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More News February 10, 2017

Many people grumble over their inability to effect change. However, UCR Library’s Coordinator of Education Services Christopher Martone will serve on a team of influencers to determine which textbooks are used throughout California’s elementary and middle schools.

Recently selected as an Instructional Materials Reviewer by the California State Department of Education and appointed to the 2017 committee for History - Social Science Adoption of Instructional Materials, Christopher will collaborate with a small team of individuals and the Curriculum Frameworks Unit to make state-wide recommendations for textbooks. Christopher’s appointment as a Reviewer will last for approximately eight months.

Prior to joining the UCR Library, Christopher taught high school AP US History and social studies for six years. Christopher has been with the Library for more than 10 years working with the education resources and maintaining the Learning Resources Display Center (LRDC) on the second floor of Rivera Library. Graduate School of Education (GSOE) students and local teachers can find materials in the Rivera Library to supplement and enhance the lessons they deliver in the classrooms – from children's books for all ages, to textbook materials, to non-book resources like manipulatives, videos, flash cards, science lab equipment, and more.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for Chris and for the UCR Library!” said Christina Cicchetti, Education/Reference Librarian. “The first-hand look at California's textbook adoption process afforded by Chris's service on this committee will inform his work in the LRDC, and help Education Services to communicate more effectively about the adoption process with GSOE students.”

The Instructional Materials Reviewers will review textbooks to determine whether they present historical facts and stories in an even-handed way, with a voice given to all sides and a balanced perspective, while still meeting state benchmarks for educational criteria in history and social studies. “Sometimes history has a tendency to be somewhat biased,” Christopher stated. “We want to encourage open-mindedness in students, and the best way to do that is to present all sides of the story.”

“Chris’ role on this committee is an excellent extension of his role with the LRDC, which provides local educators with a voice in the process of statewide and local textbook selection,” said Dani Brecher Cook, Director of Teaching & Learning. “By participating in this committee, Chris will be able to advocate for the inclusion of textbooks in the curriculum that rely on historical evidence for their claims, as well as deepen his depth of knowledge about the resources available to California educators.”

Christopher credits his 16 years of experience in the field for why he was chosen to fulfill this role on the Adoption of Instructional Materials committee, which will have a significant public impact state-wide. “What we decide will influence what students and teachers can use in the future, from kindergarten through eighth grade,” he explained.

“Anybody who wants to submit textbooks that fit these frameworks can send them to the California Department of Education for review. I’ve always wanted to encourage people to get more involved in this,” Christopher added. “If me being on this committee promotes the fact that we can get more involved and do something rather than complaining about it, then that’s great.”

After the review process is finalized around the end of November 2017, a certain number of texts will be approved and school districts state-wide will receive the list of books adopted for use in classrooms. The committee’s recommendations will take effect in 2018.

The LRDC at UCR Library is one of 10 similar centers around the state of California which houses copies of textbooks that have been either adopted or are under review by the California Department of Education for all subject areas in Grades K-8.  Local educators and the public may visit an LRDC to review textbooks to determine which to use in their districts. The UCR Library agreed to house this regional LRDC in 2004, particularly to provide students in the Graduate School of Education Teacher Education program with access to current textbooks and ancillary materials.

The LRDC is open by appointment only. To schedule an appointment, please contact the Education Services unit.

More News June 15, 2018

After listening to student feedback, the UCR Library expanded its 2018 summer hours.

Beginning on Monday, June 25, Rivera and Orbach Libraries have stayed open until 8:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday, instead of closing at 6:00 p.m

Responding to student requests as well as the increased number of summer session classes, UCR Library’s Head of Access Services Vincent Novoa brought the idea to library leadership to keep the library open later during the summer.

“Summer quarter classes are held as late as 9:00 p.m., and the majority of the classes are scheduled Monday through Thursday,” Novoa explained. “There are a significant amount of classes offered in the evening and our students are looking for spaces to study. Having an additional two hours each evening will allow our summer students to use the library spaces and resources for their course work.”

Novoa had surveyed a group of UCR students who had taken summer courses, finding that many have full-time jobs, so they can only take evening courses. Others shared that they have evening labs, and having the library open later would make it easier for them to get the lab materials they need.

This led Novoa to conclude that increasing the library’s open hours would greatly benefit students enrolled in summer sessions.

He added that the libraries at three other UC campuses (Irvine, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz) have a similar summer session schedule.

Extended summer hours will run until September 26, 2018, after which the regular academic schedule will resume on Thursday, September 27, the first day of classes in fall quarter.

Current hours are always posted on the library website.

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More News January 05, 2018

In 2015, the Student Managers Initiative Committee, comprised of student managers from various departments at UC Riverside, identified a need on campus for more training, support, and use of best practices for student supervisors.

