uc blue ash library

From the desk of … Kellie Tilton

Hi! Welcome to my apartment! It’s small and I share it with an opinionated cat, but I’m enjoying taking advantage of the natural light, the nearby caffeine sources and the ability to use different setups depending on my mood!

Kellie's home workspace — This is my “office” at home, which is actually just a nook. But it fits my desk and has a window to the right, so I don’t mind!

Kellie sitting at her desk. — A perfect space for me to work from home!

Desktop items — The similarities of my work desk and work from home desk are threefold: all the tech, all the tchotchkes, and a chandelier. (Some of these tchotchkes are from my work office, though! Couldn’t leave Bob Ross!)

lamp chandelier — Always have a chandelier in your office, I say. Even if it’s a tiny one! (This is a take on the Met’s famous Sputnik chandeliers!)

kitchen counter workspace — I’m finding for most of my meetings, I like the ability to stand. So I’m using my kitchen counter accordingly. Grey Cat insisted on the ability to do the same. (Apologies to the books I’m using as a foot rest.)

Living room couch and pillow — If the cat is getting really insistent, I will move to the couch to work so she can sit on my lap. Yes, she is spoiled. The end table was made by my grandpa and my mom made the pillow! (The making gene runs strong in our family.)

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From the Virtual Desk of … Lauren Wahman

I’m Lauren Wahman, Information Literacy and Instruction Coordinator, and here’s a virtual tour of my home office spaces.

laptop on couch with pillows — The front room is a nice spot where I attend meetings and webinars.

workspace on kitchen table — The kitchen nook is my home office now with lots of natural light and lunch is only a few steps away.

stack of professional journals — Stack of readings that moved from my campus office to home office with goal to finally get to them!

patio furniture — With warmer weather on the way (I hope), the sun room may be my new favorite spot for meetings/webinars.

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From the Virtual Desk Of … Elizabeth Hartlaub

Today’s tour is hosted by Elizabeth Hartlaub, Library Operations Manager.

My work from home “office” is several different places depending on my mood or the day!

Everyone moves around during the day to a few main areas of the house, the art studio on the second floor, the front room of the first floor, and outside to the patio when the weather permits.

Thanks for joining me on my work from home tour!

couch in front of a window — The front room has a record player and lots of music to listen to while we work. It also gets the best morning light. The sun helps us warm up on cold mornings!

children doing schoolwork — I share my workspace with three family members: my two children who are 8 and 4, and my significant other who is also working from home. We also have three young cats who have become co-workers whether they like it or not! They provide lots of moral support and snuggles during the day while we focus on school and work activities.

studio with couch and craft supplies — The art studio is at the corner of the house and gives a great view of the activities on the street below. I usually sit at the desk on an exercise ball while I attend virtual meetings. We set-up a folding table for the kids to work if we are going to stay in that room for a long period of time.

outdoor patio — Finally, the outside patio gives us the opportunity to watch the spring plants and flowers emerge. We get visited by little chipmunks and birds from time to time.

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From the Virtual Desk Of…Pam Adler

This week, we visit Pam Adler, Public Services Assistant and her tiny co-worker, Jackson.

Dining room workspace — This is my desk I work at from home, lots of space and light. A little history about the table. This table was made by my grandfather and used as my mother’s dinner table growing up.

Jackson playing with a toy while seated at a dining table. — This is my new desk mate Jackson. Working hard with his cars.

Jackson holding a jar in the air. — Hard at work making roads for his cars.

Jackson working on an art project — As you can see Jackson uses the entire desk working on his many projects.

Thanks for stopping by. As much as I love working from home with my grandson, I do miss my work desk at school. Looking to when we can all be on campus. From the desk of Pam Adler, miss you all.

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Faculty Research Lightning Talks: Meet Linda Wunderley

The UCBA Library’s 3rd Annual Faculty Research Lightning Talks on March 10, 2020 featured four presenters and their discipline-based research projects via short, 15 minute presentations. In our  Meet the Presenters series, each presenter shares some insights into their research project.

