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More News March 29, 2021

On Monday, Mar. 29, library employees gathered virtually to celebrate the life and enduring contributions of Christina Cicchetti, a UCR librarian for the past 14 years, most recently the Social Sciences Teaching Librarian.

Christina passed away on Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021 from complications related to COVID-19.

In 2007, Christina joined the UCR Library as an Education / Reference Librarian, after more than 30 years of experience in higher education, including librarian roles at La Sierra University and the University of La Verne.

Christina was well-known as a supportive and caring colleague who fostered fruitful and warm partnerships between the faculty and the library. She formed deep and lasting collaborations with UCR’s Graduate School of Education faculty and students. In 2019, her librarian position expanded to include support for all social science disciplines.

She oversaw the Learning Resources Display Center at Tomás Rivera Library. Beyond UCR, Christina connected with local educators on college readiness and became a founding member of a regional group of K-12 and academic librarians to create a library bridge to college.

She consistently enhanced the patron experience at the library with book fairs, dynamic displays, professional development events, and faculty orientation sessions.

Christina is deeply missed and remembered fondly by her colleagues at the UCR Library and around campus.

“In addition to Christina’s genuine heart and professionalism was also her spirit and perseverance. Especially the past few years. Christina was an inspiration to us all. Christina made me want to be more than just an excellent librarian, she made me want to be an excellent individual and human being. I will truly miss her.” - Michael Yonezawa, Early Experience Teaching Librarian

“Christina brought so many great qualities to the workplace! I always appreciated her calm, reasoned, and collaborative approach, as well as her wry, realistic views on whatever was happening. She’ll be sorely missed. Wishing comfort and strength to all who mourn her loss.” - Janet Reyes, Geospatial Information Librarian

“Christina was a compassionate and beautiful soul. She truly cared about the work she did, and she cared about the people she worked with. She definitely embodied Colossians 3:23-24. It reads, ‘And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.’ Christina will be missed on earth, but blessed to know she is now in Heaven with the Father. Thank you Christina for every story you shared and every word of encouragement you gave me. I love you always.” - Leslie Settle, Access Services Desk Coordinator

“Thank you Chris for your kindness, encouragement, and friendship over the years. Chris was kind and caring. I remember the care she took as a librarian whether at reference or in the early days at the curriculum resource center. She will be missed. My deepest condolences to the Cicchetti family.” - Elisa Cortez, Medical Education and Clinical Outreach Librarian

"Christina was a kind and thoughtful colleague, who embodied a quiet assuredness.  She was always supportive, professionally and personally.  Even though my office was in Orbach, she would still come over to my office or the reference desk, to follow up on a project, offer support for something, or just to say hi.  More recently, she reached out to offer support to me when I experienced a personal tragedy due to the pandemic.  Her example as a colleague and librarian encourages me to be better.  She will be missed.  My deepest condolences to her friends and family." - Kat Koziar, Data Librarian

"We were all so fortunate to get to work with Christina at UCR. She embodied an ethic of care with her colleagues, and was always so kind to everyone she met. May her memory be a blessing." - Dani Cook, former Director of Teaching & Learning

"Christina was a gift to the Graduate School of Education. She looked out for our library needs and shared her expertise with our faculty and students. She was one of my favorite people at UCR. Thank you for sharing all of the stories about Christina’s wonderful life.  She will be remembered and missed by all." - Sharon Duffy, former Dean, UCR Extension

"Christina was remarkable; such an amazing help to students in the GSOE.  Every time she came to a class to open the exploration of a search, I learned something new." - Rollanda O'Connor, Professor, Graduate School of Education

"Christina was a wonderful colleague, librarian, researcher and teacher--always quick to help and with a serene and healing smile on her face. I am thankful for Christina's presence in my life and in the lives of our students, staff, and faculty. We miss you very dearly, Christina." - Robert Ream, Interim Associate Dean and Associate Professor, Graduate School of Education

More News January 30, 2017

Most 16 year-olds are taking the SAT and starting to apply to colleges. Victoria Scott is already living the dream as a first-year student here at UC Riverside.

The youngest of three children raised by a single mother in Berkeley, California, Victoria showed academic promise very early in life. “I went straight from preschool to first grade. I also skipped my junior year of high school,” she explained. “Starting in seventh grade, when I got bored during summer break, my mom would send me to community college to take elective classes. So I started earning transfer credits very early.”

She applied and visited four different UC schools before deciding to become a Highlander. UCLA’s campus was too big and she didn’t feel “at home” there, whereas Berkeley was too close to home. Victoria felt that moving away from her hometown would allow her to branch out and do things on her own. With the rest of her family based in northern California, “My mom wanted me to come here to be close to my grandma, who lives in Palm Springs,” Victoria smiled. “Plus, the financial aid package here was really good, so that means I won’t have to take out any student loans.”

Victoria works at the Rivera Library Circulation/Reserve Desk, helping patrons check out library materials including course reserves, organizing books, answering phones, and assisting patrons with directional and informational questions. “She is smart, gifted, and a diligent worker. She is never late and exceeds expectations,” Access Services Desk Supervisor Leslie Settle said of Victoria. “She even had her car stolen from the dorm during finals week, right before Christmas, and was still able to be positive, report to work and excel in school. She is one remarkable young lady.”

 “Working at the library was a job I wanted to acquire before I even stepped on campus,” Victoria stated. Not having spent much time in libraries before college, she figured that knowing where the textbooks are and how to check them out would be a valuable skill to learn. “Working at the library makes it easier to navigate,” she said. “It’s given me a sense of responsibility. I primarily work with other students, but there’s always a supervisor on staff, so we can call on them if we need to,” she added. “I like UCR because everyone is willing to help you.”

The giving nature that Victoria sees in her UCR Library colleagues is mirrored in her own generous spirit. In addition to being a student employee at the library, Victoria also works in the Financial Aid Office and volunteers with an on-campus program called KID (Kindling Intellectual Development). “In KIDS we travel to homeless shelters on Wednesday and Thursday nights and work with kids between the ages of one and twelve,” she described. “Over winter break, around Christmas time, our lesson plan covered what they’re thankful for, making Christmas trees, and teaching them the importance behind Christmas.”

Victoria has plans to found her own service organization on campus before she graduates. “My organization will teach the youth science and technology, to inspire them to learn, advance their knowledge, and change our communities. My goal is to run my program through an elementary school,” she explained. “I love kids! Kids are my favorite thing in the world. They make my days fun, energetic, and happy!”

Aligned with her helping nature, Victoria’s decision to major in neuroscience or biology was inspired by her family’s experience. “My stepbrother was in a motorcycle accident and he suffered significant loss of brain and body function. That experience sparked my curiosity and persuaded me to want to study and learn more about the brain,” she said.  Because she came to UCR with a lot of transfer credits, Victoria plans to take a quarter off sometime during her senior year to start applying for medical school.

Before that time, however, Victoria plans to do a medical mission in Haiti. “I would go for one week with a doctor during spring break, to provide them with IVs, blood transfusions, wrap up their ankles, and anything else they need assistance with,” she explained. Victoria is excited about the prospect of cultural immersion as well as the opportunity to serve others. “It would be an incredible and eye-opening experience to go to a third world country and provide them with healthcare that we take for granted.”

In addition, Victoria hopes to study abroad, but has not yet decided whether to go to Mexico, Spain, Italy or France. “I want to go several places,” she said. “I was also thinking about doing a Semester at Sea, because you get to cruise either the Atlantic, Caribbean, or Pacific. You do your studying on a ship and then, when you’re off the ship, you have time just to explore.”

With a service-oriented spirit like Victoria’s, the more places she can visit, the more people she will benefit with her skills and her presence.

More News May 31, 2018

The end of each academic year brings many goodbyes, both farewells to graduating students and to members of our career staff who will retire in 2018.

We would like to recognize and celebrate the following UCR Library colleagues, who shared snippets of their UCR history with us:

Diane David

Music Cataloger Diane David started as a student assistant in UCR’s Music department in 1971 and later transitioned to working in the Music Library’s listening room. After finishing her B.A. in 1973, she was hired as a music cataloger, one of three in UCR Library’s history.

With 45 years of service, David might hold the record for the longest-running career at UCR Library. “It has been interesting to see the industry change and to see the impact technology has had on our work,” she said, recalling her earliest days with hand-typed cards for the public catalog and all the various changes in technology she has witnessed since then.

