News
Here are the latest news items from the Oberlin College Libraries. Also watch our social media channels for updates about our resources, services and programs.

January 22, 2021
Service Alert: Planned maintenance for OBIS on 1/28/21
OBIS, the Oberlin College Libraries online catalog, will be unavailable due to planned maintenance on: Thursday, January 28, 2021 from 7am to 9am. The outage will affect several core library services including searching the catalog, making requests for materials, and logging into user accounts. Please plan your research... Continue Reading

November 13, 2020
Students: please return materials before the break
Hi students! Remember to return your library books before you leave in November so others can use them in the spring semester. OhioLINKs and Interlibrary Loans All books borrowed from other institutions through ILL or OhioLINK must be returned before you leave campus in November. Oberlin Materials Please return all Oberlin... Continue Reading

October 16, 2020
The Friends of the Oberlin College Libraries Presents Erica Armstrong Dunbar
The Friends of the Oberlin College Libraries presents a virtual presentation by Erica Armstrong Dunbar, award-winning historian and author, on November 7, 2020. Erica Armstrong Dunbar is author of the National Book Award finalist Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge. Dunbar... Continue Reading

June 09, 2020
A Jazz Legend Returns to the Road
Oberlin exhibition honoring bassist Milt Hinton visits historically black institutions across the U.S. A one-of-a-kind exhibition created by the Oberlin Conservatory Library tells the story of one of the most prolific jazz musicians of the 20th century: concert performer and session man Milt Hinton, whose seven-decade career... Continue Reading

January 15, 2020
History Design Lab Institute Advises How to Launch an Oral History Project
The two-day project during winter term offers an intensive look at how to launch a collaborative oral history project, along with methods of project design and presentation. More than 70 people participated in the History Design Lab Institute, including students, faculty, and staff from on-campus winter term group projects... Continue Reading

July 15, 2019
App-based Tour Illuminates Oberlin’s History
What began as an aspiration to open a history museum in Oberlin morphed into a series of app-based tours that aim to represent the city’s diverse history. Some of the most repeated Oberlin College history tidbits may be these: that it was the first college to admit all students without respect to race, and it was the... Continue Reading

April 11, 2019
A Conversation with Alison Ricker, Science Librarian
As the head of Oberlin’s science library, Alison Ricker works behind the scenes in myriad ways. This weekend, in observance of Citizen Science Day, she will lead a volunteer effort to evaluate science-related Wikipedia articles. When did you begin working at Oberlin? Have you always been the science librarian, or did... Continue Reading

October 12, 2018
What I Didn’t Say: A Collaborative, Interdisciplinary Sound Art Installation
As the power of representation has been increasingly noted in media in this modern digital age, technology and art serve as crucial mediums for marginalized voices to be heard and acknowledged. What I Didn’t Say is an upcoming sound art installation designed by Technical Director and Lecturer in TIMARA Abby Aresty and... Continue Reading

June 19, 2018
Bringing Science to Life Through Journalism
A love of the sciences, paired with a stint at Oberlin College Library, led Dyani Sabin to a career in science journalism. When Dyani Sabin ’14 began at Oberlin, she was almost certain of her future career, and aspirations of becoming a veterinarian placed her on the premed track. But during the premed information... Continue Reading

May 22, 2018
Main Library Will Be Named for Activist, Alumna Mary Church Terrell
The main library in Mudd Center will be named in honor of 1884 graduate Mary Church Terrell, an educator, feminist, civil rights activist, and a founding member of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) and the NAACP. When Director of Libraries Alexia Hudson-Ward moved into her spacious, bookshelf-lined office on the... Continue Reading