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.

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More News November 17, 2021

AUTHOR: SARAH NIGHTINGALE

On hot and steamy days in Saigon, Vietnam, there was only one place for an enlisted man to cool off for a while. “That place was the library,” said UC Riverside alumna Ann Kelsey, who served as a civilian librarian for the U.S. Army from 1969-70. “The libraries were air conditioned because of the books, not the people, though. If they weren’t, the books would mold in two days.” 

Kelsey’s service during the Vietnam War was the beginning of a career in library science and automation that would span more than four decades. Her recent pledge to UC Riverside, a $489,000 planned gift to the UCR Library, will continue Kelsey’s legacy in helping people learn through technology.

After meeting as a UCLA student with a U.S. Army Special Services recruiter, Ann Kelsey went overseas after graduation, overseeing four libraries during the Vietnam War.

Born in Indiana in 1946, Kelsey moved with her family to Riverside at the age of five, attending Riverside schools and graduating from Polytechnic High School. Her parents supported her dream of attending university and becoming a librarian, but money was tight. UCR—affordable, close to home, and offering the feel of a small liberal arts college—was the perfect fit.

“I was the first person in my family to go to college and I lived at home, so I spent a lot of time at The Barn, which was the gathering point for students who didn’t live in the dorms,” Kelsey said. “I had so much fun going to dances and parties. I also loved the classes and the teachers, and I learned so much.” 

Anthropology classes, in which Kelsey developed an interest in Southeast Asia and Vietnamese history and culture, changed her world view. 

“My whole experience at UCR was wonderful. It really was a life-changing experience,” she said.

After graduating from UCR with a double major in English and anthropology in 1968, Kelsey earned a master’s in library science at UCLA. During her time on that larger, more politically active campus, Kelsey felt suffocated by anti-war protests.

“The anti-war movement was very active at UCLA. It was constant hostility and strife,” Kelsey said. “Bruin Walk, which is right outside Powell Library, was a focal gathering point. All my classes were there of course, so I had to walk through that every day. That was in 1968 and there were Vietnam veterans attempting to go to school. I was just appalled.”

When U.S. Army Special Services recruiters came to campus looking for librarians, Kelsey knew she had an opportunity to show her support for Americans serving in Vietnam.

“I filled in the application form, sent it off and, two months after I graduated, I was my way to Vietnam. There were 300 soldiers and me on the plane and that kind of set the tone for the whole year.”

During her time in Vietnam, Kelsey oversaw four libraries, helping soldiers with everything from homework for correspondence courses to recreational reading.

Ann Kelsey's gift will help strengthen and sustain the UCR Library's programs and services in emerging technology.

Ann Kelsey's gift will help strengthen and sustain the UCR Library's programs and services in emerging technology.
“The libraries functioned very much like a small town public library,” Kelsey said. “That was the purpose of the Army Morale and Recreation program, whether it was library, the entertainment shows, or the rec center—it was to bring a touch of home to the combat zone.”

Returning to the United States, Kelsey settled on the East Coast, working at public libraries and community colleges while supplementing her income with freelance and contract work. In the late 1970s, while working at the Morris County Free Library in Whippany, N.J., Kelsey found herself at the forefront of library automation.

“I could tell this was where the future of libraries was going to be,” Kelsey said. "At that time I was in charge of the children’s book department, so I volunteered to work extra, retrospectively converting the manual shelf list to a digitized record.”

UCR Alumni Association events in the New York tri-state area rekindled Kelsey’s connection with the university in the 1990s. At that time she became a member of the Alumni Association and began making a monthly pledge to the association’s scholarship fund. 

In-line with her life and career, Kelsey’s latest gift—a $489,000 planned gift to the UCR Library—will help strengthen and sustain the library’s programs and services in emerging technology.

“The UCR Library is honored by the generosity and confidence shown by Ann Kelsey in her establishment of this bequest, said Steven Mandeville-Gamble, University Librarian. “Ms. Kelsey’s career has spanned the advent of library automation to the evolution of digital scholarship and emerging digital literacies. This gift will allow the UCR Library to continue to evolve to meet the increasingly sophisticated technology needs of our faculty and students for many decades to come.” 

