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Dean’s Note: Looking back and forward
As we enter the mid-point of summer, I find myself both looking back at the previous academic year and forward as we begin planning for fall semester and the new academic year ahead. During 2025/26 we completed a number of initiatives within our Strategic Plan, including: In the coming year, we anticipate completing some projects and initiating others. Some of those include: All these initiatives, both those completed and those underway, are in support of our mission to empower discovery, stimulate learning and inspire the creation of knowledge by connecting students, faculty, researchers and scholars to dynamic data, information and resources. I wish you all an enjoyable rest of summer.
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From Nazi Germany to the United States: The Werner H. Von Rosenstiel papers at the Archives and Rare Books Library
By Julianna Witt, Assistant Archivist Does the name Werner H. Von Rosenstiel ring a bell? If you have been inside the University of Cincinnati’s Arts & Sciences Hall, it just might. The Werner H. Von Rosenstiel Reading Room is named after the former student who donated his library to the university in 2001. His papers were later donated to the UC’s Department of History by Von Rosenstiel’s daughter and were transferred to the Archives and Rare Books Library (ARB) in 2024 as a part of the German-Americana Collection so that the collection could be organized and made accessible for research. ARB is celebrating the publication of the finding aid for the Werner H. Von Rosenstiel papers, which can now be accessed online. Who was Werner H. Von Rosenstiel? Werner Hans Von Rosenstiel (1911-2008) was born and…
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The Winkler Center’s display illuminates Covington, Kentucky as the “X-Ray City”
By Devhra BennetJones, Winkler Center Archivist In the early 20th century the excellence of the Bar-Ray Products Company and the Kelley-Koett Manufacturing Company gave Covington, Kentucky the distinction as “X-Ray City.” While they were independent enterprises, these two Covington-based companies were instrumental in their influence on early radiology science, medical imaging and the manufacture of radiation protective equipment. The Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions installed recently a display of a Bar-Ray X-Ray Stitching Stand (circa 1940s) and a Kelley-Koett X-Ray Machine (circa 1920). The radiology equipment was once utilized at the Cincinnati General Hospital. The X-Ray Stitching Stand was accessioned with an attached document…
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Across languages and borders: International collaborations at Oesper
By Mark Chalmers, Science & Engineering Librarian and Curator of the Oesper Collections The Oesper Collections in the History of Chemistry, housed at the University of Cincinnati, are local in their physical setting but global in their reach. While the work of curating these materials involves preservation, description, stewardship and access, their broader significance often emerges through collaboration, particularly when scholars and organizations beyond the United States engage with them in new and exciting ways. Two recently completed international partnerships highlight how historical materials from the Oesper Collections continue to circulate, finding new audiences and new contexts across languages and borders. Reconnecting Greco-Egyptian texts through translation One such collaboration centers…
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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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Events in the library
Spring is event season at the university. UC Libraries plans and sponsors events that engage and connect students, researchers and faculty with library services, collections and expertise. From Edible Books to poetry to library open houses, there’s something for everyone:
