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New Flexible Classroom Space in Rivera
Flexible classrooms provide space for students, faculty, and librarians to teach collaboratively and engage students in active learning and critical thinking.
Thanks to a campus technology grant submitted under the leadership of Associate University Librarian Ann Frenkel, a Rivera Library classroom recently underwent a “flexible” transformation.
Splashes of bright tangerine now brighten the space of room 140 with one end of the room serving as a dedicated whiteboard wall. New lime-green rolling chairs and mobile tables encourage group collaboration. Flat screen monitors are mounted on three walls with a rapid charging station housing MacBook Pros for students to engage in multimedia learning and production throughout the space. Mobile charging units are also available.
This spring, the campus Faculty Technology Support Group and the Library’s Research and Instructional Services Division hosted Re-thinking the Classroom Mini “Unconference” as one of the first sessions held in our newly, redesigned flexible classroom. Faculty came together in the flexible classroom to share best practices for online teaching as well as discussing effective approaches for active learning and student engagement. The attendees left rave reviews and thoughtful comments on the whiteboard wall.
The room is now available for booking library instruction sessions this fall.
Library Welcomes New Financial and Administrative Analyst
Camille Mahant joined the UCR Library team on Monday, July 18, 2016, as a Financial and Administrative Analyst.
Camille's key responsibilities are to provide financial, budgetary, analytical and administrative support to the Administration of the University Library. Camille brings five years of experience as a financial analyst within the University of California-Riverside’s Business and Administrative Services unit. Her prior background includes public agency finance and healthcare planning and finance.
Camille earned her BS in cell biology from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, and her MBA from California State University - Fullerton.
3D Printer Event Launches New Partnership
The UCR Library’s 3D printer was featured with demonstrations for over 140 honors students during “Geek Week” in early January. This event launched a new collaborative program between the Library and University Honors (UH) to foster curiosity and exploration, build a sustainable peer resource program, and increase student collaboration with interdisciplinary projects.
The UH Peer Researcher Fellowship and Innovation Program has two components. The fellowship program pairs students with a librarian mentor to learn advance research skills and experience co-teaching library workshops. We hope to build a strong learning community of peer instructors to share skills, experiences, and knowledge through this experiential learning opportunity.
17 fellows from a variety of disciplines and stages of academic career were selected for the pilot program. UH students Raymond Tran and Mary Michaels serve as program advisers, assisting the librarian team to develop future programming and curriculum. The pilot program will be assessed through student, staff, and faculty feedback.
Engaging students through innovative and entrepreneurial forums or project laboratories is another program focus. Guest speakers from a range of professional backgrounds will host discussions on crowdfunding, multimedia production, and small business development. Project laboratories will provide space, tools, and hands-on instruction for experimenting and “making” with open-source electronic platforms such as Raspberry Pi and MakeyMakey.
Through this enriched programming we hope to inspire UH students, and to spark early exploration and design of their capstone projects.
Explore Two New Digital Collections
We’re excited to announce the addition of two digital collections available for research and study.
Allison V. Armour Expedition to Yucatán, Mexico Photograph Album
This collection showcases the 1895 research expedition led by curators from the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. The photo album captures views of Mayan ruins, with additional photographs of local scenery and the expedition group.
Explore the collection on Calisphere.
Pico Rivera News (UCR Access Only)
Dive into LA County history with the Pico Rivera News, a newspaper chronicling life in Pico Rivera, California and the surrounding area in 1931 and 1932. While mostly in English, some issues do feature a page of news in Spanish. This archive is a valuable resource for members of the UCR community researching journalism, Southern California history, and even Hispanic culture.
Access the collection through UC Library Search.
These new digital collections highlight our commitment to preserving and providing access to historical resources. We invite you to explore these collections and unlock stories from the past!
Library recruits new student employees at Career Center event
February 2, 2018 marked the first time that the UCR Library was invited to participate in the “Find a Job on Campus Fair” presented by UC Riverside’s on-campus Career Center.
As the second-largest student employer on campus, library representatives were thrilled about the opportunity to meet with students who might be interested in joining the UCR Library team.
During the event, Access Services Desk Coordinators Leslie Settle and Elisha Hankins along with Collection Development Assistant Pam Sun distributed hiring material and held on-the-spot interviews.
“The Find a Job on Campus Fair was an excellent opportunity to share the UCR Library brand, mission, and various student employment opportunities with the campus,” said Settle.
Hankins added, “Prior to the event starting, there were lines of students wanting a chance to network with campus employers and the library collected hundreds of resumes. I quickly realized that the UCR Library was a desired place to work for UCR students.”
More than 380 students attended the Find a Job on Campus Fair, and the library’s table had a steady flow of traffic throughout the event, according to Wendy Williams-Clark, Interim Director of Organizational Design and Human Resources for UCR Library. Both Settle and Hankins found and hired several new student workers for their departments by participating in the Find a Job on Campus Fair.
