Know of a good book to eat?! Create an Edible Book for UC Libraries International Edible Books Festival!
It’s time once again for the fan-favorite International Edible Books Festival scheduled for Monday, April 1, 2024, 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 merch.
If you are interested in creating an edible book, e-mail libraries@uc.edu by Monday, March 25 with your name and the title of your creation.
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
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 Subject headings can be problematic when they center whiteness, include outdated or offensive terminology and omit concepts related to people’s experiences.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 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.
At the next event, scheduled for Wednesday, January 31 at 4:30pm, three poets will read their original work:
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
