Please enjoy the latest issue of the CAHSLA Chronicle. Please don’t hesitate to send news, updates, or articles on projects, presentations, etc. for inclusion in the Chronicle to Jim or Emily at any time throughout the year.
In this issue:
President’s Page, Secretary and Treasurer Reports
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital – Preserving Our Collections
Hello CAHSLA!
The annual holiday party was a blast – singing Christmas songs at Tokyo Kitty (a karaoke spot downtown) was a fun way to celebrate the season. Big thank you to Emily Kean for arranging and bringing the delicious food! The executive committee is planning a couple educational meetings for the new year, which I am very excited about! Keep your eyes peeled for more information.
Typically, this time of the year is for reflection, but I’m already thinking about what I will be working on in the new year. I have an exciting project in the works to do some health information literacy with hospital patients and caregivers. AI is at the top of my list as well, especially supporting my students and patrons in understanding GenAI and how it can be best utilized. I will also be continuing my work advocating for Open Science practices and Open Educational Resources. What are you excited about focusing on in the new year? Comment below or email your thoughts to Jim (James.DaMico@cchmc.org) or Emily (emilykean@gmail.com) for inclusion in the next Chronicle. I’d love to hear about projects CAHSLA members have in the works!
Lynn Warner, President
This year, there was a new twist on a beloved CAHSLA tradition at our annual holiday party! We reserved a room at Tokyo Kitty karaoke bar and sang some holiday carols, including (but not limited to): You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch; All I Want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey; Hard Candy Christmas by Dolly Parton and numerous other hits from the Dolly/Kenny Rogers album Once Upon a Christmas (even though Emily was the only one who knew this Christmas album…), Last Christmas by Wham!; Felix Navidad; Jingle Bell Rock, and more.
After about an hour of gnoshing and singing holiday songs, we switched to contemporary music to round out the night.
Attendees included: Matthew Cooper (Cincinnati Children’s), Jim Damico (Cincinnati Children’s), Liz Lang (Cincinnati Children’s), Emily Kean (Unaffiliated), Jennifer Pettigrew (The Christ Hospital), Lisa Raney (The Christ Hospital), Lynn Warner (University of Cincinnati)
Respectfully submitted by Matthew Cooper, Vice President
| CHECKING BALANCE | as of 10/11/2024: | $2,033.02 |
| CHECKING DEPOSITS | 2 Memberships | $50.09 |
| CHECKING DEPOSIT TOTALS | $50.09 | |
| CHECKING WITHDRAWALS | Holiday Meeting ($217.50) | $152.00 |
| CHECKING WITHDRAWAL TOTALS | $152.00 | |
| CHECKING BALANCE | as of 12/18/2024: | $1,931.11 |
| CASH BALANCE | as of 10/11/2024: | $210.00 |
| CASH DEPOSITS | $0.00 | |
| CASH WITHDRAWALS | $0.00 | |
| CASH BALANCE | as of 12/18/2024: | $210.00 |
| TOTAL ASSETS | as of 12/18/2024: | $2,141.11 |
MEMBERS
13 Regular (Paid)
0 Student (Paid)
13 Life Members
26 TOTAL
Respectfully submitted by Emily Kean, Treasurer
In November 2024, Cincinnati Children’s Mitchell-Nelson History Library, Archives and Museum (MNHLAM) had much needed UV film applied on the library windows.
The MNHLAM is in the Children’s Hospital Research Foundation and Clinic Building’s original Research Foundation Library, that opened in 1931 and is the last of the original Burnet campus. The building and the foundation exist due to the generous donation from William Cooper Procter who announced on January 4th, 1928 a $2.5 million gift to construct and endow the Children’s Hospital Research Foundation.
Fun fact: Louise Sias, who received library training at the University of Wisconsin in 1915-1916 became the first librarian in the late 1930’s after working at the Henry Ford Hospital library. Sias worked at CCHMC for 30 years, building the library from scratch.
While long term damage from the sun’s UV rays have done considerable damage to the bindings of our early patient histoires, the goal of the UV film is to slow the deterioration of all the artifacts and bound volumes currently stored in the space.
Funding for the UV film was generously provided by the Co-operative Society, the Hospital’s oldest philanthropic organization. The Co-operative Society, founded in January 1884, has given more than $14 million to various programs at the medical center, including the Mayerson Center for Safe and Healthy Children, the International Adoption Center and our Pediatric Primary Care Clinics. Additionally, members give generously of their time. They volunteer in an on-site sewing room where dedicated stitchers create children’s clothing, blankets and quilts for beds and cribs, toys for use by the Division of Child Life, soft helmets for patients with neurological disorders and teaching tools used by the nursing staff. They also brighten the medical center by decorating lobbies and public spaces for the holidays.
To prepare for the installation, I had to move all artifacts including some small bookcases, away from the windows. One snag that I ran into was moving a large, wheeled rack of hemofiltration equipment. The rubber on the wheels had deteriorated (it had been sitting in the sun since 2012!) to the point of breaking off in chunks so our Facilities team had to use a pallet jack to move it. Luckily, they will be able to replace the wheels when time permits. Once everything was moved, Environmental Services came in to clean the windows and window coverings and vacuum the sills. The next day, the vendor came to apply the UV film on all 15 window coverings. Another snag that happened is with the largest pane that was actually plexiglass which required a different type of substrate that the crew didn’t have. Thankfully, the material arrived and it was successfully applied. The next day Facilities came back to reinstall the covers and I put the room back together. In all, it took five days to complete the project.
By Jim DaMico, Archivist, Cincinnati Children’s