Settle added, “This is definitely an event I look forward to again.”
Chicanas/Latinas celebrated through personal memories in Semana de la Mujer exhibit
Every year, UCR’s Chicano Student Programs (CSP) coordinates Semana de la Mujer, a week-long series of events that celebrate Chicanas/Latinas and coincides with Women’s History Month. Semana de la Mujer 2023 included an exhibit at the Rivera Library that will be on display till the end of March.
“This year, the committee wanted to do something a little different,” said Arlene Cano Matute, CSP Assistant Director.
Since fall quarter, CSP staff, graduate students, and undergraduate students have been meeting weekly planning the 2023 Semana de la Mujer series. It was at a committee meeting that the idea of an exhibit at the Tomás Rivera Library commemorating the women and femmes in the lives of UCR community members was born.
“Having this exhibit at the Rivera Library made perfect sense to us,” said Arlene. “Named after our first Chicano chancellor in the UC system, who was a poet, author, and also from a campesino family, it speaks to the stories of so many of our students at UC Riverside, a Hispanic Serving Institution.”
Arlene and the committee connected with the UCR Library’s Special Collections Public Services Outreach and Community Engagement Librarian Sandy Enriquez. Sandy was part of a group of UCR Library staff members who previously worked with CSP on the digitization of Nuestra Cosa that coincided with CSP’s 50th anniversary last year.
The Library’s Head of Facilities Dave Schuster was able to work with Sandy and the CSP committee on how best to bring their vision to life in the Rivera Library.
From the start, Sandy understood the responsibility that came with a community-centered exhibit like this.
“Chicano Student Programs did a call for submissions from the UCR community,” Sandy explained. “Community engagement like this is so meaningful and necessary. It takes a lot of responsibility and trust to build connections. I am so happy we were able to facilitate this exhibit and collaborate with Chicano Student Programs to create this unique space.”
18 people submitted items, coming mostly from UCR students but UCR alumni, staff/community members (including two from the UCR Library), and a seven-year-old who is the daughter of one of CSP’s committee members also contributed. Each person who submitted also wrote their own item description that is included in the exhibit. Items submitted include pictures, illustrations, clothing, jewelry, pottery, photos, and more.
You’ll see items that bring back memories of deportation and separation of families, memories of loved ones who have passed away, dolls and blankets that remind people of their family in Mexico and Central America, and many more objects that evoke memories of happiness and sorrow.
“This process of developing and memorializing our stories is painful sometimes, but we hope that it was also joyous and healing,” Arlene said. “I hope people take the opportunity to read the submissions of the women and femmes that are part of our exhibit, they are inspiring!”
Sandy adds, “When we think of exhibits, we often think of very famous or influential people’s stories, not ordinary and intimate moments like these. But I hope this exhibit helps people realize that this is their space too, and their stories deserve to be showcased with the same care and intention. It’s a gift to be a part of sharing these memories.”
The exhibit reception took place on February 22 at the Rivera Library. At the reception, Arlene spoke about the exhibit being influenced by the work of Dr. Yolanda Chávez Leyva from the University of Texas, El Paso who talks about memory as esperanza (hope).
“Dr. Chávez Leyva reminds us that memories bring us back home. It becomes reparation and healing for us. Memory work is more than an emotion. It's our responsibility. In this exhibit, we make a conscious decision not to forget and not to let anybody else forget,” Arlene said speaking to the crowd.
View the exhibit on the first floor of the Rivera Library till the end of winter quarter.
Event: Semana de la Mujer exhibit
Location: Tomás Rivera Library, 1st floor
Dates: Feb. 22, 2023 - Mar. 24, 2023
IOP Publishing and University of California Sign Open Access Agreement
IOP Publishing (IOPP) and the University of California (UC) recently announced a new transformative open access agreement that will accelerate publishing and expand access to high-quality research in physics and related disciplines.
The three-year agreement will make it easier and more affordable for UC researchers to publish open access articles in all of IOPP's owned journals and most of its partner journals, a total of 77 titles, and will advance the university’s efforts to empower more of its authors to share their research freely with the world.
“As a global leader in open access, this new agreement enables UC to continue advancing equitable access to scientific knowledge,” said Mark Hanna, Associate Professor of History at UC San Diego and chair of the UC faculty Academic Senate’s systemwide committee on library and scholarly communication. “This agreement not only supports researchers in physics and related areas but also reinforces UC’s commitment to maximizing the visibility and impact of the world-class research conducted across our campuses.”
