Volume 22, Issue 1
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Note from the Dean: Creating a shared vision for UC Libraries
My tenure as dean and university librarian for the University of Cincinnati Libraries began in mid-August and I feel privileged to have joined such a highly talented team during a time of great growth at the University of Cincinnati. While higher education and academic libraries are certainly not new environments for me, like we say in this profession, “if you’ve seen one library, you’ve seen one library.” I am grateful to have such a welcoming community within UC Libraries to get me up to speed and support my transition, this experience has made me proud to be a Bearcat! For more about my professional background and my thoughts on trends…
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An interview with Liz Kiscaden, Dean and University Librarian
On August 14, 2023, Elizabeth Kiscaden began her tenure at the University of Cincinnati Libraries as dean and university librarian, coming to UC from Creighton University where she was the university librarian and assistant vice provost of library services. Following is an interview with Liz about her professional background, immediate goals for the new position and her early impressions of UC Libraries, as well as how she is having fun exploring Cincinnati. Please tell us your professional background Prior to beginning my tenure at UC, I was the university librarian and assistant vice provost of library services at Creighton University, a Jesuit university located in Omaha, NE. At Creighton, I…
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The art of cataloging Japanese design books
Sometimes being a cataloger is somewhat like being a detective. Looking for clues on a book or item, researching its history and provenance, filling in blanks left from librarians or book sellers of the past. Such was the case for Mikaila Corday, library associate and Japanese language cataloger in Content Services, when she was sent volumes from the Archives and Rare Book Library with the request to find out what she could so that they could be properly cataloged. It helps that Mikaila speaks and reads Japanese from her time living in Japan as a child. Her knowledge of Japanese art and culture also served her well as she researched…
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Data & Poetry might predict the future
By Amy Koshoffer, assistant director for Research and Data Services, and Ben Kline, assistant department head of Research, Teaching and Services On Tuesday, September 12, 2023, students, staff and faculty from around campus and the community gathered in the Walter C. Langsam Library’s Elliston Poetry Room for Data & Poetry | Poetry & Data Workshop: Attributes of the Code & the Line. Featuring participants that included University of Cincinnati law faculty, librarians, data scientists and community poets, this event invited attendees to explore relationships between data and poetry, how emerging Artificial Intelligence (AI) programs might change the nature and our perceptions of poetry and literature, as well as the implications…
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Digitize your home collections like a pro
By Sidney Gao, digital collections manager, and James Van Mil, digital projects and preservation librarian In celebration of the upcoming World Digital Preservation Day on November 2, UC Libraries’ Digital Collections Team is here with some tips and tricks to help everyone preserve and protect their personal archives. Digital preservation combines policies, strategies and actions that ensure access to digital content over time[1]. These strategies can be used on both library digital collections and personal archives at home so that photographs, memories and history are preserved well into the future. In this article we’ll discuss how the UC Libraries Digital Collections Team works to preserve library digital collections, and how…
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Returning the She-Wolf (Lupa) to Cincinnati
Edited from LiBlog posts by Rebecka Lindau, head of the John Miller Burnam Classics Library In response to the theft in June 2022 of the She-Wolf (Lupa) statue from her perch in Cincinnati’s Eden Park, the Cincinnati chapter of the Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America raised funds for its replacement and return. A workshop connected to the University of Florence, Italy, created a replica and shipped it to the United States where it arrived in Cincinnati on Friday, August 25, 2023. The statue will be officially returned to Eden Park at a dedication ceremony on Friday, Nov. 3, 2023, at 10:00 am. The She-Wolf statue was originally…
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New UC Press book & event focuses on the challenge for non-profits
By Elizabeth Scarpelli, University of Cincinnati Press Director Over 1.5 million nonprofit organizations carry out mission-driven work to benefit public good in the U.S each year. Varying in size and scope, nearly 45% struggle with rising operating costs, staffing challenges, lack of funding and policy challenges. After nearly 40 years leading and supporting nonprofit work around Cincinnati, Judith Van Ginkel shares her insight and perspective on nonprofit sustainability and success in a new book titled “Chasing Success: The Challenge For Nonprofits,” published by the University of Cincinnati Press. Van Ginkel draws on her more than 20 years of experience as founding president of Every Child Succeeds (ECS), an in-home nonprofit…
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UC Libraries & APIDA ERG Co-host Generational Summit
On September 21, the University of Cincinnati Libraries sponsored and hosted a Generational Summit organized by UC’s Asian, Pacific Islander and Desi American (APIDA) Staff & Faculty Employee Resource Group and the Greater Cincinnati Asian-American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Community Leaders. At the event, student government representatives and leaders from more than eight student associations joined UC alumni and leaders from the local Asian community to participate in a three-hour long generational summit. During the summit, they discussed topics around Asian heritage and legacy, and identified challenges and gaps in connecting the various student groups and UC in general with the local Asian community. “There exists a need to bridge the…
