More News September 25, 2024

We are excited to announce Dr. Raymond Uzwyshyn is our new Director of Research Services.

Ray joined us on Monday, September 9 and brings a wealth of experience and a distinguished academic research background, including a Ph.D. from New York University, MLIS from the University of Western Ontario, and an MBA (IT Project Management) from American Public University.  

Before joining us, Ray served as Research Impact Coordinator (full professor) at Mississippi and Texas State University Libraries. His work involved supporting the academic research lifecycle through development of digital research ecosystems, AI possibilities for research across departments and supporting and developing innovative digital systems, projects, and infrastructures for faculty and graduate students’ research.  

Ray shares what sparked his interest in the Director of Research Services position here at the UCR Library, "I was quite intrigued by this position's unique technological focus for research directions and current wealth of new digital and IT innovation possible this way. I'm a huge believer in new technologies and enabling the university scholarly community with these new infrastructures for communicating, collaborating and enabling research."

Ray hopes to continue to shape the Research Services department into an innovative and interdisciplinary service infrastructure where staff expertise and cutting-edge technologies—such as AI, augmented and virtual reality, data, digital research archives and multimedia—can empower faculty and student research directions to create national level best-in-class projects.

Outside of his professional work, Ray has longstanding interests in the humanities and the arts. "I still have a passion for film, art history, literature and the socio-historical valences of media, more recently—everything AI and new media," Ray says. He also enjoys hiking, yoga, meditation, strength training, and jogging to maintain work/life balance with academic and creative pursuits.

We are thrilled to welcome Ray to our team and look forward to the exciting contributions he will bring to the UCR Library and the UCR research community.  

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.
 

Alysa Cua Staff Profile

Access Services Evening Assistant

• Read more about George Brown Papers

More News October 29, 2015

First Klein Librarian raising profile of Eaton Collection

Though only in her first month at the UCR Library, JJ Jacobson is already filled with ideas, energy, and ambition. As the inaugural Jay Kay and Doris Klein Science Fiction Librarian, she manages and curates the Eaton Collection of Science Fiction & Fantasy – the largest publicly-accessible collection of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and utopian literature in the world.

Jacobson brings a broad range of experience to the Eaton Collection. Once a restaurant owner, chef, baker, and then sourdough consultant, the California native was drawn to library and information school by her interest in how people talk about and engage with what they cook and eat.

University of Michigan provided Jacobson with her foundational education in library and information science, and sparked a passion in her to make the world a better place by bringing together people, information, and technology.

Growing up at Renaissance Faires, her interest in the “history of everyday life” stimulated Jacobson’s personal passion for living history — similar to historical re-enactment, but with less focus on combat and more on the daily activities of a certain period — and alternate history, a genre of fiction in which history unfolds differently from reality. This led her to experiment with virtual worlds. Specifically, Jacobson became deeply involved in Second Life in a unique way that mirrored, and later reinforced, her career: she became a librarian.
 
With sponsorship from another Second Life Resident, Jacobson built Caledon Library, pictured above. It has since grown into an entire system of virtual library branches. "Residents moved to Caledon because of the library," she boasted. Jacobson would later develop kits for others to build and manage their own libraries in Second Life. Real-life libraries also established presences in Second Life.

Reading, Jacobson says, is a prevalent hobby in her family. Her father was a fan of science fiction in its golden age, and she and her brother were both avid readers, constantly marveling at the 8-foot shelf of paperbacks in her father’s personal collection.

Jacobson’s goal is to leverage the ever-broadening interest in the “Eatonverse” genres to build a deeper understanding of the collection. By drawing on the UCR community’s enthusiasm for these genres across formats and uses, she aims to maintain Eaton’s international prestige while positioning it as a leader in the developing ecosystem of similar collections across the world.

More News June 08, 2017

UC Riverside's Architects and Engineers office announced a construction project that will impact areas surrounding Orbach Science Library, scheduled to begin on June 19, 2017.

The project's work hours will be from 7:00 am to 4:00 pm on weekdays, and will consist of removing, replacing, and modifying the existing concrete path across East Campus Drive.

This project will include the addition of a new ramp and concrete path between the Chemical Sciences building and Orbach Science Library, Physics, and School of Medicine building by adding a raised pathway where pedestrians cross East Campus Drive.

East Campus Drive will remain open for most of the project with a limited closure affecting drivers. A detour route will be provided and published in the next few weeks, to minimize delays. Any closures will be specifically defined in future construction project alerts.

In all instances, the Contractor will monitor activities in order to minimize any impacts to campus operations.

The UC Riverside Architects & Engineers team recognizes that construction activities will at times post inconveniences and disruption to the surrounding neighborhood. They appreciate your patience during construction of this project.

Please direct any questions regarding this construction project to Fernando Nunez, Jr., Project Manager, Architects & Engineers at fernando.nunez@ucr.edu.

More News March 31, 2021

Sandy Enriquez, Special Collections Public Services, Outreach & Community Engagement Librarian, was awarded a highly competitive fellowship from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The program will only invite 45 fellows over a six-year period, with aims to advance multicultural collections through innovative and inclusive curatorial practice and leadership among fellows who either identify with diverse racial or ethnic communities and/or who work with collections that document minority, immigrant, and non-Western cultural traditions.

"Participating in the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship for Diversity, Inclusion & Cultural Heritage is a great honor and opportunity for me as an early-career librarian who is from a traditionally underrepresented background,” said Enriquez, who identifies as first-generation Peruvian-American and Quechua. “This program and training will enhance my ability to serve our UCR community while also providing additional support to highlight our multicultural collections. I especially look forward to collaborating across institutions to develop innovative ways to promote community-oriented, inclusive, and meaningful access to special collections and archives."

