Tag Archives: UC Libraries

Prominent civil rights attorney Al Gerhardstein donates papers to the University of Cincinnati

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Al Gerhardstein, noted Cincinnati civil rights attorney, has donated to the University of Cincinnati Libraries’ Archives and Rare Books Library, papers documenting his nearly 50-year career in civil rights litigation and advocacy, with focuses in reproductive rights, prisoner’s rights, policing, employment discrimination, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights.

Material to be found in the extensive collection includes briefs, pleadings, depositions, trial transcriptions, newspaper, magazine and journal articles, as well as correspondence and speeches spanning Gerhardstein’s career and notable legal cases. There are 184 boxes available for research, with 45 more boxes sealed under court order.

supreme court letter

Excerpt from letter notifying Mr. Gerhardstein that his case was entered into the Supreme Court.

Prominent cases in the collection include:

  • Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court case establishing marriage equality for same-sex couples in all 50 states. Gerhardstein represented Jim Obergefell in this fight to be recognized as the husband of John Arthur.
  • Planned Parenthood Association of Cincinnati v. Project Jericho, et al., which was a lawsuit against anti-abortion groups for their continued harassment of women seeking abortion and their providers, after a member of one of the groups firebombed the Margaret Sanger Center abortion clinic in 1985.
  • Prisoner rights lawsuit in response to the 1993 Lucasville Prison riots, where Gerhardstein represented inmates against prison officials for failure to protect them during the riot and the forces that caused the riot.
  • Litigation to declare unconstitutional Article XII, which was voted into the Cincinnati City Charter in 1993 and actively prohibited Cincinnati from protecting LGBT people from discrimination.
  • Creation of the Collaborative Agreement as a partnership between the ACLU, Black United Front, the city of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Fraternal Order of Police, which re-oriented the philosophy of policing in Cincinnati towards a Community Problem Oriented Policing (CPOP) model. It was the result of a civil rights action filed on behalf of a class of African American citizens of Cincinnati based on discriminatory policing including racial profiling, excessive force and disproportionate arrests of African Americans. The success of the Collaborative Agreement made Cincinnati a national role model for police reform.

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Read Source for the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries

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

In this issue of Source, we document the record number of students visiting and studying in the Walter C. Langsam Library this fall and feature the services and resources available in the Albino Gorno Memorial (CCM) Library. We spotlight Hannah Harper, a student worker in the Science and Engineering Libraries and the generous support of retired University of Cincinnati professors Laura and Richard Kretschmer.

Fall semester is a busy time for events in the Libraries. The Robert A. Deshon and Karl J. Schlachter Library for Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP) are displaying selections from the library’s collection about hair. Our upcoming Poetry Stacked series, scheduled for Oct. 19, will raise awareness of the collections of both UC Libraries and the Elliston Poetry Room by engaging students and others in attendance with UC and community poets, including a student poet. On Thursday, Oct. 20 the College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services (CECH) Library is hosting a talk by Dr. Debbie Reese, noted children’s literature scholar, former classroom teacher, and founder/co-editor of the American Indians in Children’s Literature blog.

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.

Oct. 19 Poetry Stacked poets announced

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The University of Cincinnati Libraries and the Elliston Poetry Room announce Poetry Stacked, a semi-regular poetry reading series held in the 6th floor east stacks of the Walter C. Langsam Library.

Aditi Machado Rae Hoffman Jager Dior J. StephensAt the inaugural event, scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 19 at 4:30pm, three poets will read original works.

  • Aditi Machado is a poet, translator and essayist. Her second book of poems Emporium (2020) received the James Laughlin Award. Her other works include the poetry collection Some Beheadings (2017), an essay pamphlet titled The End (2020), a translation from the French of Farid Tali’s novella Prosopopoeia (2016) and several poetry chapbooks. Her writing appears in journals like BOMB, The Chicago Review, Lana Turner, The Rumpus, Volt, and Western Humanities Review among others. She works as an assistant professor of poetry at the University of Cincinnati.
  • Rae Hoffman Jager is the author of American Bitch (Kelsay Books ‘22). Rae’s poetry and essays have appeared in a wide variety of online and print magazines: Atticus, Contrary, Glass, a Journal of Poetry, Honey Lit and Kveller—to name a few. She has work forthcoming in New York Quarterly. Additionally Rae was named one of the ‘22 Emerging Artist Fellows for the Ish Festival in Cincinnati. Rae holds a BA from Warren Wilson College and an MFA from Wichita State University. When she is not writing, publishing and teaching yoga, she is spending time with her spouse, daughter Ivy and two old dogs.
  • Dior J. Stephens is a proud Pisces hailing from Midwestern waters. He is the author of the chapbooks SCREAMS & lavender, 001 and CANNON!. Their debut full-length collection, CRUEL/CRUEL, is forthcoming with Nightboat Books. They tweet at @dolphinneptune and Instagram at @dolphinphotos.

The mission of Poetry Stacked is to celebrate poetry and raise awareness of the collections of both UC Libraries and the Elliston Poetry Room. Each reading will engage audiences via exposure to contemporary poetry and increase appreciation for both the talents of UC and community poets, as well as for poetry itself. Poetry Stacked is free and open to all to attend. Following each reading, guests will be invited to tour the Elliston Poetry Room.

