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More News September 14, 2023

More News December 04, 2017

The UCR Library is pleased to announce that Robin M. Katz has assumed her new responsibilities as the Primary Source Literacy Librarian for Special Collections and University Archives.

This change reflects the continued awareness and emphasis within the world of special collections and archives of the increasing importance of primary source literacy.

As noted in the newly published SAA-RBMS Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy:

Primary sources provide compelling, direct evidence of human activity. Users who encounter primary sources gain a unique perspective on the subject they are studying, and an opportunity to learn firsthand how primary sources are used for original research. As users learn to successfully engage with primary sources, they also gain important skills that help them navigate the use of other information sources, and further develop their critical thinking skills.

Katz will serve as subject matter expert for primary source literacy and archives/special collections-based instruction and pedagogy. She will continue to teach classes and to support other learning experiences, and she is available to all library staff members for internal consultations, support, and collaborations around teaching & learning with unique and original materials.

Katz will also identify and highlight primary sources held in and outside of the library (in special and general collections, through databases and other subscriptions, at other institutions, on the open web, and in private hands) that are relevant to UCR library users, contribute to collection development, and develop reusable tools and resources for using these materials. She looks forward to working on projects that facilitate the discovery, understanding, and use of primary sources across and beyond UCR.

Please join us in congratulating Robin on her new role!

More News May 29, 2019

As the second-largest student employer on campus, each spring the UCR Library takes time to celebrate the students who comprise half of our staff team.

At the annual Student Employee and Staff Appreciation Luncheon held in the lower courtyard at Rivera Library, we also recognized these 25 library student employees who will graduate with UC Riverside’s Class of 2019: Alma Ramos, Andrea Mares, Anthony Valverde​, Cameron Tuck, Chia Wu, Cindy Chau, Daniel Chen, Dulce Melo, Gursimran Singh, Hana Tran, Jacqueline Hernandez, Janice Liu, Jessica Leon, Jose Peralta, Kaitlyn Lara, Margaret Gardner, Matthew Diep, Matthew Garrido, Matthew Moreno, Noah Nguyen, Patrick Zydziak​​, Reajinae Jenkins, Roger Peralta Gomez, Serena Rodholm, and Sergio Banegas.

We asked our 2019 graduates to share their favorite memories from their time spent working at the UCR Library, and what they would miss most about working here. Here are some of their responses:

"I have worked at Rivera Library since my very first weeks of my first year of being at UC Riverside, so I have a lot of great memories from these past 4 years. It took me a while to pick my favorite one, so I would have to say my favorite memory from working at the library is being able to see our wonderful diversity at this school. I come from a place where there are predominately Asian and Hispanic people and not much diversity. The Rivera Library is one of the most visited places on campus, so I was able to see many different students, staff, and visitors. After my first month working here, it was nice to see how diverse our campus is and I wish the world was more like it. Four years later, I believe I have assisted and encountered almost all the ethnic groups around the world and it's a pretty great achievement. I myself come from Poland and I do not think I have met another individual from there at UCR, but that just shows the diversity of the campus. I wish I had the time to get to know these different ethnic groups better, but I cherish the short conversations I was able to have. I think what I will miss most about working here is being able to actually encounter and talk to a diverse community. Working at the library gave me an excuse to talk to and meet people. I cannot think of any other way to be able to talk to these people unless I go up to anyone on campus and introduce myself to anyone who walks by me but that is obviously out of the norm. The food industry also experiences many different people, however, it is a much faster paced environment and gives workers not much time to see around them. I'm not sure if my future career after graduation will have a diverse community like this, so that is something I will surely miss from working at the UCR Library. " - Patrick Zydziak

