Tag Archives: library staff

The University of Cincinnati Libraries Annual Progress Report, 2020-2021

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Looking back as we plan our NEXT Directions.

This year’s Annual Progress Report covers July 2020 through June 2021. It was an exceptionally complicated time, during which we entered the second year of the pandemic, developed and adopted new digital resources to support remote learning and remote research and prepared for the transition back to campus for the 2021 fall semester.

In these unprecedented times, library faculty and staff continuously found ways to transform and elevate library services by bringing their experience, talents and dedication to the forefront so as to continue to fulfill 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.” Continue reading →

Man Qi joins RDS team as a student research consultant

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Man QiMan Qi is joining UC Libraries’ Research and Data Services (RDS) team as a student research consultant where she will provide consultations in the Data & GIS Collab in the Geology-Mathematics-Physics Library.

Her expertise is GIS software, hydrological modeling, SWMM modeling, geographic data processing, spatial analysis, map design, Python and R.

Man Qi is a PhD candidate in Geography & GIS from UC’s College of Arts and Sciences. She is passionate about helping others with data visualization and spatial data analysis. Her main job is to provide support to our UC community in spatial data processing and analysis (e.g., location analysis, spatial interpolation), map design and making using GIS techniques and hydrological modeling using SWMM. In addition, she also works with UC RDS team to develop workshops according to the UC community’s needs in learning GIS techniques, such as ArcGIS StoryMaps workshop.

Welcome, Man!

Rachel Hoople joins CECH Library as Operations Supervisor

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rachel hoopleRachel Hoople has joined the College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services (CECH) Library team as operations supervisor.

Rachel began work at UC as a temporary staff member in the Walter C. Langsam Library this past March. Additionally, she has held the role of library associate at the Portsmouth Public Library and worked in a variety of positions at Shawnee State University, including writing tutor and adjunct professor. Rachel holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English from Shawnee State University and grew up in Portsmouth, Ohio.

On a personal note, Rachel is an avid reader and appreciator of literature for young people. Her favorite YA fiction genres include fantasy, thriller and rom-com. Some of her favorite books include The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune, and Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian. Her 1st favorite author was Patricia Polacco and her favorite book in the Harry Potter series is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Rachel’s skill sets in readers’ advisory and YA literature will be well-utilize in the CECH Library.

Welcome back, Rachel!

The Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library introduces Andrea Chemero and Jessica Heys

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The Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library is pleased to welcome two new faces to its ranks.

Andrea Chemero

Andrea Chemero

Andrea Chemero

Andrea Chemero has joined the Health Sciences Library in the role of temporary health sciences librarian. She comes to the library with over 10 years of experience as a librarian, having worked in libraries at both the community college and academic levels. Andrea may be a familiar face to some as she also spent time working in the Karl J. Schlachter and Robert A. Deshon Library for Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP).

Andrea brings to her position at the Health Sciences Library experience in reference and instruction, customizing online finding aides and providing research workshops. She has made frequent use of custom online finding aides, such as LibGuides, to support students’ research needs and has extensive experience helping students with medical reference questions and databases such as CINAHL, Medline and Ovid.

Upon moving to Cincinnati in 2012, Andrea took a break from being a librarian to pursue art, which led to her earning an M.F.A. from DAAP in 2020. Andrea states that she was “unable to keep away,” and took a one-year break from her studies at DAAP to work as a librarian at the DAAP Library.

Jessica Heys

Jessica Heys

Jessica Heys

Jessica Heys has joined the Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions. Jessica works directly with Gino Pasi, Winkler Center archivist, to help create a series of exhibits corresponding to a lecture series focused on Renaissance doctor and anatomist, Andreas Vesalius. In addition, she is processing the papers of environmental and occupational health pioneer Eula Bingham, PhD.

Jessica has been the archives contractor for The Charles F. Kettering Foundation in Dayton for several years and was formerly the archivist for the National Afro American Museum and Cultural Center in Wilberforce. A Certified Archivist through the Academy of Certified Archivists, Jessica holds an M.A. in history with public history emphasis, focus on museum studies and archives and records management from Wright State University, a B.A. in art history from the University of Cincinnati College of DAAP, and an A.A. in art with emphases in painting and life drawing and anatomy from Sinclair Community College. In addition to having been invited to the Cincinnati Women Leadership Conference, she is a member of numerous academic and professional organizations, and is looking forward to her time working here at UC.

Welcome, Andrea and Jessica!

Welcome, Lauren Reder, to the University of Cincinnati Libraries

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Lauren Reder has recently joined the Content Services Team as a temporary employee working primarily with the Classics and Modern Greek collections. She will be updating invoices for payment, cataloging material, reviewing records and assisting with other catalog data quality projects as the team continues to explore improvements in workflow, updating procedural documentation, and identifying how this work can be most efficiently performed for UC Libraries. She will also assist the Digital Collections Team with accessibility remediation for the project underway of digitization of the UC News Record issues from 1980-1985. 

Lauren received her MS in Library & Information Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Previously, she earned her BA in Classical Languages & Cultures from Wright State University, where she studied Latin and Greek and also minored in English and Art History. She held two previous UC Libraries’s internships at the John Miller Burnam Classics Library during her undergraduate career, served as President of Wright State’s chapter of the Eta Sigma Phi Classics honorary and tutored students in Latin for several years. 

While deeply passionate about the humanities, Lauren also feels drawn to librarianship as a way to serve others by connecting them to the information they need. She has spent the past few years working as a Job Developer and HR Generalist at an employment agency serving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Lauren finds it incredibly rewarding to accompany her clients as they work to create resumes, apply to jobs and obtain meaningful employment. Informed by this experience, she hopes to have the opportunity to assist with accessibility initiatives within UC Libraries in order to ensure that patrons of all abilities can access our materials and services. For more about Lauren see her LinkedIn profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-reder

Welcome, Lauren!