More about Kelsey’s service in Vietnam is available as oral history interviews in the Virtual Vietnam Archive at Texas Tech University and Rutgers University Oral History Archives. “In Their Footsteps,” a play based on the oral histories of Kelsey and four other women documents the often untold experiences of the thousands of women who served in Vietnam during the war. It has been performed in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Ohio, Italy, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and Australia.

 

More News April 04, 2019

Over the next few months, construction and several moves will be occurring in the Rivera and Orbach Libraries.

Here is the overview. This webpage will be updated as projects are completed, or as timeframes shift.

Rivera Library

Basement

• ​ Completed: Microfilms have been relocated to circulating shelves in the basement to the right of the metal microfiche cases.
• Currently: Construction has started in the former microfilm stacks to create a new secured stack area for Special Collections and University Archives.

First Floor

• ​ Completed: Interlibrary Loan operations has relocated to the Circulation/Reserves service desk in Rivera Library.

Second Floor

• ​ Completed - June 3 - August 9:
  • Staff will move items in the Education Services collection to the basement (includes juvenile books, puppets, manipulatives, textbooks), where the microfilm was previously housed. This will allow greater patron accessibility on a non-quiet floor with more open space — conducive for a collection that sometimes is used by parents/caregivers with children.
  • Items with K-L call numbers will be moved to the shelves where the Education Services materials were previously housed, on the second floor of Rivera Library.
• ​ Completed - August 12 - September 20:
  • Items with ML-MT call numbers will be temporarily moved to mobile carts on the second floor, while new, broader shelving is being installed. During this time, for your convenience, we suggest that patrons submit a hold/request for items in this collection, so that library staff can retrieve the items for you.

Orbach Library

First Floor

•  Completed: Poster Printing services has moved from the ground floor to room 121 on the first floor. 
• ​ Completed: The Map Collection has moved from the ground floor to first floor. Map cases, GIS workstations, aerial photos, light table, and work tables are adjacent to the Creat'R Lab, now labeled as "Geospatial Resources."

Ground Floor

• June: The UCR School of Medicine will begin construction of their Clinical Skills Simulation Lab in the space formerly occupied by the Map Collection and some adjacent library spaces.

Music Library

The Music Library will close at the end of the day on Friday, September 6, and reopen on Monday, September 16. It will be closed for a week on September 9.

• ​ Completed - September 9 - 13: The Music collection will move to the Rivera Library.
  • M call number materials will be moved and shelved after the new location of the L call numbers on the second floor of Rivera Library.
  • ML and MT call numbers will then be shelved after the M call numbers.
  • Music Study Score will be shelved separately following the MT call numbers.
• ​ Completed - Music Media (CD, VHS, LP, etc.)
  • Music media will be interfiled into the current Media Collection on the first floor of Rivera Library. New security cases are being ordered for the collection.
  • Rivera Reference will be shifted to the last two ranges behind the reference desk.
  • The Media Collection will expand to the first range on the left side—shelves will be added accordingly.

More News June 12, 2025

On June 16, the UCR Library transitioned to the new EBSCOhost user interface (UI)

All EBSCOhost databases—including Academic Search Complete, Business Source Complete, ebooks hosted on EBSCO, and more—have a new UI. This means a new look and feel, plus a few minor changes to functionality. The new user interface is designed to be more modern and user friendly, while also introducing new features such as personalized dashboards and the ability to save resources and searches. Additional improvements include text-to-speech and filters that remain applied when a search query is modified.

If users have created a MyEBSCO account already, they will use the same login on the new UI. All links should update automatically, but if an old bookmark no longer works after the migration, go to the UCR Library’s Databases A-Z list and follow the link you wish to bookmark. For more information, please see EBSCO's new UI Quick Start Guide.

If you have any questions, please contact Carla Arbagey, Collection Strategist Librarian, at carla.arbagey@ucr.edu.