Those years have also contained many great memories, including having Maya Angelou as the commencement speaker when David earned her M.A., Scot’s Week, and a very distinct campus prank in the early 1980s. “One year, we arrived early in the morning to find that the Bell Tower had a giant arrow through the top of it,” David explained. “Remember Steve Martin, the comedian who would come on stage with a headband that looked like an arrow through his head? This was a giant version of that.”

After retirement, David will miss seeing friends and colleagues on a daily basis, but looks forward to continuing her career in theater, which is booked well into the next year.

Kit Rembert

Preservation Assistant Cynthia “Kit” Rembert started her career at UCR Library in September 1977 as a typist clerk, and will retire this year from her role as a supervisor of special projects and processing. “Coming to work at UC Riverside in the libraries has been a blessing,” Rembert said.

Her favorite memories include special moments with colleagues at celebrations to acknowledge retiring staff. “I also have a lot of good memories from working on special projects with different people in all areas of the libraries,” she said.

Rembert recalls one day when she and a few colleagues got locked down in the sub-basement at Rivera Library for about 30 minutes. “The elevator broke down and we had to wait for someone to come around to open the side entrance,” she explained. “The only thing we could do was look at some old books and tell some family stories.”

Another vivid memory, Rembert said, was when the library’s namesake Dr. Tomás Rivera passed away on May 16, 1984. “He was held in the highest regard on this campus,” she added. “He was gone too soon.”

Julia Ree

Metadata Cataloger Julia Ree has held many roles at the UCR Library since 1978, when she was hired as a student assistant in the Reserve Book Room on the first floor of Rivera Library. She has also worked in stacks maintenance, public services, acquisitions, cataloging, and for 12 years as the subject specialist for the Eaton Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy.

She met her husband of almost 36 years, Bob, at the public services counter in December 1980 when he was looking for weekend box office statistics for the Star Trek motion picture. “You could say that Star Trek brought us together! You could also say that having the same last name at birth was a contributing factor, but it’s the UCR Library space that made it all happen,” Ree said.

Ree’s favorite memories include organizing the 2013 Eaton Conference, at which they presented the Eaton Lifetime Achievement Award to Stan Lee. Another fond memory was in 2014, when Ree received the “Staff Who Make a Difference” award from Campus Staff Assembly. “I have worked many decades to create a quality to my work,” she said. “This, above all else, recognized my commitment to those we serve and I will be forever grateful to be singled out in this meaningful way.”

Josie Arreola

Josie Arreola was first hired at UCR as a receptionist in the Physical Plant / Grounds department; she joined the library in 1980. This year, she will retire from her position as a Collection Maintenance Assistant in Rivera Library.

In her 38 years at UCR Library, Arreola said she has been most fond of gatherings with student employees and staff colleagues, particularly the Thanksgiving Feast, as well as other on-campus events including University Club and holiday parties. Of the most unusual thing that happened to her on the job, Arreola said, “One week, I took like three security reports due to people trying to steal books, or damaging them.” What she will miss most about working at UCR Library is her co-workers and friends.

Maria Mendoza

Assistant Unit Supervisor of the Interlibrary Loan Unit, Maria Mendoza has been part of the UCR Library team since 1992. During that time, Mendoza said that she has collected too many fond memories to choose any favorites among them.

“But what I will miss the most is superior staff, our splendid students and phenomenal faculty,” she said.

In addition to her work at the library, Mendoza also taught Hawaiian dance classes to a group of UCR staff, faculty and students as part of the Mobile Fit program. A dedicated group of her dance students would sometimes perform as part of the Mission Inn’s Festival of Lights and at other community events.

After retirement, Mendoza plans to visit her native state of Hawaii and also to travel to the Philippines for the first time.

Rhonda Neugebauer

Collection Strategist for the Arts and Humanities Rhonda Neugebauer joined the UCR Library in 2001 as the Bibliographer for Latin American and Iberian Studies.

Her favorite memories include National Library Week postcards, “Edible Book” celebrations, the 2-millionth volume panel and reception, and celebrations with colleagues such as the library’s Student Employee Picnic and Thanksgiving Feast and Staff Association events. “I enjoyed seeing us as a group, united in our efforts to wholeheartedly support the library and library colleagues and enthusiastically serve our students, faculty and staff,” Neugebauer said.