Alia Jones joins the staff of the Geology-Mathematics-Physics Library

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Welcome to Alia Jones, who has joined the staff of UC Libraries as the temporary library services assistant at the Geology-Mathematics-Physics (GMP) Library. Alia started on Monday, Nov. 1, and has been orienting herself with library processes, the collections and learning about the service needs at the GMP Library.

Alia will work primarily at the GMP Library, but will also assist operations when needed at the other Science & Engineering Libraries’ (SEL) locations.

Alia has a wide-ranging background in literature, research and libraries. She holds a Bachelor’s of Arts degree from Cornell University, majoring in Cultural Anthropology with minors in American Indian Studies and East Asian Studies. Her work experience as a library services assistant and later as a senior library services assistant with the Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County (PLCH) gives her great insight in assisting patrons and performing front line activities.

Along with her work at PLCH, Alia has worked with book retailers, was an English teacher in South Korea and spent time as a research assistant at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. She has worked as a freelance writer doing book reviews, conducted numerous presentations and speaking engagements, as well as serving on several library related programs/activities.

Welcome, Alia!

Dean Xuemao Wang elected to HathiTrust’s Board of Governors

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xuemao wangThe members of HathiTrust have elected four new members to its Board of Governors, including UC’s Xuemao Wang, dean and university librarian and vice provost for digital scholarship, who will serve a three-year term (2022-2024). Other new board members include Theresa Byrd, University of San Diego, Anne Houston, Lafayette College, and Beth Namachchivaya, University of Waterloo.

Holly Mercer of the University of Tennessee Knoxville and Chair of the HathiTrust Board of Governors, said, “the energy and vision promised by these new board members is invigorating as we look forward to HathiTrust’s future.  We’ll benefit greatly from their leadership in their own organizations and in our member community. I am grateful for their willingness to serve and can’t wait to get started.”

Dean Wang supports the HathiTrust Board’s primary goal to “sharply focus on ‘strategic’ roles for the organization’s continuing evolving future.” He advocates for finding ways “to broaden multidisciplinary scholar engagement from disciplines beyond humanities and social sciences.” Dean Wang’s 35+ year-career spans multi-library sectors from the academic, public, consortium and international library worlds. He has served on several professional organizations’ governing boards, standing and advisory committees, task-forces and working groups, including the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), the American Library Association (ALA), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the Center for Research Libraries (CRL), the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) and OhioLINK. His roles leading UC Libraries and working to achieve the university’s digital scholarship agenda will provide him with valuable insights to contribute to the goals of HathiTrust.

Founded in 2008, HathiTrust is a not-for-profit collaborative of academic and research libraries preserving 17+ million digitized items. The University of Cincinnati Libraries joined as members in 2018. The HathiTrust Board of Governors has ultimate responsibility for HathiTrust’s activities, strategy, finances and operations. It includes six at-large members elected by the membership and six members appointed by the founding institutions, which include Indiana University, the University of California, the University of Michigan, and members of the Big Ten Academic Alliance. The current members of the Board can be found on the HathiTrust website.

Welcome New UC Clermont Staff, Brea McQueen

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UC Clermont Library has made some exciting changes to its staffing. Emily Wages transitioned to a new role and is now UC Clermont’s Collection Manager. Emily will now work with new acquisitions, course reserves, donations, and weeding projects.

To fill Emily’s previous role as Operations Manager, UC Clermont is excited to welcome Brea McQueen to the team. Brea will handle technology lending, library spaces & events, library accounts, and student employment.

Continue reading →

UC Libraries Mark Chalmers named Drexel University LEADING Fellow

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mark chalmersMark Chalmers, science and engineering librarian, has been accepted into Drexel University’s highly selective Library Information Science (LIS) Education and Data Science Integrated Network Group (LEADING) program as a 2021 LEADING Fellow.

The LEADING program is a Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian (LB21) National Digital Infrastructures and Initiatives project, supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and hosted at Drexel University’s College of Computing & Informatics (CCI). The LEADING program scales-up the highly successful LEADS-4-NDP initiative and will prepare a diverse, nation-wide cohort of 50 LIS doctoral students and early to mid-career librarians for data science endeavors.

LEADING Fellows will complete the following:

  • self-paced online preparatory curriculum,
  • an online data science bootcamp with Drexel and other LEADING fellows,
  • six-month virtual data science internship at a LEADING hub or node,
  • development of a communication plan to connect with mentor/s on a regular basis, and
  • development of research output (e.g., a paper, poster, presentation, published data, etc.).

Mark’s LEADING Fellow research project will focus on “Assessing Overlap and Aggregation Potential of Open-Source Software Platforms and Their Data.” LYRASIS, a consortium that provides access to the world’s shared academic, scientific and cultural heritage, currently offers six hosted services on open-source software. Five of the six of which involve academic libraries and their cultural heritage assets. As a result, LYRASIS seeks expertise in cultural heritage metadata and data science to assist in assessing this overlap between platforms. In addition, they seek recommendations on how machine learning models can be leveraged to connect data in different platforms and to assess how researchers can be served by access to data across the different platforms.

“I am eager to work with Drexel and LYRASIS to grow my competencies in the domains of data science, data integration, large scale machine learning and exploratory feasibility projects,” said Mark upon learning of his acceptance into the LEADING program.

“The experience and skills Mark will gain as a LEADING Fellow will not only contribute to the completion of the LYRASIS research project, but he will bring new knowledge back to his role in the Science and Engineering Libraries while at the same time contributing to the university’s digital future and open access agenda,” said Xuemao Wang, vice provost of digital scholarship and dean and university librarian.