Volume 15, Issue 1
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Regional Book Festival Celebrates 10 Years, Expands to Year-Long Event
After 10 years of bringing the region’s biggest and best book festival to downtown Cincinnati, Books by the Banks is expanding its reach with a brand-new lineup of events, culminating with the 10th annual Books by the Banks Cincinnati Regional Book Festival this fall. Once again, UC Libraries is an organizing partner of the literary event that allows readers to meet and greet favorite authors. This year, a total of 10 events, including the popular book festival in October and nine new lead-up events, will mark the organization’s 10th anniversary. “Our mission is to enrich the lives of people in the area through reading and writing and we’re taking that…
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A Note from the Dean: Reappointment as Dean and University Librarian
Editor’s Note: We were extremely pleased this summer when the University of Cincinnati Board of Trustees approved the reappointment of Dean Xuemao Wang for a term of five years effective July 1, 2017. Every five years, per board rule, university deans participate in a decanal review. This is a thorough procedure that evaluates their leadership as perceived by their fellow deans, UC leadership, and their respective college’s faculty and staff. In enthusiastically recommending Dean Wang’s reappointment, the librarian and staff review committees recognized his outstanding leadership, advocacy, and vision for UC Libraries to become the globally engaged, intellectual commons of the university—positioning ourselves as the hub of collaboration, digital innovation,…
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Announcing the Establishment of UC’s First Digital Scholarship Center
The University of Cincinnati Libraries, in partnership with the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), is establishing UC’s first Digital Scholarship Center. To be located in the Walter C. Langsam Library, the Digital Scholarship Center will provide a place for faculty and students to explore digital scholarship (DH/DS) in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as cross-disciplinary teaching and research. The mission of the Center will be to serve as a catalyst for creative hybrid forms of research and teaching, bringing together humanistic methods with technical innovations to test paradigms and to create new knowledge at the boundary between disciplines as they are conventionally imagined in the…
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An Interview with Mark Konecny, Scholarly Communications and Digital Publishing Strategist
In July, Mark Konecny joined UC Libraries in the newly created position of Scholarly Communications and Digital Publishing Strategist. Mark’s role will be to consult with students, faculty, and librarians on issues regarding fair use and copyright in research and in the classroom. Below is an interview with Mark about his professional background, his immediate goals with the new position, and his early impressions of UC Libraries. Mark can be reached via email at konecnmc@ucmail.uc.edu. Can you tell us a little bit about your professional background? I received a Ph.D. in Russian culture from the University of Southern California and took a position as an archivist/curator at the Institute of Modern…
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New Website Documents Jacobite Collection in the Archives and Rare Books Library
Want to go beyond the hit TV show Outlander and learn more about the Jacobite Movement from 1688-1788? A new website from the Archives and Rare Books Library highlights the recent donation of more than 500 books on the Jacobites from Cincinnatian Virginius C. Hall and provides a compelling and informative resource for scholars, researchers, or anyone hoping to learn more about this violent and important time in Scotland’s history. Hall became fascinated by the Jacobites and “Bonnie Prince Charlie” when he was 15 at boarding school and began his book collection. He continued to book hunt as an undergraduate at Princeton University and later as an Army private stationed…
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A Librarian’s Journey to Cuba
Rosemary Franklin, librarian in the Reference and Instructional Services Department, traveled to Cuba July 8-17 as a participant in the program People-to-People, “A Revolutionary Perspective on Education.” Joining Rosemary was 17 librarians, K-12 teachers, university professors, and instructors from New Mexico, Florida, Ohio, and Washington, D.C. The participants brought together their collective experiences in education practice, policy making, and administration, along with health and medicine, library sciences, and community development as part of an effort to learn about Cuba’s educational practices and philosophy. While on the island, participants visited museums with stunning collections; met with grassroots organizations working on literacy, environmental science, and the humanities; heard from faculty of the…
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New Website Showcases LOOKING EAST: William Howard Taft and the 1905 U.S. Diplomatic Mission to Asia.
In 1900, Cincinnatian William Howard Taft successfully completed his tenure as Dean of the University of Cincinnati’s College of Law and began an appointment under President William McKinley as Governor-General of the Philippines. As a federal administrator and diplomat, Taft negotiated amicable trade and cultural interactions between East and West, and in 1905 President Theodore Roosevelt dispatched him on a mission to China, Japan, and the Philippines to further improve U.S.-Asian relations. His large entourage included prominent fellow Cincinnatians and the president’s daughter, Alice, as well as photographer Harry Fowler Woods and a host of American diplomats. In the book Looking East: William Howard Taft and the 1905 U.S. Diplomatic…
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Is a Charitable Gift from Your Will Right for You?
Joe and Anna have been faithful supporters of the University of Cincinnati and specifically, UC Libraries. They believe it is important to help further our mission. Joe: “Anna and I believe the University of Cincinnati Libraries is truly helping others. It is important to us to partner with them to make a difference. That is why we have made several gifts over the years.” Anna: “But, we wanted to do more than just make gifts. Joe and I have been careful and have been able to save enough for retirement. We plan to be generous with family, but we also have the ability to be generous with charity.” Joe: “After…
