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Access Services Assistant
We are delighted to announce that Stephen Breski joined the UCR Library on June 3, 2019 as our Access Services Assistant.
Stephen’s office is located in Access Services on the first floor of Rivera Library, reporting to Michelle Gipson, Collections Maintenance Manager.
Stephen earned his Bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Massachusetts, Boston.
Most recently, Stephen served as a library assistant for Columbia University’s Avery Library. Prior to working at Columbia, Stephen worked as an access services assistant at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.
Please join us in welcoming Stephen to the library!
Medical Education and Clinical Outreach
Overview
Medical Library Programs, integrated within the Research Services Department, provides specialized research assistance and instructional support for the UCR School of Medicine, which includes the Doctor of Medicine (MD), Graduate Medical Education (Residency, Fellowships), MS/PhD in Biomedical Sciences, and Master of Public Health (MPH). Offering expert guidance in navigating the complex landscape of biomedical literature and evidence-based resources, we support students, faculty, staff, and clinicians at the School of Medicine.
Elisa Cortez
Elisa's main responsibility is to support, develop and implement instructional, outreach and liaison services that support the needs of the faculty, students, staff and affiliated faculty and clinicians of the School of Medicine.
Elisa earned her Master of Information and Library Studies (MILS) from the University of Michigan. Elisa joined the Library in 2018.
Subject Specialties
- School of Medicine
Medical Education and Clinical Outreach Librarian
Assistant University Librarian for Collections
UCR Library is pleased to announce that Tiffany Moxham is appointed as our Assistant University Librarian for Collections, effective January 1, 2018.
Moxham, most recently the UCR Library’s Coordinator of Medical Library Services, has fourteen years’ experience working in academic and research libraries in North America, including ten years’ experience as a supervisor and manager in academic libraries and research groups.
Her work with the UCR School of Medicine has been transformational, both in terms of the services that the library has provided the SOM and also in terms of helping to prepare the School of Medicine for its successful accreditation review in spring 2017, which resulted in the SOM receiving full accreditation.
Moxham has superlative experience strategizing around issues related to ensuring quick and timely access to critical information resources while living within finite and constrained budgets. She has a demonstrated track record of using data-informed decision-making, being academically nimble, and engaging deeply with the academic programs that she supports. Throughout these efforts, she has consistently demonstrated what it takes to be a key partner in the academic and curricular success of the students and faculty at UCR as well as her previous institutions.
Her skills and insights will be critical as the UCR Library faces the challenges of ever-spiraling academic resource costs, evolving faculty and student curricular and research needs, and emerging forms of scholarly discourse alongside traditional modes.
Please join us in congratulating Tiffany in her new role!
Collections
African American Life & Culture
Print and electronic resources highlighting the pivotal sociological, literary, and artistic achievements of people of African descent in America.
Chicano/Latino Studies
Resources on Chicano/Latino ethnicity, gender and sexuality, demographics, migration and diaspora communities.
Class of '68 alumna pledges $489,000 gift to UCR Library
UC Riverside class of 1968 alumna Ann Kelsey recently pledged a $489,000 planned gift to the UCR Library to fund an endowment that supports initiatives in technology advancement.
Born on June 20, 1946 in Kokomo, Indiana, Ann Kelsey’s father served in the Navy, having enlisted after Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941. At age five, her father’s career brought the family to a Southern California facility.
Very early in life, Kelsey knew that she wanted to become a librarian. She spent much of her adolescent years reading and working in libraries; starting at sixteen, she worked for the Riverside city-county library.
Both of Kelsey’s parents encouraged her to attend college because neither of them nor most of her extended family members had gone to university. By her senior year of high school, she knew that UC Riverside was the natural choice.
At UCR, Kelsey double majored in English and Anthropology; from her anthropology classes, she developed an interest in Asian cultures and Southeast Asia.
After graduating from UCR, Kelsey attended library school at UCLA, where she met Army Special Services recruiters. Kelsey served as a librarian during the Vietnam War, traveling to Vietnam to establish and oversee recreational libraries for soldiers.
Kelsey’s career as a librarian placed her at the helm of introducing new technologies within library spaces to better support the changing needs of the communities they serve.
Her $489,000 planned gift to the UCR Library will provide unrestricted support, allowing the library to strengthen and sustain its programs and services in emerging technology, which directly aligns with Kelsey’s own life and career.
University Librarian Steven Mandeville-Gamble said, “The UCR Library is honored by the generosity and confidence shown by Ann Kelsey in her establishment of this bequest. Ms. Kelsey’s career has spanned the advent of library automation to the evolution of digital scholarship and emerging digital literacies. This gift will allow the UCR Library to continue to evolve to meet the increasingly sophisticated technology needs of our faculty and students for many decades to come.”
How Do I Find - K-12 Curriculum Materials
Curriculum materials include
Incoming students learn about resources at Highlander Orientation
The last time the Library participated in an in-person Highlander Orientation event was back in 2019.
The summer of 2022 saw the return of in-person Highlander Orientation sessions. The two-day orientation, mandatory for all incoming first-year students, has 11 sessions throughout July and August and is an opportunity for incoming Highlanders to familiarize themselves with campus technology tools, register for classes, and discover campus services and resources.