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Image of new UI below:

• Read more about IL Tools for Teaching

More News May 31, 2018

The end of each academic year brings many goodbyes, both farewells to graduating students and to members of our career staff who will retire in 2018.

We would like to recognize and celebrate the following UCR Library colleagues, who shared snippets of their UCR history with us:

Diane David

Music Cataloger Diane David started as a student assistant in UCR’s Music department in 1971 and later transitioned to working in the Music Library’s listening room. After finishing her B.A. in 1973, she was hired as a music cataloger, one of three in UCR Library’s history.

With 45 years of service, David might hold the record for the longest-running career at UCR Library. “It has been interesting to see the industry change and to see the impact technology has had on our work,” she said, recalling her earliest days with hand-typed cards for the public catalog and all the various changes in technology she has witnessed since then.

Those years have also contained many great memories, including having Maya Angelou as the commencement speaker when David earned her M.A., Scot’s Week, and a very distinct campus prank in the early 1980s. “One year, we arrived early in the morning to find that the Bell Tower had a giant arrow through the top of it,” David explained. “Remember Steve Martin, the comedian who would come on stage with a headband that looked like an arrow through his head? This was a giant version of that.”

After retirement, David will miss seeing friends and colleagues on a daily basis, but looks forward to continuing her career in theater, which is booked well into the next year.

Kit Rembert

Preservation Assistant Cynthia “Kit” Rembert started her career at UCR Library in September 1977 as a typist clerk, and will retire this year from her role as a supervisor of special projects and processing. “Coming to work at UC Riverside in the libraries has been a blessing,” Rembert said.

Her favorite memories include special moments with colleagues at celebrations to acknowledge retiring staff. “I also have a lot of good memories from working on special projects with different people in all areas of the libraries,” she said.

Rembert recalls one day when she and a few colleagues got locked down in the sub-basement at Rivera Library for about 30 minutes. “The elevator broke down and we had to wait for someone to come around to open the side entrance,” she explained. “The only thing we could do was look at some old books and tell some family stories.”

Another vivid memory, Rembert said, was when the library’s namesake Dr. Tomás Rivera passed away on May 16, 1984. “He was held in the highest regard on this campus,” she added. “He was gone too soon.”

Julia Ree

Metadata Cataloger Julia Ree has held many roles at the UCR Library since 1978, when she was hired as a student assistant in the Reserve Book Room on the first floor of Rivera Library. She has also worked in stacks maintenance, public services, acquisitions, cataloging, and for 12 years as the subject specialist for the Eaton Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy.

She met her husband of almost 36 years, Bob, at the public services counter in December 1980 when he was looking for weekend box office statistics for the Star Trek motion picture. “You could say that Star Trek brought us together! You could also say that having the same last name at birth was a contributing factor, but it’s the UCR Library space that made it all happen,” Ree said.

Ree’s favorite memories include organizing the 2013 Eaton Conference, at which they presented the Eaton Lifetime Achievement Award to Stan Lee. Another fond memory was in 2014, when Ree received the “Staff Who Make a Difference” award from Campus Staff Assembly. “I have worked many decades to create a quality to my work,” she said. “This, above all else, recognized my commitment to those we serve and I will be forever grateful to be singled out in this meaningful way.”

Josie Arreola

Josie Arreola was first hired at UCR as a receptionist in the Physical Plant / Grounds department; she joined the library in 1980. This year, she will retire from her position as a Collection Maintenance Assistant in Rivera Library.

In her 38 years at UCR Library, Arreola said she has been most fond of gatherings with student employees and staff colleagues, particularly the Thanksgiving Feast, as well as other on-campus events including University Club and holiday parties. Of the most unusual thing that happened to her on the job, Arreola said, “One week, I took like three security reports due to people trying to steal books, or damaging them.” What she will miss most about working at UCR Library is her co-workers and friends.

Maria Mendoza

Assistant Unit Supervisor of the Interlibrary Loan Unit, Maria Mendoza has been part of the UCR Library team since 1992. During that time, Mendoza said that she has collected too many fond memories to choose any favorites among them.

