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A Note from the Dean: Adapting Libraries for the Future
How do we transform the Libraries’ traditional role from one of a service organization to that of a true partner in the academic pursuits of the university? Traditionally, libraries have been seen primarily as service units. Librarians and staff purchased and disseminated materials and assisted users with reference and other questions concerning the library. While this service role is important, in order for us to remain relevant – to not just survive, but to thrive – libraries need to move beyond that traditional service model into something that is more collaborative and integrated into the academic mission of the university. For academic libraries, this means transforming ourselves from information…
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UC Libraries 2016/17 Progress Report Focuses On Transforming People
Read the University of Cincinnati Libraries 2016/17 Progress Report: Transforming People. In addition to providing an update on the news, events and stats from the previous academic year, the report celebrates UC Libraries’ most valuable resource – our people. It is people who create a lasting impact on library operations, innovation and growth, and who implement and inspire lasting change. From essential library operations to innovative services, everything the Libraries has accomplished the past academic year is because of the hard work, dedication and creativity of our librarians and staff, as well as through the collaborations and support of students, donors, faculty, researchers and university administrators. Included in the Progress…
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Grant Program to Partner Medical Faculty with Information Specialists
The College of Medicine’s Office of Research has partnered with the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library on a grant program to facilitate research collaborations between full-time faculty and librarians/information specialists (informationists). The program seeks to enhance collaborative, multi-disciplinary basic and clinical research by integrating an informationist and/or librarian into the research team in order to enhance research success. In addition to directly impacting a research project, this program is designed to help College of Medicine faculty take advantage of new capacities in the Libraries that can enhance study design, data collection and data presentation. Please join us in congratulating the College of Medicine-Health Sciences Library Grant Recipients: Silvi Shah,…
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A Note from the Dean: Creating a Culture of Transformational Change
Previously in Source, I discussed the importance of building strategic staffing capacity in order to create new positions and opportunities within UC Libraries both to meet the organization’s growing needs and to attract new talent. While finding new talent is important to the success of UC Libraries and the implementation of our Strategic Plan, developing and retaining the talent we already have is equally important. One of the main objectives of the Strategic Plan’s People pillar is to “cultivate and empower a well-trained and technologically savvy workforce that embraces a culture of continuous learning, creative thinking and the pursuance of excellence.” The concept of embracing a new culture is one…
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An Interview with May Chang, Library Chief Technology Officer
In October, May Chang joined UC Libraries in the newly created position of Library Chief Technology Officer. May’s role is to provide strategic and operational technology direction for UC Libraries. Below is an interview with May about her professional background, immediate goals for the new position, and her early impressions of UC Libraries. May can be reached via email at may.chang@uc.edu. Please tell us your professional background. I did my undergraduate program in Information Science at Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Australia. Through their study abroad program, I spent a year at the Graduate School of Library & Information Science, University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign where I returned a…
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Staff News
People – the second pillar of our Strategic Plan – has as its goal to “transform the evolving role of the information professional.” We will accomplish this by becoming more dynamically engaged partners with colleges, departments and units —integrating new methods for collecting, accessing, utilizing and preserving streams of data and information in support of the teaching and research mission of the university. We will become leaders in defining the changing role of academic libraries in the global library community. Below are some of the activities the UC Libraries staff have engaged in recently as we work to expand our active engagement in research, teaching, learning and clinical practice. Publications…
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Announcing the Establishment of UC’s First Digital Scholarship Center
The University of Cincinnati Libraries, in partnership with the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), is establishing UC’s first Digital Scholarship Center. To be located in the Walter C. Langsam Library, the Digital Scholarship Center will provide a place for faculty and students to explore digital scholarship (DH/DS) in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as cross-disciplinary teaching and research. The mission of the Center will be to serve as a catalyst for creative hybrid forms of research and teaching, bringing together humanistic methods with technical innovations to test paradigms and to create new knowledge at the boundary between disciplines as they are conventionally imagined in the…
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An Interview with Mark Konecny, Scholarly Communications and Digital Publishing Strategist
In July, Mark Konecny joined UC Libraries in the newly created position of Scholarly Communications and Digital Publishing Strategist. Mark’s role will be to consult with students, faculty, and librarians on issues regarding fair use and copyright in research and in the classroom. Below is an interview with Mark about his professional background, his immediate goals with the new position, and his early impressions of UC Libraries. Mark can be reached via email at konecnmc@ucmail.uc.edu. Can you tell us a little bit about your professional background? I received a Ph.D. in Russian culture from the University of Southern California and took a position as an archivist/curator at the Institute of Modern…
