Shakespeare’s First Folio (published 1623). The Folio is generously being lent to CMC by the Folger Shakespeare Library, which toured the work throughout the U.S. just last year. The exhibit will explore Shakespeare through time—how his works have adapted, what’s influenced new interpretations, and how appreciation of his work has evolved. There will be a focus on how Cincinnati has interacted with Shakespeare over time. Continue reading →

‘Preserving the Past for the Future’ Exhibit Showcases Preservation Lab

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preservation exhibitJust in time for Preservation Week (April 23-29), a new exhibit, “Preserving the Past… for the Future,” showcases the services and mission of the Preservation Lab.

Beginning in January of 2012, the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County (PLCH) and University of Cincinnati Libraries (UCL) began a long-term collaboration to provide conservation and preservation treatments in an equally-managed, staffed, and equipped preservation lab situated in UC’s Walter C. Langsam Library. Employees from both PLCH and UCL work on the general circulating and rare/special collections of each institution.

special collectionThe exhibit, located on the 4th floor of Langsam Library, showcases the work of the lab as well as educates about the difference between preservation and conservation, what makes an item a “special collection,” and the techniques and tools used in the care of collections. The exhibit also features both before and after images of the treatment done to the objects and explains the process. The exhibit was curated by Holly Prochaska, preservation librarian, Ashleigh Schieszer, lab conservator, and Jessica Ebert, conservation technician, and was designed by Jessica Burhans, communications co-op design student. Continue reading →

UC Libraries and the Digital Scholarship Center Host Third Annual THATCamp May 1-3

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thatcamp
Registration is now open for THATCamp University of Cincinnati 2017, scheduled for May 1-3 in the Walter C. Langsam Library Digital Commons space on the 4th floor.

THATCamp (The Humanities and Technology Camp) is an unconference – an open meeting where humanists and technologists of all skill levels and interests gather to learn and to build together in sessions proposed on the spot. THATCamp University of Cincinnati 2017 is free and open to all, including undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff as well as scholars, archivists, museum professionals, developers and programmers, K-12 teachers and administrators from within and outside UC who have an involvement or interest in digital humanities. THATCamp’s are open and online. Participants make sure to share their notes, documents, pictures and other materials from discussions before and after the event on the web and via social media. In addition, attendees will have the opportunity to learn more about UC’s first Digital Scholarship Center, a newly launched partnership with UC Libraries and the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), with co-directors Arlene Johnson and James Lee. Continue reading →

UC Press Joins Association of American University Presses

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press logo

The University of Cincinnati Press has been accepted as an introductory member of the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) effectively immediately.

Founded in 1937, the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) is a membership organization of nonprofit scholarly publishers located around the world. The mission of the AAUP is to “assist its members through professional education, cooperative services, and public advocacy.” AAUP advocates for university presses on matters of free speech, academic freedom, copyright, and other core issues.

“The publishing industry continues to change as supply chain and user needs become increasingly varied. Having a resource as specialized as AAUP will provide the University of Cincinnati Press with unparalleled support as we move forward with our publishing program,” said Elizabeth Scarpelli, press director. “The network of directors and press staff that we join provide a level of professional support and expertise that surpasses even the largest publishing organizations today.” Continue reading →

Annual Cecil Striker Society Lecture May 4 to Highlight African American Doctors in Cincinnati

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cecil striker

The Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions and the Cecil Striker Society for the History of Medicine will host the Cecil Striker Society Annual Lecture from 5-7:30 p.m. on Thurs, May 4, in the Kresge Auditorium, Medical Sciences Building, 231 Albert Sabin Way.

This year’s lecture will consist of a panel discussion by prominent African American physicians and is titled “African American Physicians in Cincinnati: Past, Present and Future.”  Moderated by Dr. Elbert Nelson, the panelists will include Drs. Chester Pryor, Charles Dillard, Camille C. Graham and Christopher Lewis.