"My favorite memory from working at the library is actually a collection of memories. I loved running into my professors while working at the desk. I enjoyed having conversations with them about what books they were reading, any literature recommendations they had, etc. I also enjoyed being helpful to those who were helpful to me in the classroom. It's a wonderful feeling to be able to give back to professors who have given you so much. It was also crazy to see how much they read! I am going to miss my coworkers and supervisors the most. I have been working at the library since I started undergrad and because of this, my coworkers have become close friends. We always catch up with one another during our shifts. Even outside of the library we are texting one another, making each other laugh. We are a group of students from different backgrounds, different majors, different years -- but we are all connected by our love for the library. I will especially miss my boss Leslie Settle. She always emphasizes how we are a family and we look out for one another. She would continuously go out of her way to help her student employees, and she would give us cute treats for each holiday! Her laugh is contagious and her smile lights up the room. It is truly bittersweet to leave such a caring group of people." - Andrea Mares

"It is really difficult to pick a favorite memory from working at the library because there were so many fun moments from collection maintenance projects to staff potluck events. If I had to pick one, it would have to be getting to serve pie to fellow students on Pi Day. I got to smile at stressed students during week 10 and wish them good luck on their finals while handing them free food. Moments like those made my job at the library more special. I think I am going to miss all of the friendly people I have had the opportunity to work with. It has been really fun to interact with new faces every year." - Jessica Leon

"My favorite memories are the crazy finals week festivities. I loved helping set up events to lighten the mood, listening and motivating patrons to push through until school break, and seeing all the funny things patrons would resort to sleeping on. Finals week brings a bittersweet sense of community feeling to the library as it is stressful because we all have important deadlines and tests to take, but comforting because we're all going through similar struggles. The thing I'll miss most about about working here at the library is how much the career staff here supports and cares for the student workers. It is so easy to get adjusted to working here because the staff is so helpful and friendly. I have never seen another workplace that praises and supports their workers as much as they do here. Shoutout to everyone working in circulation, you guys are wonderful." - Anthony Valverde

"Even though it was a stressful time for myself, students and staff alike (as they had to organize and put on a variety of events), my favorite memories are usually associated during the Finals Week Stress Relief events. I enjoyed working finals week because of the various events we had to host. It felt really good to see how grateful students were when we handed out food, scantrons, UCR gear, etc. My favorite event was probably working Therapy Fluffies. The dogs were honestly the best and always brought a smile to my face. I will probably miss the staff the most. My supervisor, Elisha Hankins, gave me so many opportunities to be a leader, grow, and flourish both academically and professionally. She hired me for my first real job and I will be forever grateful she took a chance on me. I will also miss the other staff; they were also so welcoming, available, and ready to help me with whatever assignment or life decision I needed to make. The environment was always cheery and even on the not so good days, they were always there to make it a little better." - Alma Ramos-Gutierrez

"Working at Special Collections has been one of the most formative experiences of my collegiate experience. I have made some of the closest friends working at the UCR Library that have influenced my life for the better." - Kaitlyn Lara

"My favorite memory from working at the library is when I helped out with the Therapy Fluffies, and was able to hold them! Something that I will miss the most from working at the library will be the people. Everyone is so kind and makes you feel welcome every time you enter the circulation desk." - Jacqueline Hernandez

More News February 23, 2018

On Feb. 5, a team of library employees received a UCR Healthy Campus Initiative grant for a project proposal, #puppylove: a feasibility study for an on-site, year-round animal therapy program for the UCR campus community.

Their project will conduct a year-long feasibility study to determine whether creating an on-site, year-round therapy dog service at UC Riverside would improve the emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual well-being of the entire UCR campus community.

#puppylove would differ from current Library programming in which therapy dogs visit campus once per quarter as part of the Finals Week Stress Relief events provided for students. However, its enduring popularity makes a great foundation for this research, according to project lead Patricia Smith-Hunt, Head of Preservation Services.

“Institutions like UC Berkeley and Harvard and USC have implemented programs like this,” Smith-Hunt said, who drew inspiration for #pupppylove from the therapeutic benefits she gained by acquiring a dog last year. “We as staff and faculty also have stressful days, so having access to that kind of unconditional love and interaction on a regular basis rather than just once per quarter – and having it open to everyone on campus – that would be the goal of the study.”

She shared this idea with library colleagues Financial and Acquisition Analyst Jacqueline Bates and Serials Assistant Andi Newman, who shared her excitement for the concept and helped to complete the grant application.