Linda Wunderley | Assistant Professor, Adjunct | Business & Economics
Presentation: The Real Truth About What Determines Our Professional Performance

Linda Wunderley presents her research. — Linda Wunderley discusses her research.

Research Project
Today’s frenetic pace of market change and stressful organizational environments have the business world struggling with not only redesigning their professional development efforts to address this new normal, but also attempting to understand why past practices have repeatedly proven so ineffective! At the same time, Neuroscience research may have uncovered a critical correlation (between an individual’s significant life experiences and their repetitive thoughts, feelings and behavior) which could provide the very insight and direction needed for a professional development reinvention. But empirical data specific to the business world is needed. This research study is attempting to provide that data.

collage of famous people in a powerpoint slide — A slide from Linda Wunderley’s *The Real Truth About What Determines Our Professional Performance* presentation. Source: Linda Wunderley

What excites you most about your research?
Top management across the U.S. today, as well as the likes of Deloitte and McKinsey, report little or no behavior change on the part of the ‘trained’ or the ‘coached.’ But the need for improved soft skills such as better communication, persuasion, team building and creativity is huge and growing. This research could provide the empirical data for a potential sea change in our approach to such Professional Development.

What are your next steps with your research?
Continue to recruit participants to increase sample size.

Past Publication

Wunderley, L. J., Reddy, W.B. & Dember, W.N. (2006). Optimism and Pessimism in Business Leaders. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 28 (9) 751-760.

Additional Resources
* Library copy currently unavailable to request at this time

*Dweck, C. S. (2007). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Random Books.
Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2017). The Talent Delusion: Why Data, Not Intuition, Is the Key to Unlocking Human Potential. Great Britain: Piatkus
Felitti, V. J. et.al. (1998). Relationship of Childhood Abuse and Household Dysfunction to Many of the Leading Causes of Death in Adults: The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. American Journal of Preventative Medicine. 14, 4, 245-258.
Kellerman, B. (2012). The End of Leadership. New York: HarperCollins.
*Lipton, B. (2005). The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter & Miracles. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House Publishers.
Merzenich, M. (2013). Soft-Wired: How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Can Change Your Life.

San Francisco: Parnassus Publishing.

*Pert, C. P. (1997). Molecules of Emotions: Why You Feel the Way You Feel. New York: Scribner.
*Siegel, D. J. (2011). Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation. New York: Bantam Books.
*Shapiro, F. (2012). Getting Past Your Past: Take Control of Your Life with Self-Help Techniques from EMDR Therapy. New York: Rodale, Inc.

By Lauren Wahman

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National Library Week – Flashback Friday

We’re wrapping up our National Library Week celebration with a Flashback Friday slideshow of our time spent in the UCBA Library, both old, temporary and new spaces, over the last several years. We can’t wait to reconnect in person again.

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Celebrating Our Library Cats, Dogs and Fish

There are many libraries that serve as home to library cats. Now that we’re working remotely from home, our furry friends and four-legged family members have been given a promotion to co-worker and library cat/dog. In honor of National Library Week, we’d like to introduce our newest colleagues. They have made our work-from-home environment much more fun (and maybe a little more frustrating at times?).

Two dogs sitting outside in grass — Seamus (right) and Fiona (left). These are our loving, energetic border collies. They are absolutely thrilled we’re home with them so much now but would still like more play time. – Heather Maloney

Cat sitting on laptop keyboard. — Grey Cat is excited about her new role as co-worker, ready to jump into any task. She, however, will only tolerate about an hour of meetings before she begins howling for more attention. We’re working with HR on these issues. – Kellie Tilton