When asked what she will miss most about working at UCR Library, she replied, “Co-workers who helped me, supported me, nurtured me, mentored me, stood with me during the rough times, and empathized with me when the news was sad, bitter and unthinkable.”

Her funniest memory was when an earthquake hit during a job candidate’s presentation in the Rivera Library. “When the speaker momentarily suspended his remarks ad asked, ‘Was that an earthquake?’ All the library colleagues who had already logged on to the shake map were able to report immediately to the candidate, ‘It wasn’t too bad, it was just a 3.4,’” she said. “Then we all laughed at how quickly everyone felt, reported and critiqued the shaking!”

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The UCR Library would like to thank each of our retiring staff members, both those who are named here and those who wish to remain anonymous. We are grateful to have had you as our colleagues and friends, we appreciate your many years of excellent service, and we wish you all the best in your future!

More News July 02, 2018

From student staff member to president of the UC librarians’ association, from reserves coordinator to collection strategist for STEM, Carla Arbagey has run the gamut of roles that a library staff member might hold during a career – and she’s just getting started.

In March 2002, Arbagey began working at the UCR Library as a student assistant in the Orbach Science Library’s Reserves department and transitioned to part-time career staff eight months later.

Arbagey was grateful that her supervisor at the time, Circulation / Reserves Services Manager Sahra Missaghieh-Klawitter, was willing to schedule work hours around her class schedule. She graduated with UC Riverside’s class of 2004 with her B.A. and then completed her Master of Arts degree in 2006, both in art history.

After graduation, she remained with UCR Library. She saw a connection between libraries and art history that most people might not notice.

“Most large museums like the Getty and LACMA also have large research libraries where people come to do research,” she explained. “So being involved and interested in culture, cultural history and the preservation of knowledge fits in well with libraries.”

Opportunities for continued career growth kept Arbagey at UCR, and eventually she decided to pursue her Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree from San Jose State University. She is now UCR Library’s Collection Strategist for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).

As a UC librarian, she is a member of the Librarians Association of the University of California (LAUC) and has served as Chair of LAUC Riverside (LAUC-R), as well as chair of local and system-wide Diversity Committees.

In September 2017, Arbagey was elected as the statewide President of LAUC for a one-year term that will conclude in September 2018.

“I think it’s helped me to develop a lot of my professional skills in terms of planning, leadership and developing a vision, and seeing the bigger picture,” Arbagey said of her LAUC service. “We’re all interconnected, like one big library for UC.”

As LAUC President, Arbagey has appreciated many opportunities for advocacy. She has spoken on behalf of librarians at the fourth hearing of the State Assembly Select Committee on the Master Plan for Higher Education, which was held at UC Riverside, at the UC Regents’ May 2018 meeting, and she presided at the LAUC Annual Assembly on March 23, 2018 honoring the 150^th anniversary of the UC Charter.

In her role at UCR Library, Arbagey enjoys how much her work employs technology to expand knowledge and improve skills. “Here there’s really a conscious effort to keep up with that,” she said. “It’s great to have the tools to support learning.”

One of Arbagey’s favorite memories is connected with one of her biggest dreams for the library: having more textbooks available and research materials available, including open educational resources.

She recalled a week in May 2011 when Chancellor Emeritus Tim White worked as a circulation desk assistant at Orbach Library for Undercover Boss. “They fooled us so bad! I had no idea what was going on,” she laughed.

During the library’s segment of the show, White assisted students who were requesting textbooks on reserve. “The library copy was in a bad condition because those books can check out up to 500 times in a ten-week period,” Arbagey explained. “Then another student came up who couldn’t get the book because it was already checked out. I was in charge of reserves back then and I was in tears watching that segment.”

White allocated some additional funding to the library for course reserves after that segment, but the challenge persists, according to Arbagey.

“It’s still a problem to provide access for our unique student body, many of whom are unable to purchase all the textbooks needed for their classes,” she said. “One of the principles for librarianship is equitable access to information. It’s a way as librarians we can make things more equitable.”

Arbagey is excited by the Affordable Course Materials Initiative, a program coordinated by Director of Teaching and Learning Dani Brecher Cook as well as faculty and Information Technology Solutions (ITS) partners, to promote the number of available high-quality course-related open educational resources on campus.

