More News November 19, 2013

Grant from Metabolic Studio helps to make 100-year-old photos and documents available online.

By Ross French

The above photo of the Soledad Siphon was taken in 1913 by Walter L. Huber and is a part of the Los Angeles Aqueduct Digital Collection. The image shows a section of pipeline that is approximately 8500 feet long. For scale, a car can be seen in the center of the photo. PHOTO COURTESY UCR LIBRARIES DIGITAL COLLECTIONS

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The Los Angeles Aqueduct celebrated its 100th anniversary this year, and the University of California, Riverside Libraries have joined the celebration by digitizing and publishing online a collection of hundreds of photos and documents and other materials that detail the history of one of the most ambitious public works projects of all time.

While the library has made content available through their Digital Collections in the past, the “LA Aqueduct Digitization Project” marks the first time that UC Riverside has systematically digitized a collection of this size. The project was made possible through a grant from Metabolic Studio, which also supported the efforts of other Southern California institutions to select, digitize, and make available unique materials available online, including historical photos of and documents about the construction of the aqueduct.

“This support from the Metabolic Studio allowed the UCR Libraries to test and implement best practices for digitization, workflows, and metadata creation, and to reveal and make available previously hidden, unique historic resources about the construction of the LA Aqueduct,” said Diane Bisom, project director and associate university librarian for information technology and systems. “The variety of materials – documents, photographs, published materials, maps, etc. – allowed us to push the envelope on our digitization, workflow, and metadata creation activities, and to involve staff from many areas of the libraries.”

“The aqueduct project forced us into some hard thinking on how to make the digital content available in an easy to use way,” agreed UCR Librarian Steven Mandeville-Gamble, who added that all the content meets the guidelines of the system wide UC Libraries Digital Collection (UCLDC) Implementation Project, which upon its completion in 2015, will create a shared, comprehensive platform for the management and display of content.  “We did it that way so that no effort was wasted.”

This invitation to the opening of the Los Angeles Aqueduct and Exposition Park from 1913 is
one of the featured items of the collection and a favorite of both Bisom and Milenkiewicz.
PHOTO COURTESY OF UCR LIBRARIES DIGITAL COLLECTIONS

The content that was digitized is part of the UCR’s Water Resources Collections and Archives (WRCA), a world-renown collection of unique, contemporary and historic materials on all aspects of water resources and issues in California and the western United States. The collections included in the project are:

• Mono Lake Committee Collection

• Joseph Barlow Lippincott Papers

• Charles H. Lee Papers

• Charles H. Lee Photograph Collection

• Walter L. Huber Papers

• Walter L. Huber Photograph Collection

• John Debo Galloway Papers

“We’ll continue to expand the LA Aqueduct digital presence by adding mapping and timeline features, and selected published material.  We’ll begin digitization of other unique collections from the Libraries’ Archives, and we’ll continue to make our digitized collections widely available,” Bisom said.

The collection utilizes a free, open-source web publishing platform called Omeka that is used by libraries, archives and museums around the world to display and discover library and archival collections.

“Omeka allowed us to easily batch upload metadata records into the system and then attach each of the associated digital objects for online display,” said Eric Milenkiewicz, archivist in Special Collections and Archives and project manager of the aqueduct project. “Without Omeka, it would have taken considerable IT staff time to design a database and user interface for digital collections. It provided us with a lightweight solution to managing and providing access to our digital content.”

Several steps went in to the addition of each piece of content. The physical item is digitized according to standards outlined in the Technical Guidelines for Digitizing Cultural Heritage Materials by the Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative (FADGI). The document is then saved using a pre-established naming convention. Descriptive and administrative metadata is created for the item and entered into a spreadsheet before being put into the Omeka database. All of the original materials are maintained as part of the Water Resources Collections and Archives physical holdings.

“There are also several quality control checkpoints along the way to make sure that individual items are properly digitized/saved and that the metadata is accurate,” Milenkiewicz said. “Multiple staff members are involved in this process that takes approximately 10 minutes per item, start to finish.”

