Tag Archives: UC Libraries

Participate in the 19-Day Self-Education Challenge Against Systemic Racism

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respect's 19-day self-education challenge against systemic racismWant to learn more about issues pertaining to systemic racism in the United States but don’t know where to start? Inspired by the YWCA’s 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge, the University of Cincinnati Libraries’ R.E.S.P.E.C.T. committee developed a 19-Day Self-Education Challenge Against Systemic Racism just for you! Sign up now to watch, read and listen to informative pieces! The challenge is free and open to all. 

Scheduled to take place July 6-30, the challenge is divided into four weeks, each with a different theme. There will be weekly, open video-chat discussions every Friday. Details will be e-mailed weekly along with the challenge content. 

  • Week 1: Reparations and Narrowing the Wealth Gap 
  • Week 2: Police Brutality and Reform 
  • Week 3: Equity in Healthcare 
  • Week 4: Equity in Education 

Should you agree to accept this challenge, you will learn new information as well as receive an award upon completion of the event for your efforts to learn more about systemic racism and ways to combat it.  

R.E.S.P.E.C.T. (Racial Equity Support & Programming to Educate the Community Team) is a UC Libraries committee charged with developing external programming that explicitly addresses the negative role that systemic racism plays in our society. 

Read Source, the online newsletter, to learn about the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries

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sourceRead Source, the online newsletter, to learn about the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries.

In this issue of Source, Dean Xuemao Wang takes time to reflect as work begins to transition back on campus and we showcase UC Libraries innovation and impact during the pandemic. In addition to articles highlighting collections such as Albert Sabin’s papers and Obed Wilson’s library, this issue also marks the commemoration of the first national Juneteenth holiday and features an interview with the authors of the recent University of Cincinnati Press book, Bicycling Through Paradise. As our 19th year of publication comes to a close, we feature a retrospective of past covers and a look back at the 2009 Edible Books event.

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.

 

Do You Miss Statista?

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Last Fall, UC Libraries made the tough decision to break up with our Statista subscription.  The decision came down to two reasons: 

  1. Statista’s price rose over 200% in the past two years
  2. More importantly, Statista’s data is accessible from other vendors and resources.  The Statista  platform serves as a portal to finding statistics. Basically, subscribers pay for ease of access to a  lot of statistics. Most of these statistics come from government resources, industry associations, and other vendors of statistical information.  

A few examples:  

  1. Data Planet
    Touted as the “largest repository of standardized and structured statistical data”. It has 13.5 billion datasets, pulls from over 90 data providers and covers 16 major subject categories. It also provides users with tutorials on how to analyze data and incorporate it into their research. 
  2. US Census
    One of the largest producers of social and economic data and statistics. The economic census includes Trade, Manufacturing, Construction, Financial, Insurance and Real Estate statistics. 
  3. FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data)
    Economic data out of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank including inflation rate, consumer price index, unemployment rate, and more. FRED also provides a lot of teaching resources for economic data.  
  4. Market Research Reports from IBIS, Mintel, Euromonitor and many more!
    UC Libraries subscribes to many market research databases.  These reports provide domestic and international industry level data as well as consumer demographics and statistics. 

These databases and resources are accessible through UC Libraries and UC’s research guides. These resources are being updated these through the Summer, so please check back to see what’s new. 

If you are looking for something specific, please think of Maggie Patel (UC’s Business and Data Analytics Librarian) as your statistical matchmaker and she will work with you to find the appropriate resource.  You may contact her through email.

Please don’t despair if you loved Statista, there are plenty of other statistical databases in the sea.  You will improve your research skills and discover new statistical resources. Fall in love again with something new! 

Join us June 18 for R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Each Other: The Lasting Impact of Juneteenth

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juneteenth event graphicJoin us for R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Each Other: The Lasting Impact of Juneteenth, an online WebEx event scheduled for Friday, June 18, from 10-11:30 am. Registration and link location are available online.

Juneteenth, also known as African American Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, is celebrated on June 19 to mark the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. The University of Cincinnati Libraries RESPECT Group invites you to learn about the history of the Juneteenth holiday and its lasting and impact on United States’ culture and society.  