The intent of the series is to enrich and engage the UC campus and Cincinnati communities in accordance with the Libraries’ Strategic Framework and the Next Lives Here Strategic Directions in support of Academic Excellence and Community Engagement. It aligns with the Libraries’ vision as the globally engaged, intellectual commons of the university – positioning ourselves as the hub of collaboration, digital innovation, and scholarly endeavor on campus and beyond.

And don’t forget to join us Wednesday, Nov. 30 for the next installment of Poetry Stacked.

poetry stacked flier

Artists’ Books Exhibit-DAAP Library

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The Robert A. Deshon and Karl J. Schlachter Library of DAAP is hosting Professor Mark Harris’s BFA “Topics in Contemporary Art-Art Criticism” class exhibit.

Professor Mark Harris writes this about the exhibit:

This display of artists’ books comes from the DAAP Library Special Collections. Last spring semester these books were selected by BFA students in my Topics in Contemporary Art—Art Criticism class for a writing assignment. Students were asked to select two books by different artists and write a 1,000 word evaluation and comparison. They were welcome to experiment with writing approaches. What you see here are short extracts from their essays.

Mark Harris

The writing samples are by these students—

Sabrina Argotte, Sheridan Ave, Aliesha Caldwell, Trinity Campbell, Grace Casella, Katherine Donaghy, Sam Engel, Callie Gaines, Kat Hardy, Catherine Hummel, Vicky Lee, Nathalie Lorenz, Nicole Moore, Ashton Morris, Hugh Moscoe, Arisa Nakahata, Emma Schutte, Vidushi Shrivastava, Kara Yeomans

Professor Harris installed the exhibit with shelves askew and books displayed at haphazard angles, which makes the exhibit a colorful, jumbled visual delight. It will be up until October 20th, 2022; come and take a look.

Exhibit of artists' books on shelves

Exhibit of artists’ books on shelves

Exhibit of artitsts' books on shelves

Exhibit of artists' books on shelves

Exhibit of artists’ books on shelves

UC Libraries & The Elliston Poetry room present Poetry Stacked

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poetry stacked flierThe University of Cincinnati Libraries and the Elliston Poetry Room announce Poetry Stacked, a semi-regular poetry reading series held in the 6th floor East stacks of the Walter C. Langsam Library.

Scheduled for Wednesdays, Oct. 19 and Nov. 30 at 4:30pm, each event will feature three poets reading their original poetry. Each session will include a UC faculty or staff member, a student and a local or national community member. Following each reading, attendees will be invited to tour the Elliston Poetry Room.

The mission of Poetry Stacked is to celebrate poetry and raise awareness of the collections of both UC Libraries and the Elliston Poetry Room. Each reading will engage audiences via exposure to contemporary poetry and increase appreciation for both the talents of UC and community poets, as well as for poetry itself. Poetry Stacked is free and open to all to attend.

Announcement of the Oct. 19 poets is coming soon. Stay tuned…

UC Libraries seeks University Archivist and Head, Archives & Rare Books Library

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The University of Cincinnati Libraries invites applications for the university archivist and head, Archives & Rare Books Library. The successful candidate will be responsible for the development and management of services and collections of the Archives and Rare Books Library, which includes rare books, manuscripts, the University Archives, and other archival and special collections. Additionally, as university archivist, the position is responsible for promoting use and engagement with collections documenting the history of the University of Cincinnati and providing leadership oversight of University Records Management Program.

This full-time, faculty tenure-track position has a salary range of $85-110K plus stipend and is covered by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), UC’s collective bargaining agreement. UC faculty librarians have access to annual funding to support conference attendance and professional development needs.

This position operates under the principles of the UC Libraries Strategic Framework: NEXT Directions, which aims to increase the Libraries’ impact by: creating paths to education innovation and student success; contributing to the university’s research, learning and teaching agendas; and by creating partnerships within UC, the wider Cincinnati urban community and at national and international levels.

This work requires a substantial investment in people, a renewed commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and a continued focus on and acceleration of digital transformations as the Libraries continues to fulfill its mission and achieve the vision to become the globally engaged, intellectual commons of the university—positioning itself as the hub of collaboration, digital innovation and scholarly endeavor on campus.

The full position description and application are available on the university’s career website.

Updates to Libraries website for fall semester

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screen shot of updated libraries websiteNext week, UC Libraries will make updates to the website in order to improve usability and discoverability, as well as to simplify navigation. These changes are reflective of results from user testing, analytics and edit requests received throughout the year. Where possible, redirects will be included, but please note new URLs listed below and update any bookmarks as necessary.

Updates include:

Please note, other library resources, including Summon, the Library Catalog and Library Guides integration into Canvas, have had or will also have updates. If you use these resources in your courses or research, we also recommend checking that your links, bookmarks and information are still up to date.

As always, contact us with questions.

Celebrating Emeritus Dean of DAAP, Jay Chatterjee

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The Robert A. Deshon & Karl J. Schlachter Library of DAAP is celebrating Dean Chatterjee’s career with a dedicated study room. News articles from Dean Chatterjee’s career are hung on one wall. Four shovels are hung on another; each designed by a different school in DAAP to commemorate the ground-breaking of Peter Eisenman’s building in 1996. The study room is located on the second floor of the DAAP Library-Room 6480C (take elevator to second floor and turn to the right). Come take a look.

news articles highlighting Dean Chatterjee's career

Framed news articles highlighting Dean Chatterjee’s career as Dean of DAAP.