UCBA Library’s March Spotlight: Memoirs

by Christian Boyles

The UCBA Library is excited to showcase titles in our collection which we hope will be of interest.  We will feature different genres, authors, or themes, so watch for new titles at the start of each month. Spotlight titles can be found at the Library’s Information Desk.

book covers

March’s Spotlight is Memoirs.

  • Poet Warrior by Joy Harlo
  • Daring to Drive by Manal Al-Sharif
  • Ordinary Girls by Jaquira Diaz
  • Where the Past Begins by Amy Tan

Interested in more titles? Ask Us!

Celebrating UC Blue Ash Faculty Achievements: Life of the Mind’s Artists, Authors, Editors and Composers 

by Lauren Wahman and Heather Maloney 

The Life of the Mind lecture and Artists, Authors, Editors & Composers event took place on February 22, 2022. As part of the UCBA Library’s research-sharing efforts, we’re celebrating the selected works submitted this year from UCBA faculty. Visit Life of the Mind for the online exhibit, bibliography, and event recording. 

Cover of Revista Matemática Iberoamericana

David Freeman, Professor
Math, Physics, & Computer Science
Fun Fact: David presented this research topic at the UCBA Library’s 3rd Annual Faculty Research Lightning Talks event. 

 

Continue reading

UCBA Library Services During Spring 2022 Remote Start Period

Given the university’s shift to online operations, we wanted to provide you with updates to the UCBA Library’s services and support beginning today through Friday, January 21st. We will revert to regular spring semester operations on Monday, January 24th.

The UCBA Library facility is closed as of Wednesday, January 5th through Friday, January 21st; however, we do have drop-in hours from 9a-5p Monday-Friday as well as virtual support (see below for options). Hallway signage instructs visitors on how to contact us when they arrive, so that we can meet them at our library staff door (ex. laptop or materials pick-up/returns).

Laptops are available for UCBA students with an initial check-out until March 11th. Students can return and renew the laptop by that due date for the rest of the semester.

Calculators and Course Reserve Materials are available for check-out through January 25th. During this time, we will not be issuing short term loans (e.g. 4 hours, 3 days). Calculators and course reserve materials will be given a due date of Tuesday, January 25th. These items will revert to their designated short term loan period after their return.

Important Reminder: A Bearcat ID or acceptable alternative ID (e.g. driver’s license) is required to check out items.

Virtual Services/Support available Monday-Friday 9a-5p

UCBA Library Research Labs Offers Direct Help from Librarians

Get research help from UCBA librarians. In this one hour working session, you can ask specific questions about your research assignment. It’s open to all UCBA students and for any individual or group research assignments. Registration is required and you can join any time during the session. Be sure to bring your research assignment.

Dates and Times

  • Tuesday, October 12, 10-11 am (Zoom)
  • Wednesday, October 20, 2-3 pm (In-Person, Muntz Hall 117).

Reserve Your Spot

Register for these research labs by using this registration link. The Zoom link will be sent to the same email you used to register. For the in-person session, bring your device with you.

Resources for Faculty Research

by Lauren Wahman

scrabble tiles spell out the word research

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Whether it’s discipline-specific, creative, or a classroom-based research project, we’re getting you started with a newly redesigned Faculty Research Guide. To help with specific research needs, schedule an online research consultation with your department’s library faculty liaison. Or, find research-focused online workshops through the UC Libraries Calendar and the Faculty Enrichment Center’s Program Calendar.  Finally, watch for a special 4th Annual Faculty Research Lightning Talks blog post in the spring that will showcase faculty scholarship. 

UCBA Library Hours Update and Chat Expansion

The UCBA Library has been assessing use of the library space since reopening on August 17th. As a result of this assessment, beginning Monday, October 5th, through November 25th, the UCBA Library hours for in-person and virtual services will be Monday – Friday 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

In addition to our physical library open hours change on October 5th, we will be expanding our live chat hours to match these open library hours from Monday – Friday 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Celebrating UC Blue Ash’s Artists, Authors, Editors and Composers

by Lauren Wahman and Heather Maloney

The Life of the Mind lecture and Artists, Authors, Editors & Composers combined event took place on September 22, 2020. As a follow up, the UCBA Library celebrates selected works submitted this year from UCBA faculty and staff. In case you missed it, please visit Life of the Mind for the online exhibit, bibliography, and event recording.

David Hartz | Associate Professor | Electronic Media Communications Department

Description of My Creative Process: This new body of work is titled, “Drawing Water.” This series consists of drawings of various water sources I have seen in and around Ohio. I became interested in this subject matter after seeing Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings depicting how water moves around various objects. I am fascinated as to how water moves and how I could add values and depth to drawing this formless element. I study martial arts and this quote by Bruce Lee inspired me as well, “Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless – like water.” Water forms to whatever contains it. My intention with these drawings is to give, not only shape, but also value, shadow, highlight and playfulness to moving water.