The team received notice in December 2017 that the Healthy Campus Initiative grant review committee had decided to green-light their study. Shortly thereafter, Circulation / Reserves Services Manager Sahra Missaghieh Klawitter and Access Services Desk Coordinator Elisha Hankins also joined the project.

After the grant recipients were announced on Feb. 7 in Inside UCR, colleagues from other UCR departments reached out to the team to ask how they could get involved.

Newman observed students interacting with the therapy dogs during Finals Week Stress Relief. “I was really surprised. Even with all these students surrounding them, the dogs remained calm, they were playing with the students, doing tricks, and allowing a number of people to pet them. The dogs loved it!” she said. “I myself was able to spend about 10 minutes holding, petting and just getting unconditional doggie love. After that, I went back to my desk and I truly felt better, all from being with a dog.”

“If I’ve had a really stressful day and I walk in my door and see my three dogs – whether they’re jumping on me or not – I feel better,” Bates commented. “I think everybody should have that opportunity because a lot of people can’t own dogs.”

The feasibility study will conclude in December 2018, and the team hopes that their research data will inspire the Healthy Campus Initiative review committee to implement the #puppylove program on a permanent basis.

More News October 19, 2018

A former UCR Library employee was recently named Library Director for the Riverside Public Library.

From 2005-2007, Erin Christmas worked as a library assistant in collection maintenance at the UCR Science Library (now Orbach Science Library).

“While working at UCR, I was inspired by the work the librarians and other library professionals did and decided I wanted to apply to school to be awarded a MLIS,” Christmas said. “The experiences at UCR were incredibly important to me and give me a fuller understanding of the role library’s play for students in academic settings and the public at large.”

Christmas has worked for the Riverside Public Library since July 2016 and had been serving as its Interim Library Director since December 2017. She previously worked as the Assistant Library Director for Santa Clarita Public Library, Branch Manager of the Old Town Newhall Library, and at the San Bernardino County Public Library.

In her 10 months as Riverside’s Interim Library Director, Christmas led the 2018 Riverside Reads campaign, the Toy Lending Library project and the CENIC upgrade projects, which greatly increased internet speeds at the Riverside Public Library. These projects are part of her effort to increase public offerings and expand the library’s community impact.

A leader with more than 10 years of professional library experience in California, Christmas has extensive knowledge in library management, a positive attitude, and a talent for collaborating with fellow city department heads. These assets will serve her well while working toward the creation of a new Main Library for the City of Riverside and continuing the tradition of excellence at the library branches across the city.

“Erin Christmas has proven herself to be a tireless advocate of how the library system in Riverside can change lives,” said Riverside Mayor Rusty Bailey. “She understands that the library is an incredible resource for young people starting their educations to adults trying to get back into the workforce.”

Christmas holds a Bachelor of Arts in Politics from Occidental College and a Master’s degree in Library Information Science from San Jose State University.

She is also active in the California Library Association and writes book reviews for United for Libraries, a division of the American Library Association.

More News July 02, 2010

Institute of Museum and Library Services funding will provide scholarships for Inland Empire librarians to pursue master’s degrees.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The University of California, Riverside Library has been awarded a $974,259 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to recruit 25 non-degreed employees from Inland Empire libraries who want to pursue a Master of Library and Information Science degree.

The Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program grant is designed to increase the number of under-represented minorities in the pool of librarians and improve library services in the region, said UCR Librarian Ruth Jackson. UCR will match the grant with $241,587 in library staff time to administer the three-year project.

The UCR grant is one of 38 totaling more than $22.6 million awarded to libraries, library schools, and professional organizations out of a national pool of 110 applicants.

“We’re very excited about this opportunity,” Jackson said. “Diversity of library staff makes a tremendous difference in availability of language skills and understanding the culture and information needs of the population served. It makes a difference to academic and public libraries in the kinds of materials you have in their libraries and the design of programmatic services. It is absolutely critical to have a diverse staff in both academic and public libraries nationally, and in the Inland Empire, which has one of the most diverse and fastest-growing populations in terms of diversity in the nation.”