Milenkiewicz and Bisom said that several other digitization projects are on tap, including sections of the Tomás Rivera Archive, selected materials from the Eaton Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy, and bound volumes of the Highlander Student Newspaper dating back to the campus’ founding.

More News August 20, 2015

The service of a Congressional champion of science and civil rights is being documented at the UCR Library.

In what was formerly the Copy Center in the quiet basement of the Tomás Rivera Library, Jessica Geiser and her student workers process the papers and materials of former U.S. Congressman George E. Brown, Jr. who represented Inland Southern California in Congress for 14 terms. Known as a champion for science and a staunch defender of civil liberties and human rights, Congressman Brown's papers document his life and career from the late 1930s to his passing in 1999.

In 2010, Congressman Brown's widow, Marta Brown, donated 600 boxes of documents, photographs, and other materials that detailed the Congressman's 14 terms to UCR. Included were approximately 7,000 photographs, 114 VHS tapes, 89 audio cassettes, nearly 600 color slides, and a multitude of reels, floppy discs, and CDs. With the gift of this collection, a mission for the purpose of the project was developed: to ensure the preservation and accessibility of George Brown’s extensive collection at UCR for future generations of scholars, reporters, and leaders in science, labor, business, and public service.

The processing of this comprehensive project began when Geiser was hired as a project archivist in September 2014. Her first task was to relocate and reorganize the unopened boxes prior to unpacking. Once moved, she opened each box and created a content list. "This step was probably the most important step of the entire project and needed to be as detailed as possible," Geiser writes. This information would inform the arrangement of materials, the supplies and staff needed, and the processing time required to complete the project.

As Geiser combed through each box, she collected information on the subjects and dates of the materials, their physical extent in inches, the estimated amount of folders, and the condition of the enclosed materials. Consulting other congressional archival collections, she devised an arrangement scheme that mirrored the ways in which Brown and other Congressmen created and stored their records while in use. A high level of detail and close attention were vital to this success. Finally, she developed the plan which dictates the goals, and methodology to meet those goals, for the entirety of the two-year project.

She and her team then began re-foldering the materials in acid-free folders and boxes that allow for better preservation in long-term storage. Ms. Geiser also ensures that other basic preservation activities take place, such as removing metal paperclips and rubber bands which cause damage, and photocopying fragile and acidic materials — such as newsprint and fax paper — to prevent further deterioration. Although some material is confidential and restricted and must be redacted, the goal is to keep as much information accessible to researchers as possible.

The George Brown papers hold clues to key advances of today and major innovations of tomorrow, and a blueprint for bipartisan problem-solving spanning four decades of federal decision-making. This unique trove of knowledge will be accessible to current and future entrepreneurs and students of effective public service.

As she works towards opening the collection at the end of this two-year project, Ms. Geiser maintains a blog in order to connect with any potential researchers or other interested parties.

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 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 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 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 November 29, 2022

More News April 17, 2023

The UCR Library acquired access to several primary source archives from Gale and AM, formerly known as Adam Matthew Digital.

New resources from Gale:

• Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive 

  Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive is devoted to the study and understanding of the history of slavery in America and the rest of the world from the 17th century to the late 19th century. The archive consists of more than five million cross-searchable pages sourced from books, pamphlets, newspapers, periodicals, legal documents, court records, monographs, manuscripts, and maps from many different countries covering the history of the slave trade.

• Native American Studies from Archives Unbound 

  Collection of primary sources and more sourced from the following archives:

  • Presbyterian Historical Society Collection of Missionaries' Letters, 1833-1893

  • American Indian Movement and Native American Radicalism

  • Meriam Report on Indian Administration and the Survey of Conditions of the Indians in the U.S.

