More News October 30, 2017

For the past 10 years, the City of Riverside has debated whether to build a new main library or to renovate the library’s existing building.

One of our UCR Library team members was involved in this landmark decision in October 2017. Early Experience Teaching Librarian Michael Yonezawa has also served for the past year as the President of the Library Board of Trustees for the City of Riverside.

“It’s a huge project whose purpose is to build a new library for the twenty-first century,” Yonezawa said. Riverside’s City Council recently confirmed plans to fund the design and construction of a new main library from the ground up, he explained. The costs are estimated at $40 million. “Hopefully it all continues to move forward and then by 2020, the city will have a new, state-of-the-art, centerpiece library.”

The new site will be mere blocks away from the library’s current location next to the Mission Inn, which was built in 1964. “It’s still in design phase,” Yonezawa said. “They have the conceptual drawings and renditions of what the building will look like and how it will situate on the property.”

He added, “There are a lot of things that interconnect with the new main library, with putting Riverside on the map.” The City of Riverside is also in discussions with actor and comedian Cheech Marin about housing his art collection in the library’s current location, which Yonezawa explained will depend partly on raising private funds. “The building is in a great location for being an art museum.”

“Between the Cheech, the new library, and the university, there’s all kinds of collaboration that could take place,” Yonezawa mused.

Yonezawa first got involved with the Board of Trustees because, as a Riverside resident, he wanted to tie his professional interests to his community interests. “Part of being a professional librarian at UCR is not only to do the work that we’re responsible and hired for here, but also we have the discretion to be able to pick and choose how else we’d like to do different things in our career. I thought of it as a way to be a part of the community in a productive way,” he said. “It fit very well with my professional background and expertise. And it’s one way that we – the library, as professionals who work in the library – can make a difference to our larger community. It is a responsibility but it has been rewarding at many different levels.”

Reflecting back on why he chose to become a professional librarian, Yonezawa commented, “It’s the same classic story: you grow up going to libraries. It seemed like every weekend, we would go as a family to the local public library and borrow materials and take them home.”

Yonezawa has worked for the University of California since January 1988. He began his career as an undergraduate at UC Irvine, while working as a student assistant at their library. Then in 1999, he joined the UCR Library team. “The only break in service was one weekend from Friday afternoon to Monday morning from when I came from there to here,” Yonezawa laughed. “When you add it all up, part time work, part time career staff, and full time career staff, it all adds up to close to 28 years already.”

More News September 21, 2015

Library launches new exhibit program with opening display in partnership with LGBT Resource Center.

In celebration of LGBT History Month, the UCR Library will launch its new exhibition program with a poster display entitled The History of the LGBT Civil Rights Movement. Created by the ONE Archives Foundation located in West Hollywood, the material "explores the incredibly inspiring journey of the LGBTQ Civil Rights movement" from the 1940s to early 1990s.

Nancy Jean Tubbs, Director of the UCR LGBT Resource Center, approached UCR Librarian Steve Mandeville-Gamble earlier this year to solidify an ongoing relationship of education and support for our students, faculty, staff, and broader community. As the conversation evolved and the ONE Archives exhibit came to light, the partnership was naturally evident. Excited to launch a new, world-class exhibit program in the library, Mandeville-Gamble eagerly agreed to host the exhibit as well as opening ceremonies and related programming.

From the start of "gayborhoods," to the Lavender Scare, the Stonewall Riots, the national pride movement, and the AIDS crisis, The History of the LGBT Civil Rights Movement complements UCR's own history in supporting the LGBT community. In 1993, UCR was the first campus in the state of California to open a professionally-staffed LGBT resource center and, in 1996, the first to offer an LGBT studies minor. We are proud to be the first public university in the nation to offer gender-inclusive housing, to co-found T*Camp — the first intercampus retreat in the nation for trans/genderqueer and gender questioning college students, and to found the BlaqOUT Conference — the first college conference in the nation serving Black/African American students and students of African descent who identify on the LGBT spectrum.

The History of the LGBT Civil Rights Movement exhibition will open on October 12, 2015 in Rivera Library on the University of California, Riverside campus.

More News June 29, 2018

The UCR Library will launch a new library catalog and search interface on Saturday, July 21, 2018.

Service Alerts

• Thursday, July 12 to Saturday, July 21:

No new holds, recalls or paging will be available until the catalog has launched on Saturday, July 21. 

• Friday, July 20: limited circulation services*

*Limited circulation means checkouts and returns.

• Saturday, July 21 at 10 a.m.: Catalog launch

On July 21, we will be able to establish new user accounts, see what’s on hold, and provide information regarding overdue items.

We have tried our best to anticipate all possible issues with the new system. However, if you run across anything that has slipped our notice, please email us at library@ucr.edu or use the comment form on the library website.