UCR Library will be the lead institution partnering with eight public and academic libraries in the region to recruit, support and mentor current and future librarians. Those libraries are: San Bernardino County Library system, San Bernardino County Law Library, San Bernardino Public Library, Rancho Cucamonga Public Library, Riverside County Law Library, San Bernardino Valley Community College, Riverside Community College (Moreno Valley) and the University of Redlands Armacost Library. Also collaborating in the grant will be the Graduate Schools of Library and Information Studies at UCLA and San Jose State University.

Funding for the program, titled Inland Empire LEADS (Librarians Educated to Advance Diversity and Service), will provide scholarships up to $24,900, as well as internships, mentoring, and opportunities for program participants to attend professional conferences while working toward their MLIS degrees.

Tuition costs and the time needed to complete a degree – typically two years – make it difficult for working librarians to pursue the advanced degree, said Jackson and Patricia Smith-Hunt, head of Preservation Services for UCR Library and project director for Inland Empire LEADS. The Inland Empire LEADS project will enable working librarians to attend school full or part time, they said. Volunteers from the Librarians Association of the University of California, Riverside (LAUC-R) will serve as mentors.

Smith-Hunt said the grant-writing team – which she led, assisted by library analyst Julie Mason and Jackson – surveyed 25 academic, public and specialty libraries in the Inland Empire to determine interest in and need for the project.

“Administrators at all of the institutions that responded were excited about this possibility,” she said. “They estimated there will be 20 librarians retiring in the next five years. We can help educate the next generation of librarians, and the libraries where they work will benefit from new skills they will be acquiring and implementing before they graduate.”

The project will begin recruiting staff members who are already pursuing a master’s degree or who have been admitted to a program. Upper level undergraduates at UCR who have expressed an interest in pursuing a career as a librarian will be encouraged to apply as well.

Obtaining a Master of Library and Information Science degree is important both to understand the philosophical background of libraries and to respond to rapidly changing technology, services and resources, Jackson said.

“Libraries are complex organizations,” she said. “Librarians need to understand technology, design of services, strategic planning, advocacy, fund-raising, preservation, budgeting and influencing federal information policy, such as copyright law and open access to research paid for with federal dollars. At the same time, we have the challenge of redesigning libraries for easy, effective, and economical access to information in the digital age. Services in such areas as children and young adults, access to health information, economic and job data, and cultural programming will continue to be increasingly important in the public library arena as we make the transition. It’s important to continue to develop skills in critical thinking and reading among children and young adults in the digital age. That’s what libraries do.”

Library services in the Inland Empire have suffered because of language and cultural disparities between library staffs and the communities they serve, Smith-Hunt said.

“Library administrators whom we surveyed said their professional library staffs are racially and culturally disproportionate to the diverse communities they serve,” she said. “They anticipate labor shortages of professionally trained librarians over the next five years, and they need staff with language, cultural and personal experiences that more closely reflect the communities they serve.”

Competition on the national level to recruit and retain librarians from under-represented minority groups is strong, Jackson and Smith-Hunt said. The Inland Empire project will help increase the number of qualified librarians nationally and locally, they said.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The institute’s mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas.

For application information contact Patricia Smith-Hunt, project director, at patricia.smith-hunt@ucr.edu or (951) 827-7702.

More News July 11, 2018

Rivera Library’s Access Services Desk Coordinator Leslie Settle recently participated in the spring 2018 University of California Women’s Initiative for Professional Development (UC WI).

UCWI is a unique, experiential professional development program sponsored by the Systemwide Advisory Committee on the Status of Women (SACSW) and the UC Office of the President and administered by Systemwide Talent Management. It’s designed to promote women in leadership at the university and establish a pipeline for advancement.

Chosen from more than 300 UC Riverside applicants, Settle joined a select group of 120 women comprised of mid-career staff, faculty and academic personnel from across the UC system who demonstrated potential for advancement. Participants were organized into four groups of 30 women, called cohorts. “We became almost like an instant family,” Settle said of her southern California cohort.