Under the agreement, the UC Libraries will automatically cover the full cost of publishing open access for corresponding authors at all 10 campuses and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who choose to publish in IOPP’s full open access and hybrid journals, as well as most partner journals. To maximize the number of UC researchers who can benefit from the newly signed agreement, authors of qualifying articles published since January 1, 2025, will be given the opportunity to retrospectively convert their article to open access, with the open access fees fully covered. Authors who have already published open access since January 1 will be offered refunds for open access fees already paid.
Authors can use the IOPP Journal Finder to easily verify if the IOPP journal they wish to publish in meets their funder requirements or is covered by a transformative agreement. UC authors can also use UC’s Journal Open Access Lookup Tool (JOLT) to search for journals covered by any of UC's systemwide open access agreements (including IOPP's).
Julian Wilson, Chief Sales Officer at IOP Publishing, commented: “In a time of great uncertainty around funding for US researchers, we stand firm in our support of independent, open science. As well as removing the administrative burden of dealing with invoices for article publication charges and supporting researchers, this agreement also offers authors greater visibility and impact for their research. Our open access articles typically receive 70% higher downloads and 15% higher citations when compared with non-open access articles in the same journal, underscoring the value of this initiative.”
This new agreement adds to UC’s and IOPP’s rapidly growing portfolios of transformative open access agreements. The university has active open access partnerships with 22 of the largest publishers of UC research. IOPP’s partnerships now include over 1,000 institutions across 40 countries, reinforcing IOPP’s commitment to advancing open science and global access to academic research.
If you have questions, please view the agreement FAQ page. You can also contact UCR STEM Collection Strategist Michele Potter about this agreement or general questions about open access publishing options at UCR.
Finals Week Stress Relief - Fall 2018 Event Series
UCR Library remains committed to creating a supportive atmosphere to help our students cope with the stress of final exams, which is why we present our Finals Week Stress Relief event series at the end of fall, winter and spring quarters.
These events give library employees an opportunity to get to know our students better, and for our students to let off steam together in a safe and fun way.
For Fall 2018, we have crowd favorites returning to the line-up, including Therapy Fluffies, Taco Tuesday and Finals are a Piece of Cake, along with a few new activities.
Finals Week Stress Relief will kick off on Tuesday, December 4, 2018. The full schedule of events is as follows:
Tuesday, December 4
- Cookie Break (Rivera) – 3:30 pm *while supplies last
Wednesday, December 5
- Therapy Fluffies with the WELL (Rivera & Orbach) – 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
- Finals are a Piece of Cake (Orbach) - 3:00 pm *while supplies last
Thursday, December 6
- Squish Away Your Stress (Orbach) – 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm *while supplies last
Friday, December 7
- Surprise Snack Giveaway (Rivera & Orbach) – *while supplies last
Saturday, December 8
- If You Give a Brain a Brownie... (Orbach) – 3:00pm *while supplies last
Sunday, December 9
- R'Finals Study Jam with the Academic Resource Center (Orbach) – 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm
- Late Night Snacks with the Provost & Student Affairs (Orbach) – 9:00pm *while supplies last
Monday, December 10
- Chicken Soup for the Soul (Orbach) – 2:00 pm *while supplies last
- Little Helpers Goody Bags with the Middle Eastern Student Center (Orbach) – 3:00 pm *while supplies last
- Late Night Snacks with the Provost & Student Affairs (Orbach) – 9:00pm *while supplies last
Tuesday, December 11
- Taco Tuesday with the Associated Students Program Board (Orbach) - 2:00 pm *while supplies last
- #NationalAppDay Selfies (Rivera & Orbach) – all day
- Late Night Snacks with the Provost & Student Affairs (Orbach) - 9:00pm *while supplies last
Wednesday, December 12
- A Wrinkle in Slime (Rivera) – 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm *while supplies last
- Late Night Snacks with the Provost & Student Affairs (Orbach) - 9:00pm *while supplies last
Thursday, December 13
- #TBT: Unstressable Uncrustables (Rivera) – 3:00 pm *while supplies last
In addition, there is a contest to win a VIP Study Room for Sunday, December 9 from 1:00 pm – 7:00 pm. Details for the contest are available on the library’s Facebook page.
Want to sign up for text reminders for Finals Week Stress Relief events? Use the widget below!
Elsevier Negotiations
TO: UC Riverside Community
FROM: Steven Mandeville-Gamble, University Librarian
DATE: Thursday, February 28, 2019
RE: Outcome of UC Negotiations with Elsevier
I write to you today to share the outcome of the University of California’s negotiations to renew its systemwide license with scholarly journal publisher Elsevier, which have been underway for many months.
What’s happening
While we did make progress, particularly in the past few weeks, toward defining a model for open access publishing of UC research, Elsevier was ultimately unwilling to meet UC’s key goal: securing universal open access to UC research, as stated in the Academic Senate’s principles on scholarly communication, while integrating open access publishing fees and subscription fees into a single cost-controlled contract. These twin goals had been jointly articulated and endorsed by the systemwide Academic Senate, the Systemwide Library and Scholarly Information Advisory Committee (SLASIAC), and the Council of University Librarians.