Collage of 3 cats — Jake, Pete and Ozzy. They have been very entertaining co-workers! It’s not everyday at work that you have someone sit on your computer, try to eat your ear buds, and then take a nap in your lap! 😄 Fun fact: All three were adopted together from The Ohio Alleycat Rescue on the same day thus tripling our cat population overnight. – Elizabeth Hartlaub

Two cats, curled up and asleep — Yuri and Gabby. Gabby is 21 years old, scrawny as a twig, but very loving and tough as nails. Yuri is our 7 year old one eyed dynamo who has the biggest personality of any pet I’ve ever had. They’re OK as co-workers, a bit demanding for attention and food. They do encourage me to order new books about tuna, laser pointers, and the benefits of sleeping 21 hours a day. – Christian Boyles

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From the Virtual Desk of…Heather Maloney

The latest From the Virtual Desk Of…Heather Maloney, leads us to our Library Director’s virtual workspace.

Heather sitting at desk — This is my second at home desk. My desk was upsized after the first week (our bedroom dresser used to be in this space) to a former Lego table. Because we’re going through a home renovation and everything is temporary right now, we’re going for the “let’s make it work for now” design style.

Computer screen, laptop and keyboard on desk — Keeping it all pretty simple. Yes, that’s an enormous jar of almonds, my favorite work day snack. It’s a little harder to snack healthy when working from home, and there are homemade cookies in the kitchen. Also, at the base of my large monitor is a small flower my oldest daughter picked for me, and I can’t seem to part with it.

Stack of books and bowl of wrapped chocolate — A few of my favorite things….chocolate and books! Oh, and always trying to drink a lot of water to balance out that chocolate intake.

Heather and her daughters — At work, I have pictures of my daughters on my desk but at my home office, I get to see them every day. I think they have a whole new respect for their teachers now that they’ve had to deal with mom coordinating and checking in on all the home school work.

Heather's husband and daughters — This was my first work from home desk just on the other side of the room from my current desk. Way too small but an awesome view and great light! This is now my husband’s work from home space. The morning of this picture he saw a bat on the roof so the girls are getting the full story.

by Heather Maloney

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National Library Week: Our favorite S.W.A.G.

The UCBA Library continues to celebrate National Library Week. The library staff pulled out, and in some cases, dusted off, some of our favorite library S.W.A.G. (souvenirs, wearables and gifts). These items have been collected from various library conferences, purchases from our favorite bookish vendors and gifted to us by our friends and loved ones.

two tote bags hanging from doorknob — I love tote bags. The tote on the left is from Lane Library and is used to haul books to/from home. The tote on the right was picked up at the American Library Association’s Annual Conference. I will not admit to the number of totes I’ve uncovered since being home. I will say, that when the world opens up again, I plan on including tote bags in my Little Free Library donations. – Michelle McKinney

Tshirt reads "Don't make me use my Librarian voice." — I may only have this one librarian tshirt, a gift from my mom, but it sure is awesome. -Lauren Wahman

3 enamel pins — I love enamel pins but I don’t like to wear them on my clothes. I picked up the Slay pin from the American Library Association’s Annual Conference and the other two were gifts from fellow book friends. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to display them and will be creating a framed cork board for the pins I keep at home. – Michelle McKinney

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Special Edition: From the Virtual Desk of … UCBA Student Assistants

The library faculty and staff are not the only ones working from home. Our student workers have also been working remotely in addition to continuing their studies online from home.

Bre's desk — Bre’s study and work space.

Student Worker: Bre

Major: I am an electronic media technology major

Time at UCBA Library: I’ve been with the library for about 11 months

Description: Unless weather permits sitting outside, I work at my desk, surrounded by a few of my favorite things.

Casey's desk — Casey’s study and work space.

Student Worker: Casey

Major: I am double majoring in English and History.

Time at UCBA Library:

Description: Unless weather permits sitting outside, I work at my desk, surrounded by a few of my favorite things. My dog’s name is Kibo. I thought Kibo was a cool name and later learned that it means “hope” in Japanese.

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