From April to June 2018, Settle’s cohort met four times, most days from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Training topics included growth mindset, intersectionality, balancing advocacy and inquiry, emotional agility, negotiation, writing professional narratives, and more.

“It was eye-opening for professional development. They gave us tools that I’ve never heard of before that helped us to look at our careers and accomplishments in a different way,” she explained. “It took me from just thinking about what I need to do, to doing what I need to do.”

Settle met faculty, support staff and administrators from all ten UC campuses, all at different career levels – some rather high-ranking. “At the start of the program I felt like, ‘Do I deserve to be here?’” Settle confided. Fortunately, she said, one of the core elements of the program addressed the “imposter syndrome.”

“Every single person shared that they felt the same way at the beginning,” she added. “But by the end of the program, I felt empowered.”

Class instructors included Provosts and Vice Chancellors from various UC campuses who, in Settle’s opinion, demonstrated a refreshing degree of transparency about their experiences as men and women in leadership positions.

“It was so much content at an accelerated rate, but very fun and interactive,” Settle said of her overall experience. “Nevertheless, the content and skills learned in this program were life-changing. I’m looking forward to sharing these skill sets with everyone in my department and applying them in my professional career path.”

More News April 13, 2018

Riverside, Calif (ucr.edu): On Thursday, May 10, NASA Astronomer Trina L. Ray will give a presentation at UC Riverside, “Cassini’s Legacy: Saturn’s Secrets Revealed.”

Ray will highlight the most exciting discoveries of NASA’s 20-year mission to Saturn, which ended with the Grand Finale on September 15, 2017. The talk will provide an overview of the questions the Cassini mission has answered (and will continue to generate) about the planet Saturn, its magnetosphere and spectacular rings, and Titan and the other icy moons.

• Date: Thursday, May 10
• Time: 4-5 p.m.
• Location: HUB 269
• RSVP: https://trinaray-ucr.eventbrite.com

The international Cassini-Huygens spacecraft was launched on October 15, 1997 and entered orbit around Saturn on June 30, 2004. The 23-foot tall, 14-foot wide, 6-ton spacecraft was the largest most sophisticated outer planet spacecraft ever built. Its key discoveries included liquid methane seas on Titan, and the global ocean with indications of hydrothermal activity within the moon Enceladus. Even in its last moments Cassini added to the massive amount of data it had collected.

This program is cosponsored by UCR Library and the Librarians Association of the University of California - Riverside Division (LAUC-R).

About the presenter: Trina L. Ray is an astronomer at NASA s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where she started her career with a bang – working on the Voyager Neptune Encounter in August of 1989. A few years ago she accepted the position of Cassini Science Planning and Sequencing Team Deputy, the team that coordinated all the science and uplinked the final sequences to Cassini, and focused on the exciting end of mission planning. Trina received her Bachelor's degree in Physics from CSUN and her master's degree in Astronomy from San Diego State University. Trina has received numerous awards, including a NASA medal for Exceptional Service, and she is an active public speaker for NASA, invited to give many talks around the nation.

More News April 30, 2021

The UCR Library wishes to congratulate Deputy University Librarian Ann Frenkel on her upcoming retirement in June 2021.

In 2006, Ann Frenkel joined the UCR Library as the Assistant University Librarian for Research and Instructional Services (later promoted to Associate University Librarian), along with her husband, Gwido Zlatkes, who became a librarian first in Special Collections and University Archives, and then in Metadata Services. Ann and Gwido met at Brandeis University outside of Boston, Massachusetts, where Ann worked as a reference librarian and Gwido worked as a graduate student employee at the library information desk.

In 2016, Ann was promoted to the role of Deputy University Librarian. Throughout the years, she has influenced instruction activities, programs, and services that support UC Riverside’s research, education, and service mission. She has also guided the creation of policies and communication strategies for the library. The lasting impact of Ann’s role and work with the UCR Library is extensive.

As her retirement date drew closer, we invited Ann to share some of her UCR memories with us.