The evening will include the talk from 5-6 p.m., followed by Q&A and a reception at 6:30 p.m. In addition, an exhibit of the same name will be on display in the Lucas Board Room in the Winkler Center.

The Cecil Striker Lecture is free and open to the public, but RSVP’s are requested to (513) 558-5120 or chhp@uc.edu. Continue reading →

New Exhibit, “Writing UC’s Past,” Combines Flash Fiction with Historic Photographs

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class lecture

From the Archives and Rare Books Library

A new exhibit on display on the 5th floor lobby of Langsam Library features original pieces of flash fiction describing historic images from the collections of UC’s Archives and Rare Books Library.

Flash fiction is a term to describe writing that is extremely brief, typically only a few hundred words or fewer in its entirety. The three pieces in the exhibit average only 300 words but are rich in content. Continue reading →

Welcome, Nick Wantsala, Technology and Equipment Specialist

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We are pleased to announce that Nick Wantsala joined the Research, Teaching and Services (RTS) Department on March 27 as the technology and equipment specialist for The Desk @ Langsam.

Nick Wantsala

Nick Wantsala

Nick comes to UC…from UC. Nick joined the old Circulation and Multimedia Services Department in 2011 as a student assistant. He was promoted to senior student assistant during his time with the department and helped many fellow student assistants throughout the strategic merge of departments that resulted in The Desk @ Langsam. Nick has interned at Fox19 and was the president of the UC African Students Association. After graduating in 2015 with a degree in communications, Nick joined RTS as a temporary student supervisor, then became the temporary employee for the old equipment assistant position.

As the technology and equipment specialist, Nick will manage daily operations of the circulating equipment collection and the Center for Excellence in eLearning’s faculty and staff mobile technology collection. His primary responsibilities will be the circulation, maintenance, inventory, and the education of and communication with users in relation to these materials. Nick will also be collaborating with librarians working on eLearning and digital literacy, as well as providing user services Monday-Friday at The Desk @ Langsam. He will work with staff in RTS, ILS, the STRC, Library IT, and CEeL to further investigate and curate new technologies and devices that will best aid our students as they engage in cutting edge learning.

Provost Technology Innovation Award to Fund Data Visualization across Disciplines

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The Provost Technology Innovation Award will fund visualization technology for faculty and students to communicate knowledge in graphical form.

data visualtion wall

Vendor supplied photograph of a data visualization wall.

The Office of the Provost has provided more than $1.3 million in funding to collaborating departments and groups across UC, helping each of them push the university community to new academic heights. UC Libraries, partnering with the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, the Carl H. Lindner College of Business and IT@UC  was one of four Technology Innovation Award recipients recently announced with the successful proposal “Data Visualization Across Disciplines: Digital Literacy for the University of Cincinnati’s Third Century.” These partners will work together to invest in the development of an interdisciplinary undergraduate certificate in data visualization; training students to communicate complex data by placing it in a visual context. This cross-college program will incorporate coursework designed and team-taught by faculty, blending multiple perspectives on data visualization to a wide range of students. Data visualization is an emerging art and science that has changed people’s relationship with information. It harnesses new technologies to communicate knowledge in graphical form by merging aesthetic form with analytical function to present large and complex datasets in an intuitive and human-interpretable fashion.

From the Provost Office Announcement – As the University of Cincinnati moves toward its Bicentennial in 2019, the Office of the Provost supports academic and technological innovation keeping our university’s educational mission core to what we do and who we are at UC. This is the drive behind the Provost Technology Innovation Awards program, which funds projects developed by faculty and students who collaborate between colleges and discrete disciplines to support interdisciplinary projects that turn original ideas into reality. “At UC we have a strong, shared commitment to the continued modernization of the learning experience,” says Interim UC Provost Peter Landgren. “It is a pleasure to see the spirit of partnership change and improve the academic journey at the university through collaborative ideas like the ones funded through this program.”

Continue reading →