The Academic Senate today also expressed its support for UC’s position with regard to the Elsevier negotiations.
In the end, cost, in particular, proved to be an insurmountable challenge. For example, Elsevier’s most recent proposal did not include any cap on the total amount UC faculty could end up paying in article publishing fees. Their model also would not have allowed us to fully subsidize article fees for authors who lack the funds themselves. To meet UC’s goal of open access publication for all UC authors, Elsevier would have charged authors over $10 million per year in addition to the libraries’ current multi-million dollar subscription. The university is not willing to accept a deal that increases Elsevier’s profits at the expense of our faculty. As a result, UC has announced that it will not be signing a new contract with Elsevier at this time.
While we do not know exactly when, Elsevier is expected to begin limiting UC’s access to new articles through its online platform, ScienceDirect, possibly very soon. This will mean some changes to how UC scholars access certain Elsevier journal articles.
What content will — and won’t — be affected
If you use Elsevier articles in your research, here are the most important things to know:
- Most Elsevier articles published in 2018 or earlier will still be accessible via ScienceDirect. Because UC’s prior contracts included permanent access to previously published content, you will still be able to get immediate access to the full text of most articles via Elsevier’s ScienceDirect backfiles, just as you have in the past.
- Open access articles in Elsevier journals are also unaffected. Many authors choose to pay an open access fee (called an article processing charge, or APC) when they publish, so it’s always worth checking to see if the article you’re seeking is available open access from the journal’s website or elsewhere online (click here for tips on how to search for open access versions).
- Elsevier e-books and other products licensed by UC such as Netter’s green books and the Reaxys and Inspec (through Engineering Village) databases are covered under separate contracts and remain available as before.
- What is affected: At some point, Elsevier may begin to turn off UC’s direct access to articles with a 2019 publish date and the backfiles of certain journals (download list).
- Alternative access options to the affected articles will be available, including *expedited* document delivery: see UCR’s Alternative Access to Articles webpage for more information.
If you are having trouble accessing a particular article, please contact a UCR Collection Strategist.
Interested in updates?
Find the latest information on the Office of Scholarly Communications website.
If you have any general questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Tiffany Moxham, Assistant University Librarian for Content and Discovery (tiffany.moxham@ucr.edu) at any time.
Making Archives Modern: Spotlight on Eric Milenkiewicz
The Society of California Archivists (SCA) recently elected UCR Library’s Eric Milenkiewicz as Vice President / President Elect.
Formed in 1971, SCA is a professional association devoted to the support and development of individuals and institutions that collect, care for, and provide access to the documentary heritage of California and adjoining areas.
As the VP / President Elect, Milenkiewicz will have a hand in the programming for the SCA’s 2019 Annual General Meeting, which draws several hundred archivists from across the state. He will also be involved in planning the 2020 Western Roundup in San Francisco, where attendees from four regional archivist associations in the west converge.
Milenkiewicz first started working in the library as a student employee. After graduation (class of 1999), and while earning his MLIS degree from San Jose State, he worked in a variety of positions, mostly in Special Collections & University Archives.
His current role as Digitization Services Program Manager complements his primary passion in library work, archives. With his knowledge of digitization, he sees serving as the VP / President Elect of SCA as an opportunity to get the archival community thinking differently about how they work.
“Today’s archivists possess skillsets that can be applied to many other areas of the library, and even to other industries,” Milenkiewicz said. “In addition to the traditional archival work, many of us code, work with advanced imaging equipment, and manage digital assets. These technical skills can open up many other avenues and job opportunities for us.”
He added, “Much of the information we interact with today is in digital form, but a lot of historical information is still only available in print. Taking this material and digitizing it opens it up to a whole new audience that probably didn’t even know it existed.”
Milenkiewicz values how new technologies can empower underrepresented communities to create and maintain their own digital archives. In 2017, he wrote a grant proposal which was funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that enabled the UCR Library to work with the Sherman Indian Museum to digitize their collections.
“Honestly, looking back on my career thus far, that’s probably my greatest accomplishment,” he explained. “The Museum receives virtually zero funding and has operated for more than 40 years primarily as a result of the passionate volunteers in their community. They needed funds to help preserve their collection and thankfully we received the financial support to do that digitally.”
Milenkiewicz was initially drawn to archives because of his passion for history. “What I find most fulfilling is being able to surface hidden or untold stories so that people can learn their history, learn their culture,” he explained. “Now, instead of merely trying to provide access to the physical materials, it’s also about digitizing it. Making sure this material is preserved, it’s safeguarded, it’s accessible for people to find and use.”