All of these drawings are created in Procreate on an iPad Pro. I love the portability of the iPad and use it with my Urban Sketching group as well. It has replaced my sketchbook and pencils in many situations. I have found that it has a feature that no traditional media has. In this digital arena, the ability to zoom way into a piece of work is remarkable. As long as the resolution is high, you can zoom way into the art and provide details that would be near impossible with traditional media. I am making use of this feature in my current drawings in this “Drawing Water” series. This is the reason that I include detail shots in the submission of these drawings. Normally a detail shot is unnecessary in a 2D drawing, however, it is quite necessary to show the full detail that are involved with these works. Each drawing has two views: one is the overall view of the water that, at first, has a photographic look. The second view is the detailed view of the work as you move in close to it and see the hieroglyphic mark making process. Continue reading

UCBA and Clermont College Libraries Join Click and Collect

By Heather Maloney and Catie Carlson

click and collect graphicBeginning July 6, the libraries at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College and Clermont College will join other UC Library locations offering Click & Collect services to provide users with access to print and media collections in order to support UC teaching and research.

The Click & Collect retrieval and pickup service allows UC users to request print and media library materials in the Library Catalog for pickup at the owning library location. Currently, deliveries between UC Libraries and OhioLINK requests are unavailable at this time. UCBA Library and UC Clermont Library materials requests made by 9:00 AM Wednesdays will be available for pickup between 12 PM – 4:00 PM on Thursdays. Due dates have been automatically set for August 10.

UC Blue Ash College Library Click & Collect

  • Available print and media materials (excluding Reference and Course Reserves) can be requested through the library catalog
  • Laptops and calculators can be requested (UCBA students only) by completing the UCBA Library Equipment Request Form. Specific appointment times will be set for equipment pick-ups.
  • Requested materials and equipment are available for pick-up at the Community Commons patio outside entry/exit doors nearest to the UCBA Library front entrance. A valid student I.D. must be presented when picking up equipment.

UC Clermont College Library Click & Collect Details

  • Materials can be requested through the catalog.  can be requested by emailing clermontlibrary@uc.edu.
  • To retrieve materials, enter Clermont College through the East entrance in the Snyder Building near public safety and sign in. Users then will be asked to show an ID prior to taking materials at the library near the front desk.
  • If a limited number of requests have been made in a week, you may be contacted for an appointment time rather than utilizing the Thursday window.  Appointments are always welcomed to retrieve materials. Clermont faculty/staff may request to have materials delivered to their campus mailbox as well.

For more details about Click and Collect services at other UC Libraries, please visit: https://libraries.uc.edu/about/covid-19.html.

February Book of the Month

Your UBCA Library’s Book of the Month for February 2020

 

Native Son by Richard Wright

Native Son bookcover

Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic.

Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Richard Wright’s powerful novel is an unsparing reflection on the poverty and feelings of hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the country and of what it means to be black in America.

 

Is it checked out?  Don’t worrywe’ve got you covered:

Invisible Man (PS3555.L625 I5 1995): A first novel by an unknown writer, it remained on the bestseller list for sixteen weeks, won the National Book Award for fiction, and established Ralph Ellison as one of the key writers of the century. The nameless narrator of the novel describes growing up in a black community in the South, attending a Negro college from which he is expelled, moving to New York and becoming the chief spokesman of the Harlem branch of “the Brotherhood”, and retreating amid violence and confusion to the basement lair of the Invisible Man he imagines himself to be.

Lighting the Fires of Freedom: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement by Janet Dewart Bell (E185.61 .B375 2018): Lighting the Fires of Freedom Janet Dewart Bell shines a light on women’s all-too-often overlooked achievements in the Movement. Through wide-ranging conversations with nine women, several now in their nineties with decades of untold stories, we hear what ignited and fueled their activism, as Bell vividly captures their inspiring voices. Lighting the Fires of Freedom offers these deeply personal and intimate accounts of extraordinary struggles for justice that resulted in profound social change, stories that are vital and relevant today.

A vital document for understanding the Civil Rights Movement, Lighting the Fires of Freedom is an enduring testament to the vitality of women’s leadership during one of the most dramatic periods of American history.

Richard Wright: Native Son, Actor, Activist (streaming film): Richard Wright was an African-American author of novels, short stories and non-fiction that dealt with powerful themes and controversial topics. Much of his works concerned racial themes that helped redefine discussions of race relations in America in the mid-20th century. Born on a plantation in Mississippi, Wright was a descendent of the first slaves who arrived in Jamestown Massachusetts. This program follows his arduous path from sharecropper to literary giant. Through authors like H.L. Menken, Sinclair Lewis, Theodore Dreiser, he discovered that literature could be used as a catalyst for social change. In 1937 Wright moved to New York and his work began to garner national attention for it’s political and social commentary. Much of Wright’s writing focused on the African American community and experience; his novel Native Son won him a Guggenheim Fellowship and was adapted to the Broadway stage with Orson Welles directing in 1941.

 

by Christian Boyles