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Dean’s Note: Building our foundation
The 2023/2024 academic year was a busy one as we worked to connect students, faculty and researchers to dynamic data, information and resources while simultaneously planning for the future of UC Libraries. To set us up for the future, much of our efforts recently have focused on building a stronger foundation as we prepare to launch our Strategic Plan in the fall. That foundation comprises three elements: people, leadership and values. People An investment in our people is key to advancing the Libraries. This begins with filling job vacancies and hiring new librarians and staff that will bring new skills and expertise to our organization. This spring we completed a…
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A year in photos
A photo montage of highlights from 2023/2024
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Details of 1929 Ohio murder case in recent media spotlight
By Christopher Harter, University Archivist and Head of the Archives and Rare Books Library “Details of Scandalous Hix-Snook Murder Trial Lives on in UC Library.” This headline appeared atop a May 2024 Cincinnati Enquirer article by crime reporter and podcaster Amber Hunt, which detailed “a small, tattered booklet” preserved at the Archives and Rare Books Library that contained “the transcripts of one of Ohio’s most salacious 20th century trials.” The booklet, entitled “The Murder of Theora Hix. The Uncensored Testimony of Dr. Snook,” details the1929 murder trial of Dr. James Snook of Columbus, Ohio, who was accused of killing Theora Hix, a student at Ohio State University with whom he…
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Open minds to open data
By Amy Koshoffer, Assistant Director, Research & Data Services, and Mark Chalmers, Science and Engineering Librarian Throughout the spring 2024 semester, two UC librarians, Amy Koshoffer (pictured left lecturing in the Visualization Lab in the Geo-Math-Physics Library.) and Mark Chalmers, co-taught the Power and Politics of Data honors seminar. The class drew students from colleges across the UC campus, including the College Conservatory of Music, the Lindner College of Business, the College of Medicine, the College of Education Criminal Justice and Human Services, and the College of Arts and Sciences. The course was geared toward, but not exclusive to, students considering doing research. In this interdisciplinary honors seminar, the students…
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Answering the call: A collection in the Winkler Center highlights UC medical personnel organized and staffed by a major European hospital during World War II
Reprinted from UC Magazine article published in April 2012 During the summer of 1941, before America entered World War II, the U.S. Army asked the University of Cincinnati to organize the 25th General Hospital as a major medical facility in the European theater. Staffing the hospital were 57 medical officers and 85 nurses, mostly affiliated with UC and Cincinnati General Hospital (now UC Health University Hospital), as well as 500 enlisted personnel, all of whom served with distinction in England, France and Belgium until the end of the war. At issue was an urgent need for doctors to serve in the armed forces while leaving enough physicians at home to…
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Library Spotlight: Geology-Mathematics-Physics
The Geology, Mathematics, Physics (GMP) Library provides access to services and collections across the sciences including geology, geography, environmental science, mathematics, physics, astronomy and more. To locate library resources, Research Guides are available as well as a search may be conducted via the Library Catalog. Centrally located on UC’s Uptown campus at 240 Braunstein Hall, the GMP Library provides study and computing spaces, open stacks for browsing science collections and a service desk for reserves and research assistance. GMP Library is also the Uptown Campus home for UC Libraries’ Research & Data Services (RDS), a suite of services and spaces for researchers. RDS at GMP Library includes the Visualization Laboratory…
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Former provost visits UC to celebrate his 90th birthday
By Richard A. Puff, Chief Communications Officer, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine Donald Harrison, MD, who served as UC senior vice president and provost for health affairs from 1986 until 2002, toured the Vontz Center for Molecular Studies and the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library on Feb. 24, 2024, his 90th birthday. Harrison was accompanied by 16 family members and met with College of Medicine faculty and UC Libraries staff. The Vontz Center, which opened in 1999, was one of several buildings constructed on the UC Medical Campus during Harrison’s tenure as provost. The health sciences library was named in his honor in 2008. Prior to coming to…
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A Note from the Dean: Forging a Plan for the Future
As I begin my second full semester at the University of Cincinnati as dean and university librarian, I’m struck by how much we’ve done this year and I am energized for the future. A great deal of the work undertaken during fall semester was about taking stock of where we are. I embarked on a listening tour of all UC Libraries’ departments to better understand the priorities of our frontline staff and, perhaps just as important, to understand the culture of our organization. To get a clearer picture of how we are performing in comparison with our peers, I worked with consultants from the Association for College and Research Libraries…