The committee’s findings inspired Vice Chancellor for Business and Administrative Services Ron Coley to approve and fund the committee’s desire to create a Student Supervisors Conference. The conference, titled Operational Excellence: Supervising Students Successfully, took place at UCR on January 4, 2018.

Several members of the UCR Library staff team have served on this committee over the past few years, including Public Services Assistant Zayda Delgado, Acquisitions Assistant Christy Brown-Anderson, Access Services Desk Coordinators Elisha Hankins and Leslie Settle, and Interim Director of Organizational Design and Human Resources Wendy Williams-Clark.

“The existence of this committee demonstrates the campus commitment to the experience of our students, not only in academics, but their overall experience,” Delgado said. “There are dedicated managers on this campus committed to making sure that our student employees are getting the very best out of their years here in Riverside.”

At the conference Settle and Hankins led an interactive workshop, Be the Difference: Building Emerging Leaders through Mentorship, which highlighted how to engage and cultivate leadership qualities in student employees through what's known as servant leadership, and the importance of mentoring relationships with student employees.

As part of their workshop, former library student employee Lacey Grawe gave personal testimony. Grawe is now in a career staff position as the Orbach Library Assistant Night Supervisor.

“People were so interested in our presentation the room was filled more than 15 minutes prior to start time,” said Settle. “Our presentation was so packed that people had to leave. Some sat on floor and stood along the walls.” Out of 150 total conference attendees, 65 people attended Settle’s and Hankins’ session.

According to Settle, the committee's scope of work evolved beyond simply discussing how managers supervise, to writing a 400-page proposal about how to make student employment on campus consistent and developing a new campus Student Employee Center. The proposal is currently under review by the UCR Cabinet. “The conference is a very minute portion of the bigger picture we are working on,” she explained. “Student employees are the future of UCR and will carry the brand. I want to ensure that the brand they carry is representative of the great campus I belong to.”

“Leslie and I are passionate about finding the best in individuals and calling them to live a life of excellence and purpose, whether they are our staff or student employees,” Hankins commented. “Our UCR students are emerging leaders and agents of change in various fields. We are today’s leaders investing in and nurturing tomorrow’s leaders.”

More News August 18, 2017

On Wednesday, August 16, 2017, approximately 26 library employees attended a luncheon workshop in Tomás Rivera Library sponsored by the Library Professional Development Committee.

The workshop topic was “Work-Life Balance” and featured a webinar plus small group discussion and sharing exercises.

“This topic was purposely picked from the suggestions staff gave in the first ever PDC kickoff event,” said Leslie Settle, Chair of the Professional Development Committee. “Almost 50% of those in attendance also completed the online survey, which had overwhelmingly positive feedback on both the content of the material and the facilitation from the breakout sessions. Many staff reported to me that they will apply the tools learned in the brown bag to enhance their work and home performance as well as educate others.”

Klein Librarian for Science Fiction JJ Jacobson won the luncheon raffle, which included the first public giveaway of a UCR Library branded fidget spinner.

The next PDC-sponsored event will take place on Thursday September 14, 2017. The focus of the September event will be “communication,” with learning objectives focused on developing active listening skills, changing the way you communicate, becoming aware of how others respond to you, and winning support.

The Professional Development Committee (PDC) is comprised of both academic and support staff in the Library whose goal is to offer an inclusive perspective on library employees’ development needs. The PDC offers four library-wide events per year as well as several “brown bag” lunch-and-learn sessions, like this most recent example.

More News March 01, 2021

UC Library Search will replace Melvyl as the UC-wide library discovery tool on July 27, 2021. It will be directly accessible from the local UCR Library website.

Melvyl debuted in 1981, before most of our current students (and some faculty) were born. Melvyl revolutionized the UC Library system, allowing researchers to find books at other UC campuses through computer terminals on their own campuses.

However, behind the scenes Melvyl relied on a complex and patchwork system across multiple catalogs and databases in order to coordinate interlibrary loans and full text access. As several of these systems approached the end of their life spans, the UC Libraries recognized the technical unsustainability and inherent risks associated with keeping the Melvyl system.

UC Library Search will vastly improve the user experience of faculty, students, and researchers worldwide who need to access collections across the University of California system. Rather than using Melvyl, which linked separate catalogs from different institutions, all of the University of California libraries will now be part of one unified discovery tool.

Previously, researchers at UCR still had to search two places to locate library resources: our local catalog and Melvyl. Some materials, like course reserves, could not be searched in Melvyl. Other resources, notably holdings at other UC campuses, couldn't be found in local catalogs. Furthermore, certain resources had to be located in a separate database, like HathiTrust.