In June 2019, Rare Book School received a $1.5 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship for Diversity, Inclusion & Cultural Heritage.

“Sandy has been successful in receiving a rare and wonderful Fellowship opportunity. This is a competitive process with only a small cohort being accepted,” added Tiffany Moxham, Associate University Librarian for Content and Discovery.

More News October 08, 2019

Join us as we celebrate these recent achievements by the following UCR Library employees.

Dan Szilagyi, Manager of Cyberinfrastructure recently completed the UC Information Technology Leadership Academy (UCITLA), taught by faculty at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. UCITLA is an intensive learning experience that consisted of two three-day sessions in February and May 2019, along with a team project that was completed in between sessions. Szilagyi participated in the fourth UCITLA cohort.

Participants learned about strategic leadership, innovation and change management; networked with peers to support collaboration and innovation initiatives across the UC system; and prepared to guide staff through change, challenge and opportunity.

UC Riverside’s CIO Danna Gianforte nominated Szilagyi for UCITLA 2019. He said, “UCITLA was excellent and eye-opening, particularly in the area of innovation. The people were amazing to work with.”

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Elisha Hankins, Orbach Library’s Access Services Desk Coordinator recently completed her Professional Academic Advisor Certification Course (PAACC), a 10-month comprehensive professional development program that teaches the history, practice and art of academic advising, including the crucial role that academic advisors play in student success, building student-centered and responsibility-sharing relationships, and honing the advisor’s conceptual, informational and relational skills.

Hankins’ role keeps her working closely with dozens of library student employees in Access Services, which is what first piqued her interest in PAACC. “A traditional academic advisor only interacts with their students once per quarter, and that’s if their students are proactive. I work with my students 20 hours a week. PAACC gave me tools and resources to use in my current job,” she said.

“The people that I end up hiring tend to be the ones who want to be world-changers or world-shakers, the ones who want to make a difference,” she added. 

The PAACC program also provided skills for working with library patrons. As Hankins explained, “Because we work at the Circulation Desk, people think we’re their best friends, so they’ll tell us their life stories. So we can put these skills into practice with the patrons we assist, as well.”

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Cataloging Librarian Ruben Urbizagastegui recently published “Analysis of El Niño Coastal phenomenon by the method of associated words.”(Ciência da Informação. 2019, v. 48, n. 2.). In this paper, he compared two articles about the local weather phenomenon that affects the coasts of Peru and Ecuador. “El Niño causes a mess all over the world, with typhoons in India and droughts in Australia and California,” he explained. “But the Incas already knew of this phenomenon and knew how to control it.”

The articles he contrasted were written by two of the most prestigious newspapers in Peru -- one government-owned and the other privately owned. He noted the impact of socio-economic influence on the written word. “We analyzed the information, expecting to find two different perspectives, but we found only one,” he said. “In other words, the newspapers don’t care about the people. They do what they do to protect their own interests.”

Urbizagastegui has worked at the UCR Library for 30 years and has published eight books in that time. Additionally, he regularly reviews articles for five or six different library scientific journals. Most of his work has been published in Spanish or Portuguese on issues that affect marginalized communities.

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In May 2019, Raul Aguilera, Access Services Assistant (Evenings) at Rivera Library completed his Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree with San Jose State University. He began his career as a work-study student at Orbach Library in January 2014, while working toward his Bachelor’s degree in English at UC Riverside (class of 2015).

“Originally, I wanted to be an English professor,” Aguilera said. As a student, he saw the value of the services that the library provided and the research that librarians do; so he began to envision a different career path in academia. Aguilera believes that his life experience as a UCR student gives him an added perspective about which kinds of library services would be most valuable to our patrons.

“I really like giving service, and if someone leaves the desk happy, I feel like I’ve accomplished something,” he added. “I think that’s just part of my nature, being able to contribute in a higher capacity, going above and beyond whenever I’m able to.”

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Judy Lee, University Programs Teaching Librarian co-wrote a chapter,“Remembering Consciousness is Power: Working to Center Academic Library Outreach in the Service of Social Justice, Asian and Pacific Islander American Ethnic Visibility, and Coalition-Building,” in Cura, Yago S, and Max Macias. Librarians with Spines: Information Agitators in an Age of Stagnation: Volume II. Los Angeles: Hinchas Press, 2019. Lee co-wrote the chapter in collaboration with Melissa Cardenas-Dow, a former colleague at the UCR Library who is now a librarian at California State University, Sacramento.

Librarians with Spines is the second volume in a radical book of essays and chapters on library issues and topics related to emerging and marginalized communities, and is available for purchase on Amazon.

 

More Past Exhibits March 23, 2023

An exhibition developed and produced by the Exhibition Program at the National Library of Medicine.

In 1997, British author J. K. Rowling introduced the world to Harry Potter and a literary phenomenon was born. Millions of readers have followed Harry to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where he discovers his heritage, encounters new plants and animals, and perfects his magical abilities. Although a fantasy story, the magic in the Harry Potter books is partially based on Renaissance traditions that played an important role in the development of Western science, including alchemy, astrology, and natural philosophy. Incorporating the work of several 15th- and 16th-century thinkers, the seven-part series examines important ethical topics such as the desire for knowledge, the effects of prejudice, and the responsibility that comes with power.

This exhibition, using materials from the National Library of Medicine, explores Harry Potter’s world, its roots in Renaissance science, and the ethical questions that affected not only the wizards of Harry Potter, but also the historical thinkers featured in the series.

This exhibition is brought to you by the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health. Curated by Elizabeth J. Bland.

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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.