This new library catalog offers more intuitive ways for you to discover new content, including:

• Combined access to both print materials and online licensed e-resources
• Easy-to-tailor search results using content filters in the left sidebar
• Book and journal cover image previews
• Table of contents previews

We truly appreciate your patience and thank you for your understanding during this important transition.

More News July 21, 2018

The new catalog and search interface for UCR Library is now live as of Saturday, July 21, 2018!

Full functionality should now be available.

Please note: There will be two-week stabilization period during which links to catalog records that are on library webpages may be redirected to the new catalog search page. Please perform a search on the catalog search page to locate the material. We are currently revising these links.

This is an important milestone for the Library, as we are moving to a “next-generation” system that allows the flexibility and configuration that today’s sophisticated faculty and student searchers need.

We have tried our best to anticipate all possible issues with the new system. However, if you run across anything that has slipped our notice, please email us at library@ucr.edu or use the comment form on the library website.

This new library catalog offers more intuitive ways to discover new content, including:

• Combined access to both print materials and online licensed e-resources
• Easy-to-tailor search results using content filters in the left sidebar
• Book and journal cover image previews
• Table of contents previews

We truly appreciate your patience and understanding leading up to this milestone!

More News September 29, 2014

Head librarians from both campuses articulate policies to jointly manage valuable collection of historical documents.

By Bettye Miller

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Cal State San Bernardino and the University of California, Riverside will co-house and share a valuable collection of water related-documents and materials.

The chief librarians from both universities, Cesar Caballero, dean of the CSUSB John M. Pfau Library, and Steven Mandeville-Gamble, University Librarian for UC Riverside, signed a memorandum of understanding on Sept. 24 that the two institutions will jointly house and manage the Water Resources Collections and Archives (WRCA).

The agreement, which was signed at the Pfau Library, lays out the policies and procedures on the collection and is an addendum to an MOU the universities signed in 2010, which enabled the collaboration, Caballero said.

The WRCA, which previously was housed at UC Berkeley, is a one-of-a-kind resource. It contains historical and contemporary water-related materials of great value to water agencies, governmental bodies, environmental groups, engineering firms, attorneys, historians and researchers.

The collection will be of great interest to students, faculty and researchers from both campuses and also researchers throughout both the University of California and the California State University systems, Caballero said.

“This is a world-class collection and will offer a lifetime of learning as a resource. It is extremely valuable,” Caballero said.

The WRCA collection will be divided between both libraries and jointly managed by Mandeville-Gamble and Caballero. The joint management of the archives will expand accessibility both in the state and nationwide, Caballero said.

“The agreement underlines the importance of the WRCA, which will complement and strengthen other collections at CSUSB and UCR along with the UC and CSU systems,” Caballero said.

Mandeville-Gamble said the agreement took on even more significance because of the state’s ongoing drought, which is unprecedented in the state’s written history.

He said the two universities are committed to studying issues affecting water in all aspects including environmental, public policy and social issues.

“It’s absolutely essential if we’re going to solve water issues. We’re in this together,” said Mandeville-Gamble, who added that the collection “will serve as a roadmap for greater collaboration between the two universities regarding water issues.”

The co-housing of the collection will work well with both universities as both institutions have strong backgrounds in water resources. UCR has a number of water policy experts in the School of Public Policy. CSUSB is home to the Water Resources Institute, which serves as a regional center for research and public policy analysis and houses the Joseph Andrew Rowe Water Resources Archives.

This photo of the junction of the All American Canal and the Coachella Canal was taken by Walter Leroy Huber and is part of a collection of the engineer’s correspondence, documents and photographs in the Water Resources Collections and Archives.

The WRCA collection is comprised of approximately 4,138 linear feet of published circulating materials, and more than 3,000 linear feet of special collections and archives.   Approximately 5,545 linear feet of printed circulating materials are also housed in off-site storage facility near the UC Berkeley campus.

The original archive contained approximately 200 archival collections, 200,000 technical reports, 1,500 specialized newsletters, 5,000 maps and videos, 2,200 serials, 25,000 land photographs, 45,000 aerial photographs of coastlines, and digital resources in the form of CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes, and websites.

Since 2011, the archive has gained another 2,500 books, electronic documents, and thousands of hard-to-find publications such as conference proceedings, association publications, technical reports and bulletins, and meeting minutes that deal with water resources in California and the West.

More than 15,000 people visit the WRCA website every year, and another 80,000 visit the California Water Districts & Associations list. UCR librarians scan more than 6,000 pages of material from the collection for researchers and government employees across the state.

The collaboration of the two universities came about in 2010 when the statewide Water Resources Center was to be closed because of budget cuts. The University of California’s Agriculture and Natural Resources Center sought a new location to house the archives, which led CSUSB and UCR to develop an innovative and collaborative plan for joint management of the collection.