More News January 25, 2019

Class of 2017 alumna and author Jaymee Goh has achieved a feat that many writers hope to accomplish at the pinnacle of their careers – and she’s done it within one year of receiving her PhD from UC Riverside.

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018 (The Best American Series) featured her short story, “The Last Cheng Beng Gift,” in its anthology.

The tale begins on tomb-sweeping day, a traditional Chinese festival that occurs each spring, and focuses on a strained relationship between an Asian mother and daughter. While the traditions and nuances of Goh’s story might hold greater cultural significance for Asian readers, the relatable theme of being the disappointing child to a persnickety “tiger mom” transcends ethnicity.

Goh came to UC Riverside to pursue her doctoral research thanks in part to the enthusiasm of UCR’s Comparative Literature and Languages department faculty. To gauge their interest, she emailed the recruitment director about her proposed research topic -- post-colonialism in steampunk (a genre of science fiction characterized by design and/or fashion that blends historical elements with anachronistic technology). “I got back emails from four different professors saying, ‘Yes, we would be totally interested in this research! Come apply!’” Goh explained.

A Malaysian citizen who lived in Canada while working toward her master’s degree, when Goh first visited the campus, she was not impressed by Riverside’s public transit system. She was, however, wowed by UCR’s resources for mental health and wellness.

“I have depression, and I wanted to see what the department culture was,” Goh said. “The chair was like, ‘Oh yeah, we’ve got a great counseling center! I can walk you over there at the break if you want.’”

The Eaton Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy also influenced Goh’s decision to attend UCR. While disappointed that she couldn’t browse through the closed Special Collections stacks, she accessed and relied on many of the collection’s resources while working on her dissertation on steampunk and whiteness. Her research is what she calls “a critical examination of whiteness and white supremacy’s effects on racial relations,” and her dissertation, Shades of Sepia: Examining Eurocentrism and Whiteness in Relation to Multiculturalism in Steampunk Iconography, Fandom, and Culture Industry, is available to the UCR community on ProQuest.

Other factors that attracted Goh to UC Riverside included professors Sherryl Vint in the English department, and Nalo Hopkinson in the Creative Writing program, both founders of the Speculative Fiction Cultures / Science Fiction & Technology Studies program.

“When I first started writing my own fiction, I kind of used Nalo Hopkinson as a model for creating narratives that centered experiences and worldviews that are usually marginalized in science fiction,” Goh said. “She was one of the first people that I talked to when I got here, and I was really excited to meet her.”

Goh’s first forays into writing science fiction and participating in the steampunk subculture started her thinking about multiculturalism in the steampunk genre. “I don’t see many people of color in steampunk, and that’s a problem,” she said. This led to her academic research on racial representation in science fiction.

To address this on the creative front, in 2015 she co-edited an anthology, The Sea is Ours: Tales from Steampunk Southeast Asia, the first of its kind. “I wanted to talk about a steampunk that was very deeply rooted in Southeast Asian cultures, to try to reimagine worlds that either had not been colonized, or were technologically developed enough to push back against colonialism,” Goh explained. The anthology was co-edited by Singaporean writer Joyce Chng and published by Rosarium Publishing.

“Jaymee’s anthology was a revelation to me. Seeing how she had staked new ground for steampunk inspired me to ask such an early-career author to make the Eaton Collection the home for her papers,” said JJ Jacobson, the Jay Kay and Doris Klein Librarian for Science Fiction. “I knew that here was someone who was going to have a fascinating and multifaceted career in the speculative fiction world, and that we wanted to document it.”

Goh hopes that her writing might inspire more people of color, both established authors and aspiring writers, to use steampunk to explore different visions of their own identities. She added, “Because of assimilationist politics, a lot of us don’t feel safe expressing our own identities, particularly in costume play – because our cultures are not a costume and they’re already being treated as such. Part of why we fear that is because we have seen the ways that our cultures have been commodified. So I would like to see more people being comfortable rewriting their own history, the way that so many white authors feel comfortable rewriting British history, and inserting their own characters into it and not being too worried about it.”

Jaymee Goh is currently living in Berkeley, California, where she works as an editor for Tachyon Publications.