“But what I will miss the most is superior staff, our splendid students and phenomenal faculty,” she said.

In addition to her work at the library, Mendoza also taught Hawaiian dance classes to a group of UCR staff, faculty and students as part of the Mobile Fit program. A dedicated group of her dance students would sometimes perform as part of the Mission Inn’s Festival of Lights and at other community events.

After retirement, Mendoza plans to visit her native state of Hawaii and also to travel to the Philippines for the first time.

Rhonda Neugebauer

Collection Strategist for the Arts and Humanities Rhonda Neugebauer joined the UCR Library in 2001 as the Bibliographer for Latin American and Iberian Studies.

Her favorite memories include National Library Week postcards, “Edible Book” celebrations, the 2-millionth volume panel and reception, and celebrations with colleagues such as the library’s Student Employee Picnic and Thanksgiving Feast and Staff Association events. “I enjoyed seeing us as a group, united in our efforts to wholeheartedly support the library and library colleagues and enthusiastically serve our students, faculty and staff,” Neugebauer said.

When asked what she will miss most about working at UCR Library, she replied, “Co-workers who helped me, supported me, nurtured me, mentored me, stood with me during the rough times, and empathized with me when the news was sad, bitter and unthinkable.”

Her funniest memory was when an earthquake hit during a job candidate’s presentation in the Rivera Library. “When the speaker momentarily suspended his remarks ad asked, ‘Was that an earthquake?’ All the library colleagues who had already logged on to the shake map were able to report immediately to the candidate, ‘It wasn’t too bad, it was just a 3.4,’” she said. “Then we all laughed at how quickly everyone felt, reported and critiqued the shaking!”

***

The UCR Library would like to thank each of our retiring staff members, both those who are named here and those who wish to remain anonymous. We are grateful to have had you as our colleagues and friends, we appreciate your many years of excellent service, and we wish you all the best in your future!

More News January 02, 2020

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.

The new resources include:

New Sections of JoVE: The Journal of Visualized Experiments

JoVE is a video journal platform featuring videos that teach fundamental concepts and techniques for the lab.  Via JoVE, researchers and students can view the intricate details of cutting-edge experiments rather than read them in text articles.  The UCR Library has added two collections to our JoVE offerings: JoVe Science Education Chemistry & Advanced Biology and JoVE Immunology and Infection.

Henry Stewart Talks: Biomedical & Life Sciences Collection

HSTalks provides specially prepared, animated, online, audio-visual lectures, seminar-style talks and case studies.  Editors and lecturers are leading world experts and practitioners, including Nobel Laureates, drawn from academia, research institutes, commerce, industry, the professions and government.

UK National Archives, Collections CO1 and CO5

Colonial State Papers

This collection, available on the ProQuest platform, includes Collection CO 1 from The UK National Archives, officially titled Privy Council and related bodies: America and West Indies, Colonial Papers and the Calendar of State Papers, Colonial: North America and the West Indies 1574-1739.

Colonial America: Complete CO5 Files from UK National Archives, 1600-1822

Colonial America, via the Adam Matthew Platform, makes available all 1,450 volumes of the CO 5 series from The National Archives, UK, covering the period 1606 to 1822. CO 5 consists of the original correspondence between the British government and the governments of the American colonies, making it a uniquely rich resource for all historians of the period.  The UCR Library has access to Module I: Early Settlement, Expansion and Rivalries, and Module II: Towards Revolution.  For more information on these modules, see http://www.colonialamerica.amdigital.co.uk/Introduction/NatureAndScope.

Ethnomusicology: Global Field Recordings

This diverse and comprehensive collection focuses on the cultural study of music and explores content from across the globe.  Produced in collaboration with the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive, the material in this collection includes thousands of audio field recordings and interviews, educational recordings, film footage, field notebooks, slides, correspondence and ephemera from over 60 fields of study.