The UCR Library participates on the first day of the orientation, during the Involvement Fair on Pierce Lawn. The fair offers incoming Highlanders and their parents a relaxed environment where they can learn about UCR departments and clubs on campus.
Early Experience Teaching Librarian Michael Yonezawa was thrilled to have the opportunity to connect with incoming Highlanders once again.
“Words cannot express how meaningful it has been to welcome our newest Highlanders to UCR in-person,” Michael said. “Seeing their smiling faces and sharing with them the many services and resources waiting for them when they return to campus in the fall is special and should never be taken for granted.”
Students coming to UCR from high school or a community college may not know all that a university academic library at a tier 1 research institution like UCR offers.
“The closest comparison would be going from a pond or lake in the case of a high school library, to perhaps the rivers and seas at a community college, to the vastness of the oceans at a university academic library — such as the one at UCR. In addition, UCR students have access to information available across the entire UC System and beyond through services such as Interlibrary Loans,” Michael explained.
Special Collections Public Services Outreach & Community Engagement Librarian Sandy Enriquez also participated in the Involvement Fairs. Sandy sees the value in connecting with students early in their college careers.
“I think it's important to plant a seed early on about what the Library offers. The longer you’re in your academic program, the more central the Library and its resources become. If you know from the get-go that there are experts here, ready to help you and connect you to different resources, it saves you time and energy later on,” Sandy said.
Highlander Orientation is also an opportunity to let incoming students know that the UCR Library is a welcoming space and it’s here for all Highlanders to use.
“Students will often experience library anxiety which can include a sense of not knowing how to use the Library to feelings of not belonging,” Michael explained. “The sooner we can reach out to new students, the sooner we can let them know that the UCR Library is our Library and that it is a welcoming space for everyone to come learn, explore, and discover.”
How the UCR Library transformed the life of alumnus Carlos Rodriguez '90
As the first person in his entire family to attend college, Carlos Rodriguez ’90 was a true pioneer when he arrived at UC Riverside for orientation in 1985.
“Since then everyone has followed me,” Rodriguez said. After he blazed the trail, both of his sisters went to college and graduate school. “All my cousins have gone on to college, as well, all the younger ones.”
As his career clearly demonstrates, there’s no wonder that forging new paths in uncharted territory comes so naturally to Rodriguez. From pioneering work with early internet databases and ejournals in the mid-1990s at UCR, to reimagining library learning environments for an enhanced student experience at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, to his current role as the Dean of the University Library at California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA), Rodriguez continues to chase the horizon.
Originally a pre-engineering major, Rodriguez came to UCR planning to transfer after two years to either UCLA or UC Santa Barbara.
He began working in the library as a student employee shelving books. “Back in the 80s, people checked out books,” he laughed.
Having developed a strong peer network and relationships with faculty and staff, Rodriguez ended up changing his major and staying at UCR instead of transferring. It wasn’t until an internship with a credit union that he realized he preferred a culture of learning and service-based organization over a traditional corporate environment, and so his career in higher education and libraries was born. “I wasn’t in it for the money. I was in it to help other people,” he said.
As he approached graduation, Rodriguez realized he might enjoy a permanent career in the library. During his senior year, he transitioned from a student employee position into a part-time staff role, which is when he met two influential mentors, librarians Nancy Huling and the late John Tanno.
In Rodriguez’s first year as a science librarian, Tanno nominated him for a leadership and career development program for underrepresented racial and ethnic minority librarians with the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). “John was really supportive of diversity. There wasn’t a lot of diversity back then,” Rodriguez said. “He saw leadership potential in me early on.”
Rodriguez credits the small, tight-knit community at UCR for advancement opportunities like this. “If I had been a student assistant at UCLA, I probably wouldn’t have had the same opportunities that I had at UCR,” he said.
Ultimately, Rodriguez went on to get his Masters in Library and Information Science from UCLA. He came back to UCR as a Science Librarian before advancing through a variety of library positions, including the Associate Dean of Technology and Information Services at Grand Valley State.
Rodriguez helped the library at Grand Valley State shift from being library-centric and collection-centric to learner-centric. “Every decision we made, we asked ourselves, ‘Does this benefit the learner?’ The reason we’re here is for our students. We need to meet their needs.”
From Grand Valley State, Rodriguez returned to California to serve as the Dean of the University Library at Cal State LA. One of his goals at CSULA has been to transform the library’s physical space to make it less intimidating for their diverse, predominantly first-generation student population. “We’re changing the perception from ‘you’re visiting the library’ to ‘this is your library, and you own this space,’” Rodriguez explained.
In Rodriguez’s opinion, the library plays an active role in student success, research, faculty partnerships, and community engagement. “Libraries can provide opportunities for people to learn, grow, discover, create, and really transform how they see the world,” he said. “Libraries are probably one of the most important institutions at universities to do that.”
Another vision turned reality is the creation of an Academic Success Center, which is the cornerstone of Rodriguez’s capital improvement strategy for the Cal State LA Library. He plans to design a physical space around a suite of student services with a central student-led concierge to direct users toward the best solution for their needs.
What’s next for this innovative thinker? “I’m happy where I’m at now, but UCR is the only other place that I’d want to work at because of the students and what they’re doing. It’s a place I’d like to return to one day.”
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 first 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.