The acquisition of the new collection also coincided with the California State University system-wide Water Resources and Policy Initiative, which is centered at Cal State San Bernardino. The WRPI facilitates water-related research capabilities within the 23 CSU campuses.

Water policy experts in the UCR School of Public Policy conduct research on critical issues related to the interactions between water policy, water quality and water scarcity. They also contribute policy-relevant input to dialogues at the local, regional, national and international levels.

Founded in 1999, the Water Resources Institute of Cal State San Bernardino is an academic partnership with the Southern California communities that it serves. The institute is driven by the vision that sustaining water resources rests on sound research, analysis and public policy collaboration. The institute is active in the areas of science, public policy and history, and serves as a regional hub for providing information on water resources.

 

More News May 30, 2019

The UCR Library is pleased to announce the acquisition of several new online databases, archives, reference works, and more.

These new resources, selected by librarians in the Collection Strategies Department, will enhance the library’s existing distinctive collections, support emerging areas of research at UCR, and provide access to valuable research and teaching resources.

These new resources include:

PrepSTEP by Learning Express

PrepSTEP is an online collection of test preparation materials, including practice exams, assessment quizzes, and skill-building exercises.  Tests covered include the GRE, MCAT, LSAT, CSET, and more.

ProQuest Historical Newspapers

• Los Angeles Sentinel, 1934-2005
• Baltimore Afro-American, 1893-1988
• New York Amsterdam News, 1922-1993

Archives of Sexuality and Gender

The library now has access to the complete Archives of Sexuality and Gender collection, which includes primary sources for the historical study of sex, sexuality, and gender. 

• Parts 1-2: LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940
• Part 3: Sex and Sexuality, Sixteenth to Twentieth Century

Sabin Americana, 1500-1926

This digital collection, drawn from Joseph Sabin's famed bibliography, Bibliotheca Americana: A Dictionary of Books Relating to America from Its Discovery to the Present Time, features a collection of more than 29,000 books, pamphlets, serials, and other documents

American Historical Periodicals Collection Part 6

This sixth collection of historical periodicals from the American Antiquarian Society was added by the library in addition to Sets 1-5.  The entire collection is now available on the Gale Primary Sources platform, and is cross-searchable with other Gale primary sources.  The collection includes unusual and short-lived magazines as well as better-known titles with long runs, covering the colonial period through the twentieth century.

Garland Encyclopedia of World Music

This comprehensive online reference source for world music features more than 9,000 pages of materials and 300 audio recordings.  The encyclopedia also includes musical illustrations, photographs, drawings, song texts, score examples, charts, and maps.

Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Part II

This database expands on the library’s access to Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Part I.  The complete collection consists of every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in the United Kingdom during the eighteenth century, as well as thousands of important works from the Americas.  Materials in the collection include books, pamphlets, sermons, sheet music, and more.

Archives Unbound African Collection

This library has purchased the Archives Unbound African American Collection, which includes 13 discrete collections of primary source materials.  Selected titles include:

• Ralph J. Bunche Oral Histories Collection on the Civil Rights Movement
• Fannie Lou Hamer: Papers of a Civil Rights Activist, Political Activist, and Woman
• Rastafari Ephemeral Publications from the Written Rastafari Archives Project
• James Meredith, J. Edgar Hoover, and the Integration of the University of Mississippi

For a full list of collections included Archives Unbound, please click here.

More News September 29, 2022

We are pleased to announce Britt Foster as our new Director of Teaching and Learning! 

Britt joined UCR Library staff on September 6 and comes to UCR from California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) where she was most recently a subject specialist in the agricultural sciences, providing instruction and reference to the university's Agricultural Business, Food Science and Nutrition, Plant Science, Viticulture and Enology, and Child and Family Science programs. 

Britt studied Creative Writing and English Literature at San Francisco State University. After graduating, she went on to UCLA where she completed her MLIS. 

Her library career began as a public children's librarian, but after taking a part-time position at a university, she fell in love with information literacy instruction and decided to stay in higher education. While at Fresno State, she took advantage of the tuition waiver program and completed a Master’s in Education with a Curriculum and Instruction emphasis. 

Britt first visited the UCR campus in 2018 as part of a student success fellowship program. She was impressed with the thoughtfulness of the programs at UCR and the supports in place to attend to the whole student, not just their academic needs. Britt also believes in teaching skills that go beyond academic and professional preparation.  

 “We teach to develop the skill set our students need to be successful in their academic and professional endeavors, but also, to have the information skills they need to self-advocate and navigate within their communities and civic spaces,” Britt explained. “To be able to focus on growing and developing these learning opportunities, with collaborators in and out of the library, is so exciting.” 

More News February 02, 2016

Beta test invites public to provide input.