This interactive session will introduce conversations around slavery, racism and modern-day injustices. A prepared presentation will include interviews with formerly enslaved people, videos of culture, music and poetry contrasting the past and present. Come prepared to reflect and share your thoughts and feelings on these topics in this safe space environment. In addition, the program will introduce the newly formed Racial Equity Support & Programming to Educate the Community Team (RESPECT), a UC Libraries committee charged with developing external programming that explicitly addresses the role that systemic racism plays in our society.   

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.

UC’s Digital Scholarship Center presents “Digital Integrator and Transdisciplinary Research Partner”

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This Association of College and Research Libraries’ (ACRL) Spring 2021 Digital Scholarship Section featured “Digital Integrator & Transdisciplinary Research Partner,” a virtual panel highlighting the University of Cincinnati’s Digital Scholarship Center’s (DSC) unique model and work with research teams focused on misinformation and missing information.

The DSC partnered with UC Libraries’ Research and Data Services Team and the Department of Journalism to research Twitter’s impact on misinformation, false information and conspiracy theories about coronavirus. Using machine learning and linguistic analysis, the team also partnered with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center to understand the role of missing information in electronic health records as it relates to social determinants of health. During the presentation, the panel discussed the unique organization of the DSC and its partnerships on campus and how health information professionals and the DSC work together on research projects involving social media, social justice and social determinants of health. The recording and slides are available online.

cover slide for presentation Continue reading →

April 20 Service Note: Access to library resources is currently down

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UPDATE: All access has been restored.

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All access to library resources through the proxy server is currently down. OCLC is working on the issue and we expect a resolution shortly. We apologize for the inconvenience.

If you know the resource URL you are attempting to access, try this page: https://libapps.libraries.uc.edu/proxy/proxygoto.php. The URL for the library catalog, for example, is uclid.uc.edu. You will then be prompted to login using your UC credentials.

“Off the Shelf and into the Lab” May 6th webinar to highlight medical history, preservation and the UC Libraries’ Adopt-A-Book program

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Join the Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions and the Cecil Striker Society for the History of Medicine, Thursday, May 6 at 7:00 p.m. for the 3rd lecture in the Cecil Striker Webinar series. Off the Shelf and into the Lab: Medical History, Preservation and the University of Cincinnati Libraries’ Adopt-A-Book Program will demonstrate how the work of the Preservation Lab protects Winkler Center collections and how those interested can support their work through the Libraries’ Adopt-a-Book program.

The webinar will be held on Zoom and the link available soon on the Winkler Center’s website at https://libraries.uc.edu/libraries/hsl/winkler-center/cecil-striker.html.

Speakers:

  • Christa Bernardo, director of development
  • Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer, conservator and co-manager of the Preservation Lab
  • Holly Prochaska, preservation librarian and co-manager of the Preservation Lab

cecil striker flyer

Originally formed in 1976, the Cecil Striker Society for the History of Medicine was called the Medical History Society. One month after its first meeting Dr. Striker died, prompting members to rename the organization the Cecil Striker Society. Its purpose is to promote and perpetuate an interest in the history of medicine and all related disciplines in the health care field.

And the winners are…Results of the 2021 UC Libraries International Edible Books Festival

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squirrel with donut cake

Best Overall – Rebecca Tabaja – Donut Feed the Squirrels

The University of Cincinnati Libraries celebrated the annual International Edible Books Festival on April 5-9, 2021.

A record 31 edible books were created and featured throughout the week on the Libraries Facebook page, as well as on Twitter and Instagram. Submitted entries included such edible titles as “Coffee,” “LuLu’s Giraffe Bakery,” and “Donut Feed the Squirrels.” Best sellers “Lord of the Rings,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Catch-22,” “Super Fudge” and “The Picture of Dorian Gray” were represented along with children’s books like “Jolly Postman,” “Hair Love,” “Rainbow Fish,” “Little Blue Truck Leads the Way” and “Madeline,” among other literary greats. The edible books were made of cakes, cookies, candy, deviled eggs and even sushi.

Created by librarian Judith A. Hoffberg and artist Béatrice Coron, the International Edible Books Festival is held worldwide annually on or around April 1st to mark the birthday of Jean Brillat-Savarin, author of The Physiology of Taste.  The global event has been celebrated since 2000 in various parts of the world, including in Australia, Brazil, India, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Morocco, The Netherlands, Russia and Hong Kong. Continue reading →