What was your favorite part about working at the UCR Library?

Teamwork. Being able to work with staff in all different departments, divisions, units and create things we've never done before, new services, watch people come up with really creative solutions. And then, because of my particular position, I had the ability to give people the tools they needed, whether funding, or the ability to make a decision. I could help people be able to do things, give them what they needed to make things happen. It was fun and rewarding to see people develop and grow in their careers, and personally, as well.

One downside is that I've had several people leave and go on to other positions, bigger positions. But that also is part of the joy of working, even though it's always hard to lose people. It's been a delight for me to see people grow, and I feel like, “Oh, I had a tiny little hand in that!”

What are the biggest “wins” from your time working at UCR?

The reorganization with Research Services and Teaching and Learning is a big win in that I was able to do it together with the directors of the two departments and with the department staff. We worked as collaboratively as we possibly could. It was never perfect, it's always going to be a work in progress, and there are different ways and places for it to go now that I am leaving. We gave ourselves the freedom to imagine what it could look like, and we came up with a plan and we tried it out. Yeah, things changed a lot, but it was really rewarding work.

I think that the furniture and collaborative working space projects in both Rivera and Orbach were also big wins. In my memory it was so much fun because it involved so many people and we definitely had to come up with compromises, especially around colors, I remember! I think, in the end, everybody was satisfied. But we worked together and really envisioned using those spaces in new ways. What's exciting now is that it's going on to phase two or phase three with a new focus, and we'll see where it goes.

The Creat’R Lab is definitely a big win, from its beginnings with a couple librarians creating some Maker Boxes, to saying, “Hey, let's get a 3D printer and see what we can do with it!” and then finally developing a dedicated space that the students took over as their own. That has been really exciting.

There's one more big win from the early days that I remember -- something that seemed like a revelation at the time, and now it's old hat. When I first arrived, we had very rigid policies about what you could do in the libraries. You were supposed to sit in your seat and study and not talk very much, and that was about it. You couldn't eat or drink, and there weren’t places to work collaboratively with others, and the library wasn't seen as a “comfortable” space. I wanted it to be a space where people wanted to be -- and it needed to include all the things that one needs to have to make yourself comfortable, including food and drink. Within the first year I was here, I said to the then-University Librarian, “I think we should revise the food and drink policy to allow it.” She let me come up with a way to do that, and we moved on from there.

I also have a philosophy about rules: that you only should have rules in libraries when you really, really need them. And you shouldn't have rules just for the sake of them. That has always felt very oppressive to me, so I'm always thinking, “How would this make me feel?” and I make decisions accordingly.

What are you going to miss the most?

I know it sounds pat, but the people. I'll really miss the teamwork. I've always been able to work well with my colleagues and form really good working relationships. We truly have enjoyed working together. We've had a special connection. Those relationships are really important.

It's odd retiring when we're still in a remote, Zoom environment. I still see people on Zoom and I'll miss that, as well. I also have missed over this past year the casual contact with people in the office. It's fun, working together with people. That's a huge part of the job. It's why things work. When things work well, it's because you've been doing things together with others.

What's next for you?

I will be, probably the majority of the time, living in Warsaw, Poland with my husband Gwido. We won't be in a long-distance relationship finally, which we're really looking forward to.

Gwido and I have a huge number of translation projects. We translate under several pseudonyms -- Frank L. Vigoda (Polish to English) and Franek Wygoda (English to Polish). We have a book that's coming out in May, a translation to English from Polish of a memoir of one of the most famous Polish dissidents, Karol Modzelewski. It was supposed to come out last year, but got delayed during the pandemic.

One other thing that is coming out soon is a translation from English to Polish of Float by the Canadian poet, Anne Carson. Gwido translated it, but I helped at the very end of the project significantly, and I feel very connected to it. We've always translated from Polish to English together, and he does English to Polish, usually on his own. But working on this project together made us realize how I can be effective as a partner in that process, as well. So we're looking forward to that when we live in Warsaw.