More News February 28, 2020

Starting with her appointment in Oct. 1953, UC Riverside’s first Dean of Women Loda Mae Davis helped to shape the future not just for Highlander women but for all UCR students.

In addition to serving as an Assistant Professor of Psychology, Davis was later appointed as the Associate Dean of Students. She firmly believed in sexual equality and drafted policies to support that ideal, making Riverside the first campus in the UC system to allow women students the same dormitory privileges that men had always enjoyed. Davis also advocated for the female faculty to have the same membership rights as the male faculty.

Many male students opined that Davis was "too liberal." Colleagues claimed that she frequently said that UCR was "the most sexist place she had ever worked," although Davis did not call herself a feminist.

The Loda Mae Davis papers (UA 082) include correspondence, publications, fiction and non-fiction manuscripts, speech transcripts, photographs, videos, audio cassettes, and other material that documents Davis’ work and the contributions of female faculty members who contributed to the UCR academic community. Received in 2015, the collection was first made available for research in Special Collections and University Archives at the Tomás Rivera Library starting in fall quarter 2018.

Born in 1898 to pioneer homesteaders in Washington state, Davis and her sister worked to support their own education. She graduated from UC Berkeley in 1923 with honors in commerce, followed by a masters of science in business in 1932. Graduate work in psychology at UC Berkeley preceded Davis’ 1953 appointment at UCR.

An economic analyst, consumer rights advocate, and world traveler, Davis worked for the Works Project Administration in 1936 and other Federal entities during the Roosevelt administration. In 1940, she became a consultant to the Consumer Division of the National Council of Defense, a job which led to her becoming the head of the first field staff of the Office of Price Administration. Following World War II, she worked for the UN Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.

Davis traveled throughout the United States to educate the public on the federal rationing and price control program. Additionally, she traveled extensively as a single woman, including trips to Panama and Mexico in 1934; Sweden, Norway, Finland, Russia, Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, France, England, Canada and the Arctic Circle in 1935; and China and Japan in 1937. The onset of World War II provided other travel opportunities, as did a 1960 sabbatical which she spent in Samoa.

Davis stayed active within the UCR community after her 1964 retirement, helping to found the Loda Mae Davis Archive and to serve as a mentor to women in academia. She lived in Riverside until her death in 1989.

Davis’ legacy continues to impact the lives of today’s Highlander women through the Dean Emerita Loda Mae Davis Women's Archives fund (which supports the acquisition of materials documenting aspects of women's leadership, accomplishments, and attainments as scholars, writers, creative artists, activists, citizens, etc., and women's changing roles in society), the Dean Loda Mae Davis Endowed Award (est. 1964 by The Prytanean Society, a women's honor society), the Dean Loda Mae Davis Endowed Scholarship Fund (est. 1982), and the Dean Loda Mae Davis Commencement Award (est. 1964).

More News June 27, 2019

The end of each academic year brings many goodbyes, both farewells to graduating students and to members of our career staff who retired in 2019.

We would like to recognize and celebrate the following UCR Library colleagues, who shared some of their UCR history with us:

Sharla Desens

Music Library Manager Sharla Desens started as a Music Library student employee in 1978. She became a staff member in September 1982, as the Assistant Night Supervisor for Rivera Library.

Her favorite memory of working in the Library was when Sharla was pregnant with her second son and was working swing shift as the Night Supervisor. An older couple came to the counter, asking for her. She figured they needed help finding something, to discuss a bill, or something like that -- but it turned out that the woman had crocheted a pink and blue afghan for her baby.  She didn’t really know the couple, but apparently she had helped them and made an impression.  Sharla was very touched by the gesture.

What Sharla will miss most are the many friends she has made amongst the UCR community, both staff and library users.

The most unusual thing that happened to Sharla on the job was when she gained notoriety for assisting in the arrest of Stephen Blumberg, famous book thief and bibliomaniac.  His arrest at UCR put his fingerprints into the system, and enabled investigators to connect him with other book thefts around the country.

Some on-campus events that Sharla remembers most vividly, from her 40+ years at UCR, include:  the riots caused by the Rodney King beating, student protesters taking over the library, earthquakes, 9/11, the deaths of two sitting chancellors, graduations, and other celebrations.  Sharla remembers fires in the libraries, chickens running loose in Rivera, and evacuations during the Rivera Library renovation.  And many police incidents, which thankfully we don’t see as much these days, thanks to an increased police presence on campus, and the addition of library security guards (positions for which Sharla was an early advocate).  Sharla says she could fill up an entire book on the library, once she gets started.