With UC Library Search, patrons will no longer be forced to look in multiple places: it will combine the search power of Melvyl plus the power of UCR’s local catalog, maximizing the value of the UC collections by making resources easier to find and borrow thanks to improved inter-library resource sharing tools and simplified user interface.

As Melvyl approaches retirement, let's celebrate the 40 years of service it has given to the UC system and welcome UC Library Search as Melvyl’s replacement, the discovery tool of our future!

For more information, please see libraries.universityofcalifornia.edu/uclibrarysearch, or contact Tiffany Moxham, Associate University Librarian for Content and Discovery.

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More News July 29, 2024

We are excited to announce the launch of our new Acquisitions, Description, and Discovery (ADD) Department, effective July 1.

This new department merges our former Acquisitions Unit and Metadata and Technical Services Department, creating a unified team aimed at enhancing discoverability and access to library print and electronic resources.

The creation of ADD is part of the Library's commitment to improving workflows and aligning with the latest advancements in library management systems. These systems have evolved to become comprehensive hubs for data, visualization, and workflow management.

“The formation of ADD has been a long time in the making, having been planned prior to the pandemic, with a pilot occurring as far back as 2016. This last year saw the convergence of the pieces needed for implementation,” says Tiffany Moxham, Deputy University Librarian and Assistant University Librarian for Content and Discovery.  

Tiffany continues, “First the arrival of an experienced Director in Darren Furey, several years of ALMA and PRIMO knowledge, a team ready to expand after several years of retirements, and a clearer sense of the next phase of the Library’s collection strategies in relation to electronic, print and digital holdings and as part of a system where transformative agreements and their innate challenges are at the center of the shared resource landscape.”

What does ADD do? ADD manages UCR Library resources from the moment they are purchased until they’re available to patrons. This includes ordering and receiving new books and materials, processing payments, and ensuring these resources can be easily found through UC Library Search. ADD is also responsible for describing and organizing the Library’s digitized collections, making them easily accessible on platforms like Calisphere.

Darren Furey, formerly the UCR Library’s Director of Metadata and Technical Services, now leads ADD as its Director.

“I'm excited to have brought the Acquisitions Unit and the Metadata and Technical Services Department together,” Darren says. “Being one small but mighty team will help facilitate strategic cross-training, some of which is already underway, and it will give acquisitions and metadata staff a greater understanding of each others' responsibilities, needs, and challenges.”

Darren adds, “Together, librarians and staff in ADD are analyzing our current workflows to determine whether they still meet our needs, the needs of other Library departments, and, most importantly, the needs of our users. Everything we do should in some way add value for the students, faculty, and staff who rely on our expertise and ingenuity.”

ADD is in the process of hiring two Metadata Catalogers and an Acquisitions, Description, and Discovery Supervisor. The Metadata Catalogers will handle a variety of materials to ensure resources are accurately cataloged and easily discoverable, while the supervisor position will provide technical expertise and oversee Library Assistants.

Whether you are a student conducting research, a faculty member seeking teaching materials, or a community member exploring our collections, ADD ensures that you can easily find and access the information you need. By optimizing our resource management and discovery processes, we’re enhancing the overall user experience and supporting UCR’s academic and research goals.   

More News September 18, 2015

UCR Library considered center of technical expertise.

In August, UCR hosted the University of California Computing Services Conference (UCCSC) bringing together colleagues from all 10 UC campuses and UCOP to engage and collaborate on technical issues and innovations. The UCR Library’s Cyberinfrastructure/IT Department was invited to present on the transformative work they have done in the past year creating one of the most secure, robust, and reliable infrastructure environments on campus.

Dan Szilagyi, Head of Cyberinfrastructure, presented on the new IT team’s efforts in re-architecting the library’s infrastructure, network, software, web services, security, backup system, and customer support services. The IT team, all of whom were hired in the past year based on years of expertise, training, and innovative thinking, spoke with colleagues after the presentation and attended sessions from other UCs. Dan remarked, "It is so valuable sharing information with colleagues in the UC system. We are often working on solutions to technical issues others are experiences as well. By meeting to share our collective experiences, we increase our expertise within our respective organizations."

The Data Center

A major focus of the new IT team was the overhaul of UCR Library’s data center. Independent and redundant electrical circuits were installed. This separation from building power ensures that servers will run for hours instead of minutes in the case of an electrical outage. The hardware for servers and backups was migrated into new racks (pictured), allowing for better air flow for cooling, cable management, and more capacity. The backup system was re-engineered to restore data in minutes instead of days, and all data is copied four times in different locations.

 

Hardware racks before and after

This new environment better supports the library’s strategic goals and unique needs by protecting our websites, digital initiatives, digital born content, data repositories, and digital preservation program. It is just one of the many efforts being undertaken by the IT team to better serve the library and community, and we are proud of their work!