The UCR Library has announced the successful beta launch of our new library website. On February 1st, 2016 library presented the redesign for public testing and comment. The beta site, available at betalib.ucr.edu, presents a cleaner, sleeker, ADA-compliant, and mobile and tablet-friendly interface that highlights the library’s services, collections, and resources.

The new website is the culmination of a year’s effort to understand and support our varied community of users and their needs, enhance features and usability, and simplify design and navigation. New features include:

• Increased detail and prominence for library’s notable collections
• New opportunities for instructional support
• Accurate, easy to find, and up-to-date information, including Hours prominently displayed on homepage
• Easy access to locating equipment such as printers, copiers, scanners, and computers in each library facility
• Improved sign-up systems for workshops and booking study rooms

Alexandra Dolan-Mescal, the library's Web Developer and User Experience Designer, leads the website redesign team. "Our guiding design principle was that users come to the library website to gather information or complete an action," reflected Dolan-Mescal. "We made the layout simple and easy to navigate and re-worked content to be succinct and concise to ensure that users get what they need quickly and smoothly."

Help us make the new website the best it can be by providing your comments at betalib.ucr.edu/comments. We will continue to iteratively enhance the site based on comments and targeted user testing.

More News August 03, 2018

A new campus-wide pilot cloud printing system will launch by fall quarter, installing two new wēpa printers each at Rivera Library and Orbach Library.

UC Riverside's Information Technology Solutions (ITS) department will oversee this project. For the time being, the current Quota and Pharos/Xerox printing services will remain in service at all three library locations.

Wēpa was developed specifically for higher education to bring students, faculty and researchers a cloud printing solution that fits easily into their daily lives and technology habits.

Using the new wēpa system, you will have six different ways to upload your documents:

1. Traditional: One-time download to your computer: wepanow.com/printapp
   • Open the document on your computer.
   • Choose “File>Print” and select a wēpa printer.
2. Email: 
   • Attach your documents to an email using the email address tied to your wēpa account.
   • Send the email to print@wepanow.com.
3. Web: 
   • Go to wepanow.com/webupload.
   • Drag & drop your documents and then select “Send to wēpa.”
4. Mobile: Apple® App or Android® App
   • Download the “wēpa Print” app from the Apple® App Store or Google Play®.
   • Open the document on your device and send it to the wēpa cloud.
5. USB:
   • Insert your USB drive at any print station.
   • Select your documents and preferred options.
6. Cloud:
   • Tap the Cloud Storage button on the print station screen.
   • Select your preferred cloud storage provider and enter your credentials.

There are 4 ways to access your files to be printed:

1. Swipe your campus card or enter your username and password to log in.
2. Enter wēpa code.
3. Insert a USB drive.
4. Access cloud storage.

For faster login with your R'Card:
Tag any card with a magnetic stripe to your wēpa account. Log in and select the “tag card” icon at the wēpa print station to tag your card.

Then, select specific files or choose “Select All” to print all files. You can pay for prints using your campus card, credit/debit card, wēpa print card, or wēpa account.

With the new wēpa system, students will have a fun user experience that allows them to print anywhere via six different methods. A smarter, better way to print, wēpa will be quick, easy, and accessible anywhere on campus.

If the pilot program is successful, ITS plans to replace all Pharos/Xerox printers at the Music Library, Rivera Library and Orbach Library with new wēpa print stations.

More News September 19, 2019

The UCR Library team has been busy all summer long, moving departments and collections to prepare for fall quarter 2019.

Here is a summary of what has changed since spring quarter:

In July, Elsevier suspended direct access to articles published in 2019 for the University of Calfornia. This article contains more details about who is affected, how to get the articles you need, and more.

A new open access agreement between Cambridge University Press and the University of California is now ready for author submissions.

The Music Library closed its doors on Friday, September 6. All music materials are now housed in the Rivera Library. See this article for more specifics.

Most of the collection materials formerly held in the Map Collection have been relocated to the first floor of Orbach Library, under the new Geospatial Resources section. This area is located outside the Creat'R Lab. A portion of the collection (lesser-used materials) is being moved to the basement of Rivera Library; these items will fall under the management of Special Collections & University Archives and will be available at a later date in the fall, once construction has been completed on the new Rivera basement space.

Items in the juvenile literature and Curriculum Resources collection are now located in the basement of Rivera Library, including puppets, manipulatives, teaching aids, and more.

The library switched from Melvyl to WorldCat Discovery for access to UC-wide collections in June. Update your Melvyl bookmarked links to: ucr.on.worldcat.org/discovery

Interlibrary Loan (ILL) moved its offices to behind the right side of the Circulation / Reserves Desk at Rivera Library. The new location puts ILL front-and-center, along with the rest of patron services at Rivera.

The library adopted a revised Fines & Fees structure in July, which should greatly benefit both the library and its patrons.

Lastly, our Collection Strategies department acquired several new databases, archives and reference works, which will enhance the library's existing collections.