Sharla vividly remembers walking around the library after the Landers Earthquake on Sunday, June 28,1992.  Library administrators were all off at the American Library Association (ALA) conference, and the Reserve Services Manager and Sharla were asked to assess the damage.  As they were walking around on the fourth floor looking at books three feet deep on the floor, a significant aftershock shook the building.  Sharla was pregnant with her youngest son at the time, and her colleague said, “Do you want to have that baby right here, right now?  Let’s get out of here!” 

Sharla’s last day was June 27, 2019. Thank you for your many years of service to the UCR Library, Sharla!

***

Additional 2019 retirees included Debbie Snow and Letitia Fossett.

The UCR Library would like to thank each of our retiring staff members, both those who shared their stories here and those who were not available for comment (perhaps because they're already busy enjoying their retirement). We are grateful to have had you as our colleagues and friends, we appreciate your many years of excellent service, and we wish you all the best in your future!

More News December 17, 2025

STEM Teaching Librarian Mary-Michelle Moore, housed in the UCR Library’s Teaching and Learning Department, plays a key role in helping STEM students build research and information literacy skills.

Need help refining a research question? Looking for the right STEM database? Stuck on citations or trying to learn Git or R? That's where Mary-Michelle Moore comes in. Since joining UCR Library as STEM Teaching Librarian in June 2024, she's been supporting students at every level, from foundational research skills to technical tools.

Mary-Michelle came to UCR from other UC and Cal State institutions, where she held various roles including a position at the UCLA Lab School, circulation coordinator, and a library liaison to the social sciences and STEM, among others. Her diverse background made her well-suited for interdisciplinary library work. "My undergrad is a Bachelor of Science in Archaeology, so I know a little bit of everything—bio, geology, chemistry—and I realized I really liked working with the sciences," she said. She later earned her MLIS from Rutgers University.

At UCR, Moore collaborates with colleagues to make the Library's STEM support more visible. She helped launch libstemteam@ucr.edu, a shared email where students and faculty can send any STEM questions without figuring out which librarian or staff member to contact. She also offers Lib STEM Team Office Hours during the quarter to assist graduate students and faculty.

Moore has planned creative engagement activities like a Pi Day spirograph event tied to mathematical patterns and an Ada Lovelace Day Wikipedia editing workshop highlighting women's contributions to computing. These activities reflect her goal of offering approachable, memorable experiences that bring students into the Library.

This fall, Mary-Michelle became the first librarian to teach UGRD 040, a new 2-unit course launched in fall 2025 and developed by the Library’s Teaching & Learning Department. Mary-Michelle’s inaugural course, Optimize Your Research Skills, was designed with undergraduate STEM students in mind. In the course, students explore scientific information, evaluate reports and government data, and prepare a final research poster. "I was so excited to get to do it first," she said.

Mary-Michelle is also a researcher herself, studying how students learn information literacy online and how librarians are portrayed in science fiction and fantasy. Her recent project analyzing Hugo Award–nominated works drew on materials from Special Collections & University Archives. Outside the Library, she combines conference travel with long-distance running, working toward completing a race in every state.

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How Mary-Michelle Can Help 

• Develop and focus research questions.
• Identify discipline-specific STEM databases.
• Offer guidance on citations and reference management.
• Support upper-division coursework, posters, and early research projects.
• Assist with tools related to Git, R, and Carpentries content.

Need STEM help? Contact Mary-Michelle at marymichelle.moore@ucr.edu or email the Lib STEM Team at libstemteam@ucr.edu.
 

More News February 12, 2018

Currently an institutional archivist for The J. Paul Getty Trust, the world's largest cultural and philanthropic organization dedicated to the visual arts, class of ’08 alumna Sara Seltzer began her career as a UCR Library student employee in Special Collections and University Archives.

“I’ll never forget when I got that job,” Seltzer said. “I came home that day and told my parents about it and my dad was like, ‘This is the start of your career!’ And I said, ‘I guess it is!’”

