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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.

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Institute of Museum and Library Services funding will provide scholarships for Inland Empire librarians to pursue master’s degrees.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The University of California, Riverside Library has been awarded a $974,259 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to recruit 25 non-degreed employees from Inland Empire libraries who want to pursue a Master of Library and Information Science degree.

The Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program grant is designed to increase the number of under-represented minorities in the pool of librarians and improve library services in the region, said UCR Librarian Ruth Jackson. UCR will match the grant with $241,587 in library staff time to administer the three-year project.

The UCR grant is one of 38 totaling more than $22.6 million awarded to libraries, library schools, and professional organizations out of a national pool of 110 applicants.

“We’re very excited about this opportunity,” Jackson said. “Diversity of library staff makes a tremendous difference in availability of language skills and understanding the culture and information needs of the population served. It makes a difference to academic and public libraries in the kinds of materials you have in their libraries and the design of programmatic services. It is absolutely critical to have a diverse staff in both academic and public libraries nationally, and in the Inland Empire, which has one of the most diverse and fastest-growing populations in terms of diversity in the nation.”

UCR Library will be the lead institution partnering with eight public and academic libraries in the region to recruit, support and mentor current and future librarians. Those libraries are: San Bernardino County Library system, San Bernardino County Law Library, San Bernardino Public Library, Rancho Cucamonga Public Library, Riverside County Law Library, San Bernardino Valley Community College, Riverside Community College (Moreno Valley) and the University of Redlands Armacost Library. Also collaborating in the grant will be the Graduate Schools of Library and Information Studies at UCLA and San Jose State University.

Funding for the program, titled Inland Empire LEADS (Librarians Educated to Advance Diversity and Service), will provide scholarships up to $24,900, as well as internships, mentoring, and opportunities for program participants to attend professional conferences while working toward their MLIS degrees.

Tuition costs and the time needed to complete a degree – typically two years – make it difficult for working librarians to pursue the advanced degree, said Jackson and Patricia Smith-Hunt, head of Preservation Services for UCR Library and project director for Inland Empire LEADS. The Inland Empire LEADS project will enable working librarians to attend school full or part time, they said. Volunteers from the Librarians Association of the University of California, Riverside (LAUC-R) will serve as mentors.

Smith-Hunt said the grant-writing team – which she led, assisted by library analyst Julie Mason and Jackson – surveyed 25 academic, public and specialty libraries in the Inland Empire to determine interest in and need for the project.

“Administrators at all of the institutions that responded were excited about this possibility,” she said. “They estimated there will be 20 librarians retiring in the next five years. We can help educate the next generation of librarians, and the libraries where they work will benefit from new skills they will be acquiring and implementing before they graduate.”

The project will begin recruiting staff members who are already pursuing a master’s degree or who have been admitted to a program. Upper level undergraduates at UCR who have expressed an interest in pursuing a career as a librarian will be encouraged to apply as well.

Obtaining a Master of Library and Information Science degree is important both to understand the philosophical background of libraries and to respond to rapidly changing technology, services and resources, Jackson said.

“Libraries are complex organizations,” she said. “Librarians need to understand technology, design of services, strategic planning, advocacy, fund-raising, preservation, budgeting and influencing federal information policy, such as copyright law and open access to research paid for with federal dollars. At the same time, we have the challenge of redesigning libraries for easy, effective, and economical access to information in the digital age. Services in such areas as children and young adults, access to health information, economic and job data, and cultural programming will continue to be increasingly important in the public library arena as we make the transition. It’s important to continue to develop skills in critical thinking and reading among children and young adults in the digital age. That’s what libraries do.”

Library services in the Inland Empire have suffered because of language and cultural disparities between library staffs and the communities they serve, Smith-Hunt said.

“Library administrators whom we surveyed said their professional library staffs are racially and culturally disproportionate to the diverse communities they serve,” she said. “They anticipate labor shortages of professionally trained librarians over the next five years, and they need staff with language, cultural and personal experiences that more closely reflect the communities they serve.”

Competition on the national level to recruit and retain librarians from under-represented minority groups is strong, Jackson and Smith-Hunt said. The Inland Empire project will help increase the number of qualified librarians nationally and locally, they said.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The institute’s mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas.

For application information contact Patricia Smith-Hunt, project director, at patricia.smith-hunt@ucr.edu or (951) 827-7702.

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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.”

After four years of staff collaboration between all ten UC campuses, we are thrilled to announce that UC Library Search is now live!

Today’s launch is just the beginning; UC Library Search will continue to evolve, refine, and improve its user experience (UX) and function over time.

UC Library Search has replaced the local UCR Library catalog and Melvyl. Patrons can now use this robust and cohesive discovery tool to find resources at UC Riverside and from all other UC campus libraries, plus collections from beyond the UC system. As University of California President Drake wrote, UC Library Search will also seamlessly connect users with digitally available journals, books, and library databases.

Patrons can more easily borrow materials from other UC campuses, and UC Library Search allows them to choose the nearest UC campus from which to pick up and return circulated materials.

In addition to greater ease in finding and borrowing materials for patrons, UC Library Search will help library staff to improve our customer service. Analytics about the diversity and use patterns of the UC Libraries’ resources will facilitate future collection strategy decisions that are data-informed, inclusive, and patron-centered.

What has not changed

Library accounts: Your existing library account has automatically become active in UC Library Search.

Changes to note

To request items not available at the UCR Library, first sign in to UC Library Search with your NetID and password through UCR’s Central Authentication System (CAS), then find the item you want. From the item listing, click on “Request through Interlibrary Loan” in the “Get It” section. (This replaces the “Request” button from in Melvyl and the “InterLibrary Request” feature from the old UCR Library catalog.)

Once signed into UC Library Search, you no longer have to type in your library card number. Additionally, you will be able to choose any UC campus library as your preferred pickup and return location for resource sharing material.

Digitization requests

If the UCR Library holds a local copy of an article or book chapter that you want digitized, request by clicking on “Article/Chapter Scan.” If UCR does not own a copy, then select the “Request through Interlibrary Loan” option to request a digital copy reproduction from another institution.

has replaced

To request articles found in a library database, you will use the new “Get it at UC” button, which will appear in place of UC-eLinks. When you click on the “Get it at UC” button, you will find the full text of the article (log in through VPN if not on campus). You can also make an interlibrary loan request using the “Request Through Interlibrary Loan” link.

Check out this resource developed to support UC Library Search.

More information about UC Library Search, including previous announcements, can be found here.

We have tried our best to anticipate all possible issues with UC Library Search. However, if you encounter anything that has slipped our notice, please let us know through this form.

If you have additional questions, visit the UC Library Search FAQ or contact Tiffany Moxham, Associate University Librarian for Content and Discovery.

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