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Prioritizing accessible spaces in the CECH Library
By Madeleine Gaiser, Online Learning & Instruction Librarian Since the fall of 2024, the College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services (CECH) Library has worked towards making their spaces and collections more inclusive and accessible for all learners. Following the update of the Accessible Tech Space in Langsam in 2024, the Study & Focus Tools Collection (SFTC) was launched and the reservable study room (400B) was re-imagined with inclusive improvements as part of the Reading Room renovation. Small Swap with High Contrast Inspired by the keyboards in Langsam’s Accessible Tech Space, high-contrast computer keyboards were installed in the CECH Library Info Commons, one for Mac and another for Windows.…
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New online exhibit displays effort to desegregate Cincinnati public schools
By Julianna Witt, assistant archivist, and Catherine Cubera, digital archivist On December 10th, 1973, the seven-member Board of the Cincinnati Public Schools adopted a resolution to end segregation of the city’s public school system — a resolution that would go unfulfilled and prompt a lawsuit by the Cincinnati branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). A new online exhibit created by the Archives and Rare Books Library (ARB) showcases the NAACP Bronson v. Board of Education of the City of Cincinnati records, and documents the library’s efforts to create a finding aid for the collection. The exhibit gives users the opportunity to learn more about the collection…
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Making history visible: Chemistry displays help transform Old Chem
By Mark Chalmers, Science and Engineering Librarian and Curator of the Oesper Collections The scavenger hunt clue was discovered by accident, tucked inside the sliding glass doors to one of the Old Chemistry building’s new display cases. The typed note read: “They don’t speak, but they’ve seen it all — Minds that sparked the rise and fall. Pasteur, Franklin, Cannizzaro too — Their faces cast in quiet view. Find the wall where legends stare, and history lingers in the air.” Someone had incorporated the busts of famous scientists —Pasteur, Franklin, Cannizzaro—into their puzzle, working the display’s content into the clue itself. The clue was confirmation that the year-long installation project…
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What we did over the summer…to prepare for the academic year
Vacations, beach time and cookouts – while most students were away from campus enjoying summer, we were busy working on projects to prepare library spaces, services and collections for the start of the academic year. Highlights of our work this summer: New Spaces CECH 4th floor renovation – Renovation began to the College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services (CECH) Library’s 4th floor reading room to support students and the academic community by creating a more dynamic, flexible and welcoming environment. Scheduled to reopen in Spring 2026, the renovated 4th floor will offer: In the meantime, the 3rd floor of the CECH Library remains open. Introducing the Science Library…
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Collaboration brings increased digital access to rare manuscripts
By Sidney Gao, Interim Head of Digital Initiatives, and Chris Harter, University Archivist and Head of the Archives and Rare Books Library In the late 15th or early 16th century a nun sat at a desk in the Neukloster bei Buxtehude convent in Lower Saxony carefully adding the final decorative touches to a handwritten prayer book complete with rubicated initials and figural illustrations. One of those illustrations portrays a nun gazing at Mary and the infant Jesus in what may be a bit of self-portraiture by the nun. The book, known today as Meditationes et Orationes with the shelfmark Ms. 2, is comprised of 341 leaves written in a clear…
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Pharmacy Education in the Queen City: Cecil Striker Annual Lecture
The Henry R. Winkler Center for the Health Professions and the Cecil Striker Society present the Annual Cecil Striker Lecture. The lecture, “Pharmacy Education in the Queen City: 1850-2025” presented by Dennis B. Worthen, PhD, is in celebration of the James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy’s 175th anniversary. Tuesday, Oct. 14, 5-7pmKowalewski Hall Auditorium, room 140 The event is open to all. RSVP by Sept. 30. Can’t attend in person? The lecture will be streamed live via Zoom. After the event, visit the University of Cincinnati Pharmacy Education exhibit in the Stanley J. Lucas, MD, Board Room in the UC Medical Sciences Building. The exhibit will feature images and artifacts…
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Expand Our Impact: An interview with frequent library collaborator Christopher Platts
Christopher Platts, assistant professor of art history, is a frequent collaborator with the Libraries. His work with the DAAP Library, Archives and Rare Books Library and the Preservation Lab, is a perfect example of how we’re achieving our Expand Our Impact Strategic Direction through enhanced UC and external partnerships and collaborations. Following is an interview with Christopher about some of his projects and research focus. How long have you been at the university and what is your research/teaching focus? I have been at the University of Cincinnati since autumn 2021, when I moved from the east coast (Connecticut). I teach in the art history and museum studies programs in the…
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Archives and Rare Books Library received national grant to process historic Cincinnati schools desegregation case records
By Christopher Harter, Julianna Witt and Melissa Cox Norris Last September, The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) awarded the University of Cincinnati’s Archives and Rare Books Library a $109,349 grant to support a project to complete archival processing of the records of the Cincinnati Branch of the NAACP related to the 1974 Bronson v. Cincinnati Board of Education, the city’s most significant legal case in the fight for school desegregation. Filed in 1974, the Bronson case was not the first litigation to address segregation and discrimination in the Cincinnati Public Schools, but it was the first to create some accountability for the Cincinnati School Board. Housed in the…