From a young age, Seltzer’s family instilled a love of history and literature into her life. “My mom in particular is a huge history buff and culture fiend,” she said. “Growing up we always went to museums, we always did lots of cultural things. I had influential people who exposed me to the kinds of environments where archives live.”

Her grandmother was a Cuban refugee who later worked in the corporate library for Southern California Edison, which also inspired Seltzer’s career goals. “That was her favorite job,” she explained.

Her academic studies at UC Riverside focused on European history and art history, while at the library Seltzer felt most passionate about working with archives tied to British history. “I’m a huge Anglophile, so that was exciting,” she said of working with the Ann Harris correspondence  in 2009, among other projects for Special Collections and University Archives.

As a student employee, she appreciated the autonomy that her supervisors gave her, as it helped to build confidence in her own judgment and critical thinking skills. “Since I knew this was the path that I wanted, I was very thankful for that job and I took it very seriously,” she explained. “It was a bit unusual for student workers to be given that responsibility, but when it’s the right student worker, they get a lot out of it.”

Seltzer believes that library student employees can reap more long-term benefits than students at most typical entry-level jobs. “The library is so much more than just people working with books,” she explained. “There’s a huge demand for people with programming skills in this field, people who understand digital technologies, user experience designers. This is an opportunity to gain professional experience and to find a career path. It’s a viable field and it’s growing all the time.”

After graduation, Seltzer remained at the library until 2009 for an internship supervised by Manuel Urrizola, Head of Metadata & Technical Services. “He was very inspiring. He took me under his wing,” she commented. “He taught me all the basics of cataloging before I even started library school.” After graduating from UCLA with a MLIS in Archival Studies, Seltzer eventually moved to her current position where she is responsible for managing the current and historic business records of the J. Paul Getty Museum.

“I’m still working and doing what I always wanted to do,” Seltzer reflected. “I’m really happy with this path that I’ve been put on. It all pretty much began here, so I’m really grateful to UCR Library for giving me my start.”

The UCR Library is committed to enhancing the student learning experience, which includes supporting the professional development and advancement of our student employees. This article is the second in a series of stories following the success of former UCR Library student employees. We are incredibly proud of the alumni talent that was cultivated here, at the UCR Library. 

More News June 21, 2024

We are excited to welcome Mary-Michelle Moore to the UCR Library as our new STEM Teaching Librarian in the Teaching and Learning Department.

Mary-Michelle's journey into the library field began during her undergraduate years working at UCLA's Charles E. Young Research Library, where she started as a stackie and later worked in interlibrary loan. "After graduation, I tried a couple of jobs in small companies but they weren't the best fit, so I went back to working in the library," she shared. This decision led her to roles at the UCLA Lab School, UC Irvine's Law Library, and UCI’s main library. She eventually decided to pursue a library degree from Rutgers University.

“At some point, I realized that if I wanted to continue to move up, it was either stay in the paraprofessional space and wait for the head of ILL to retire or get my library degree and switch to the librarian side of the library,” she explained.

Her career has taken her to various institutions, including her most recent position at UCSB in the Teaching & Learning Department, and a part-time role at Allan Hancock Community College as a reference librarian. "I've enjoyed all of my library jobs to date and have learned so much at all of my previous institutions," Mary-Michelle said, reflecting on her journey.

Mary-Michelle's educational background includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Anthropology from UCLA, with a minor in Philosophy. Initially, Mary-Michelle had her sights set on an Astrophysics major but made the switch to Anthropology. Her genuine interest in the sciences and humanities has equipped her with a diverse skill set that she brings to her library roles.

When asked about her interest in joining our library, Mary-Michelle explained, "When I was a librarian at CSU Dominguez Hills, I was the liaison to the Natural Sciences half of the College of Natural and Behavioral Sciences, and I really enjoyed the work. As someone who comes from an interdisciplinary science background, the blending of information literacy and science needs for students in the library was enjoyable and appealing."

In addition to her professional excitement, Mary-Michelle has personal ties to the area. "I grew up in Redlands and have family nearby, so in addition to a new work environment, I'm looking forward to seeing my family more often," she said.

Mary-Michelle’s enthusiasm for teaching and her interdisciplinary science background will be tremendous assets to our library. We look forward to the innovative ideas and energy she will bring to our team. Please join us in welcoming Mary-Michelle to our library community!