We also hope to travel more. I think being cooped up with the pandemic has made us a little bit more impatient, like, “Oh, we want to go to Rome! Oh, we want to see Paris again! Oh, we want to go here and there.” Our base in the United States will be Portland, Oregon. I have family up there and grew up in Oregon, so I feel quite connected to that region.

What’s your funniest memory from your time at the library?

It’s not really funny, but it is interesting -- we now have a fairly elaborate process that we go through when a student asks to shoot a student film in the library. We ask, “Do you have any fake blood or fake weapons?” That's because there was an incident several years ago when we had a supposed active shooter, and the entire library evacuated, and we were hiding behind bushes for like three hours. What happened was that a student was doing a film in one of the group study rooms and was using an imitation gun. Somebody saw it and reported it, and the rest was history.

So, talking about not having rules for rules sake -- it’s kind of unusual that we ask those questions, but there's a reason why we have to ask those things!

I wish I had something as good as that time in the 50s or 60s when somebody let a flock of chickens loose in Rivera. I don’t have anything as good as that. There is a picture of that somewhere in Special Collections, I believe.

Do you have any parting gems or wisdom to share with your colleagues and community?

One is that I think a key to working in libraries, probably working in general, is to always stay flexible. To not have very rigid ideas. And I say this as somebody who's very opinionated and bossy, at times! But I know that, despite all that, my opinions can be pushed and changed. I think that's important. The second thing… As a leader or as a manager, it’s important to err on the side of giving people more responsibility than you might even think they're ready for because that's how people grow. It’s sometimes hard to find that fine line between delegating and giving someone responsibility, or over-managing / micromanaging them. There's a tension between those two, and I think it's always more rewarding and it's better for you and better for others to err on the side of a more laissez-faire approach because it gives people the freedom and space to develop. It's scary to do this, and sometimes it feels like you're ceding responsibility. But I have had the chance to really see this work, and it’s so rewarding!

***

We at the UCR Library are grateful to have known Ann as a leader, colleague, and friend for the past 15 years. We celebrate and deeply appreciate her many years of excellent service, and we wish both Ann and Gwido all the best in their next adventure. Congratulations, and we will miss you!

More News August 23, 2019

At all-staff meetings held in summer quarter 2019, Library Human Resources acknowledged four UCR Library employees for their outstanding contributions.

These team members became the sixth round of employees to be recognized through the KUDOS program.

Under the KUDOS program, non-probationary staff and academic employees at the UCR Library can be nominated by a peer for actions or contributions related to the UCR Library's mission that have a significant, positive impact on colleagues, library users, or others.

Nominations were submitted anonymously by library non-probationary staff and academic employees, and then were reviewed by members of Library Cabinet to determine which staff members would receive the KUDOS awards.

The summer quarter 2019 recipients received the following comments on their nomination forms. Please join us in celebrating these library employees’ contributions!

Lori Alaniz

She always is very helpful and cheerful working the circulation desk.  Lori always puts forth her very best to make sure that the students, staff and faculty are helped with positivity.

David Rios

David is the Swiss army knife of librarians – whether we ask him for help with teaching a class, participating in outreach, or answering a reference question, he is always up for lending a hand. Even if something is brand-new to him, we can count on David to give it a try. One of David’s most commendable qualities is his positive attitude toward trying new things and exploring new opportunities. We appreciate David as a colleague, a professional, and a researcher!

Nicole Valencia

During the recent Annual Equipment Request (AER) and acquisition cycle, Nicole provided outstanding service in the timely processing of hundreds of information technology items. The process is frequently challenging, particularly when vendors change product lines and pricing. Using her expertise and attention-to-detail, Nicole addressed these challenges, enabling the acquisition effort to be successful. Nicole has a positive and noticeable affect on library staff, students, and faculty. Kudos to Nicole!

Margarita Yonezawa

She works hard with multiple departments to move the library forward; either with new equipment or upgrades to the spaces in the library. She is very nice, and courteous to staff, students, and faculty. Margarita helps the library and colleagues with anything they might need extra help with, and isn't afraid of getting her hands dirty.