  • The Indian Trade in the Southeastern Spanish Borderlands: Papers of Panton, Leslie and Company

  • The War Department and Indian Affairs, 1800-1824

• Indigenous Peoples of North America, Part 2 

  Primary source collection for research into the cultural, political, and social history of Native Peoples from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. The UCR Library has access to parts 1 & 2.

New resources from AM:

• Colonial Caribbean: Colonial Office Files from The National Archives, UK

  Stretching from Jamaica and the Bahamas to Trinidad and Tobago, Colonial Caribbean makes available materials from 27 Colonial Office file classes from The National Archives, UK. Covering the history of the various territories under British colonial governance from 1624 to 1870, this extensive resource includes administrative documentation, trade and shipping records, minutes of council meetings, and details of plantation life, colonial settlement, imperial rivalries across the region, and the growing concern of absentee landlords.

• Confidential Print: Latin America

  This collection consists of the Confidential Print for Central and South America and the French- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean. Topics covered include slavery and the slave trade, immigration, relations with indigenous peoples, wars and territorial disputes, the fall of the Brazilian monarchy, British business and financial interests, industrial development, the building of the Panama Canal, and the rise to power of populist rulers such as Perón in Argentina and Vargas in Brazil.

• Empire Studies from AM Scholar 

  This collection offers a rich array of primary and secondary sources for the study of the British Empire. It features material on British colonial policy and government; perspectives on life in British colonies; the relationship between gender and empire; race; and class.

• Literary Print Culture: The Stationers' Company Archive

  The Stationers’ Company Archive is one of the most important resources for understanding the workings of the early book trade, the printing and publishing community, and the establishment of legal requirements for copyright provisions and the history of bookbinding. Explore extremely rare documents dating from 1554 to the 21st century in this resource of research material for historians and literary scholars.

• Medieval and Early Modern Studies from AM Scholar 

  This collection provides a wide range of primary sources covering social, cultural, political, scientific, and religious perspectives from the 12th to early18th centuries. Document types include illuminated manuscripts, personal papers, diaries and letters, rare books, receipt books, and manuscript sheet music. The breadth of sources provided within this collection is extraordinary, from sources concerning the Black Death to the Restoration of the English monarchy and the Glorious Revolution.

• Medieval Family Life: The Paston, Cely, Plumpton, Stonor and Armburgh Papers

  Includes five major letter collections and associated manuscripts from fifteenth-century England, which take the user into the world of medieval families, businesses, relationships, trade, politics and communities. Medieval Family Life presents full-color images of the original medieval manuscripts of which these letter collections are constituted, alongside fully searchable transcriptions drawn from available printed editions.

• Medieval Travel Writing

  Medieval Travel Writing is an extensive collection of manuscript materials for the study of medieval travel writing in fact and in fantasy. The core of the material is a collection of medieval manuscripts from libraries around the world, dating from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries and focusing on accounts of journeys to the Holy Land, India and China. Texts include some of the most influential prose works of the late Middle Ages – notably the books of Marco Polo and ‘Sir John Mandeville’ – but also important items by lesser-known authors such as John of Plano Carpini and Odoric of Pordenone.

• Nineteenth Century Literary Society: The John Murray Publishing Archive

  Nineteenth Century Literary Society makes available more than 1,400 items from the archive of the historic John Murray publishing company. Primary source materials span the entirety of the long nineteenth century and document the golden era of the House of Murray from its inception in 1768. Records digitized in this resource predominantly focus on the tenure of John Murray II and his son, John Murray III, as they rose to prominence in the publishing trade, launching long-running series including the political periodical Quarterly Review, and publishing genre-defining titles such as Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, Austen’s Emma and Livingstone’s Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa.

• Race Relations in America

  Sourced from the records of the Race Relations Department of the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries, housed at the Amistad Research Center in New Orleans, this resource provides access to a wealth of documents highlighting different responses to the challenges of overcoming prejudice, segregation and racial tensions. These range from survey material, including interviews and statistics, to educational pamphlets, administrative correspondence, and photographs and speeches from the Annual Race Relations Institutes.

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.