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Navigating the Pandemic
UC Libraries approach to delivering services and resources during unprecedented times. This past academic year has been a lesson in resiliency and versatility. Through the shared experience of the unknown, illness and lives lost, people around the world did their best to keep one another safe and to hold out hope for an end to the global pandemic. We, too, in UC Libraries did our best to pivot – striving to maintain the core tenants of our mission, while adhering to pandemic health and safety standards as we re-imagined core library services aimed at a user base that had largely moved online. As the university weathered the challenges and relentless…
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A Look Back in Photos
A Photo Montage of the past academic year. The first half of the academic year found most faculty and staff working remotely, while a dedicated core continued to work onsite. With the start of the 2020 fall semester, UC Libraries re-opened library facilities to the UC community in a limited, phased approach to ensure social distancing. The stacks remained closed and areas of each library were closed off. Users could still access library collections through the widely used Click & Collect request and retrieval service, and receive assistance through online instruction and the popular CHAT reference service. Social distancing, sanitation stations and marked walking routes helped to keep people safe…
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Navigating the Pandemic – A Tale of Two Semesters
The 2019 fall semester was business as usual with students, faculty, researchers and staff using library facilities to study, access collections, seek reference assistance, participate in library workshops, print a paper or simply grab a cup of coffee between classes. Librarians and staff provided instruction, manned service desks, collected and made library materials available, planned exhibits and events and collaborated with faculty and researchers to translate information and data into knowledge. The usual activities in the library would come to a sudden halt spring semester. In consultation with university administration, the University of Cincinnati Libraries, like so many others around the country and the world, made the difficult decision to…
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Standing Together
Xuemao Wang | Vice Provost for Digital Scholarship and Dean and University Librarian I have watched and have been deeply moved over the last few weeks as people around the world respond to the May 25th murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers. Each news cycle seems to bring another senseless killing of black Americans, from Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, GA to Breonna Taylor in Louisville, KY and, most recently, Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta, GA. The national and global protests point out the painful reality that America is still far from her original creed that all men are created equal. The American Library Association (ALA), Association of Research Libraries…
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Supporting Students and Faculty in a Time of Crisis
Since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses and organizations worldwide have sought new and innovative ways to continue to cater to their users and provide the best possible services in a truly unprecedented situation. The University of Cincinnati Libraries is no exception. Over the last three months library faculty and staff, in collaboration with university partners such as Student Government and IT@UC, and in conversation with faculty from across campus, have made a swift transition to remote online services. All the while, the Libraries has stayed committed to their mission to empower discovery, stimulate learning and inspire the creation of knowledge by connecting students, faculty, researchers and scholars to…