American Indian Newspapers

From historic pressings to contemporary periodicals, American Indian Newspapers contains nearly 200 years of Indigenous print journalism from the United States and Canada. With newspapers representing a huge variety in publisher, audience and era, this resource allows researchers to discover how events were reported by and for Indigenous communities.

American Indian Newspapers was developed with, and has only been made possible by, the permission and contribution of the newspaper publishers and Tribal Councils concerned.

New Subjects from Oxford Bibliographies Online

The UCR Library has added six new topical areas to our Oxford Bibliographies Online collection:

• African American Studies
• Atlantic History
• Buddhism
• Environmental Science
• Philosophy
• Sociology

Oxford Bibliographies are developed cooperatively with scholars and librarians worldwide, and offer exclusive, authoritative research guides across a variety of subject areas. The Oxford Bibliographies combine the best features of an annotated bibliography and a high-level encyclopedia and direct researchers to the best available scholarship in a given subject.  The UCR Library also has access to the following Oxford Bibliographies: Anthropology, Art History, Chinese Studies, Education, Evolutionary Biology, Latin American Studies, Latinx Studies, Music, Psychology, and Public Health.

More News August 30, 2021

We are pleased to announce that the UCR Library joins campus in reopening for fall quarter!

Unfortunately, as the COVID epidemic isn’t over yet, it is important that library patrons follow campus health and safety guidelines. Library staff are prepared to adjust the availability of library spaces and services as conditions change.

Library hours for fall quarter are now available at: library.ucr.edu/about/hours. Changes and updates to library hours will be posted on this page throughout the quarter.

The library will host an Open House on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, Sept. 1-3, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. New UCR students can visit and use the study spaces at the Rivera Library or the Orbach Science Library on these dates. Please note that Patrons will not be able to check out books during the Open House; however the Creat’R Lab will be providing contactless 3D printing. See the 3D printing service page for instructions on how to place an order.

Curbside delivery of books will end on Friday, Sept. 3. On Tuesday, Sept. 7, patrons will be able to check out physical print books from inside the library. Sept. 7 also marks the day that the HathiTrust Emergency Temporary Access Service (ETAS), which during the closure allowed access to electronic books that we owned in print, will cease.

The library’s Special Collections and University Archives will continue to be open by appointment only until Sept. 20. Please check their web page for instructions on how to make an appointment.

From Sept. 7-19, the library will be open weekdays only from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Circulation Desks and study areas will be open and available for patron use during these times.

Additional library services, including Instructional Sessions, and longer opening hours will be available starting Monday, Sept. 20. The Information Desks in both libraries, as well as the Creat’R Lab and Poster Printing service in Orbach Library will be open on weekdays. Please check the library hours page (library.ucr.edu/about/hours) for the most up to date schedule information.

Students will be able to borrow Course Reserve textbooks beginning Thursday, Sept. 23 (the first day of fall quarter instruction). UCR Faculty can submit Course Reserve requests through Friday, Sept. 3 using this form.

The library website will be updated regularly with additional information about the fall quarter reopening. Patrons are encouraged to bookmark library.ucr.edu and check back frequently for new updates.

More News February 15, 2021

Finding and borrowing resources from libraries across the UC system is about to get easier!

On July 27, 2021, the libraries on all 10 University of California campuses will be connected through UC Library Search, a unified discovery and borrowing system.

The enhanced features of UC Library Search will replace Melvyl as the UC-wide library catalog search tool. As a single, interconnected system, UC Library Search offers powerful features to help the UC libraries make data-informed decisions around collections development and new services for library users.

Enhancements available through UC Library Search will include:

• Search UC Riverside local library collection as well as the collections of all 10 UC libraries in the same system;
• Single sign-on: Borrow and renew materials from any library in the UC system without retyping your library card number;
• Access via the catalog to millions of subscribed and Open Access online books, journal articles, and other digital content

Stay tuned to find out more information about UC Library Search in the coming months. In the meantime, check out this page for additional information about the project, including the project timeline for this new release.

Have questions? Please contact​ Tiffany Moxham, Associate University Librarian for Content and Discovery.