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Books the Size of Your Fingernail
Bring your best pair of reading glasses – you’ll need them.
The University of California, Riverside Library will host “The Magic of Miniature Books” exhibit Jan. 18 through March 30.
“Miniature books have a long and interesting history, with the earliest miniatures created approximately 4,000 years ago in Mesopotamia,” said Cherry Williams, the director of Distinctive Collections at UCR Libraries. “The books have been popular throughout history, being recognized early on as a format that can be effortlessly carried about, hung from a belt or even easily concealed.”
By the 19th and 20th centuries, Williams said, books from nearly every genre were available as miniatures. These genres included classic fiction, artists’ books, dictionaries, almanacs, Bibles and prayer books, children’s books and non-fiction works such as fishing guides.
The exhibit has two components. The first features about 30 miniature books from the Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) section of the Tomas Rivera Library. Books featured vary from tiny volumes of novels such as, “The Cat Who Loved Christmas,” to a copy of "The Lord's Prayer" that is smaller than your pinky fingernail, to a miniature version of Thomas More’s “Utopia” that measures about 2 by 3 inches.
Some of the other books on display include “Jack be Nimble and Other Rhymes,” printed in 1987, and “El Libro de la Misa Para uso de la Incancia,” a Catholic service book printed in Spanish from 1861.
“As a result of putting these items on display, we hope that our viewers will return often to visit Special Collections at a future date, and discover additional interesting materials available for their use in the SCUA reading room,” Williams said.
The second component is a traveling exhibit UCR is hosting on behalf of the Miniature Book Society (MBS). MBS is an international organization that works to sustain an interest in miniature books.
Williams said the traveling exhibit highlights winners of the annual MBS competition, and showcases modern masterpieces and historic examples of miniature books. Williams hopes the traveling component promotes MBS grant opportunities, which enable students to pursue study in miniature books.
“The Magic of Miniature Books” traveling exhibit will be on display on the first floor of the Rivera Library, while the display of selected items from SCUA will be available on the 4th floor of the Rivera Library in the Special Collections reading room. For more information, contact Cherry Williams.
SCUA Unprocessed Collections Policy
Unprocessed Manuscript and Water Resources collections are generally open for research use, provided they are not restricted. However, the Special Collections and Archives staff may need to delay access for a reasonable period of time to survey the records for confidential information and/or personally identifiable information. Therefore all requests for unprocessed materials must be made at least 72 hours in advance of visiting the archives.
Barbara Martinez Neda
Reporting to the Director of Research Services, Barbara is the driving force of the library's data science initiative to support campus research through interdisciplinary collaboration on cutting-edge projects in STEM, Liberal Arts, and Social Sciences.
Research Data Scientist
3D-printed earthquake fault model “shakes” up Congressional meeting
Christodoulos Kyriakopoulos had a wild idea in July 2017, but he didn’t know whether UCR had the resources he needed to bring his vision to life – until he found out about the Creat’R Lab.
It had opened its doors in Orbach Library only three months prior.
As a Researcher in UC Riverside’s Department of Earth Sciences, Kyriakopoulos typically works with numerical models on computer screens, but he wanted to make a 3D-model of California’s major earthquake faults to use as an outreach tool.
He believed that a tactile model would make his work more engaging, interactive and accessible to different types of audiences – from academic peers to elementary schoolchildren, government officials, and the visually impaired.
“It can be challenging for geophysicists to talk to everyday people about what we do,” Kyriakopoulos explained. “In order to do that better, it helps to be able to put our computer-based work into physical form.”
When he brought his idea to Michele Potter, Creat’R Lab’s 3D printing specialist, she was enthusiastic. “It involved a number of techniques and considerations we had never delved into before, and the educational application was so obvious,” she said. “This technology can teach people new concepts, partially by inspiring them to ask questions that they had never thought of before.”
“Michele was so helpful,” Kyriakopoulos said. “The Creat’R Lab is a great example of a well-organized space with an open doors policy, so easy to approach and so supportive.”
Kyriakopoulos and his 3D-printed model have had quite a busy year. “In nine months, we have brought the model to the general public, the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting – the biggest geophysical conference in the world, the [Riverside] Long Night of Arts and Innovation, several outreach activities inside and outside UCR, and even a house committee meeting with legislators!” he said.
The model was featured at a congressional meeting on May 31, 2018 in Huntington Beach, where the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology (including Congress members Mark Takano, Dana Rohrabacher and Jerry McNerney) met to decide the fate of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP).
“This may have helped significantly in giving arguments to Congress for increasing research funding for earth sciences,” said Michalis Faloutsos, UCR Director of Entrepreneurship.
“Christos’ model seems to have done for the Representatives what it has done for countless UCR and visiting students: showed them in a tangible way why we need to talk about earthquakes,” Potter added.
According to Kyriakopoulos, NEHRP is something that UCR should care about because data from the U.S. Geological Survey indicates that the Southern California region has a 75% chance of seeing one or more major seismic events (an earthquake measuring 7.0 or higher) in the next 30 years – and Riverside is close to many of the most active and dangerous faults.
Kyriakopoulos’ office is now filled to the brim with 3D-printed models. His collection of fault displays has expanded to include a model of the subduction zone fault responsible for the M9 2011 Tohoku-oki event (Japan), the M7.2 2010 El Mayor-Cucapah (Baja California, Mexico) earthquake, the M7.8 2015 Gorkha (Nepal) earthquake. He also has small models of the Grand Canyon and Mount St. Helens, among others, which he plans to use for outreach.
“What Christos is doing is truly exciting, and the Creat’R lab has been crucial,” said David D. Oglesby, Chair of the Department of Earth Sciences and professor of geophysics.
Christodoulos Kyriakopoulos would like to recognize Kaitlin Chail (Director of Federal Relations at UCR) for organizing the participation at the Congressional Meeting in Huntington Beach.
New tool teaches students how to effectively use primary sources
The UCR Library’s Robin Katz contributed to Adam Matthew’s latest platform, Research Methods Primary Sources.
Primary sources are history in the raw, data that hasn’t been interpreted yet. Primary sources present themselves in formats like oral histories, letters, diaries, and other first-hand documentation.
As a new researcher or college student, interpreting and analyzing primary sources can be an exciting yet overwhelming task. Many may still regard history as a collection of agreed-upon facts attractively packaged together in a textbook.
A new tool from academic publisher Adam Matthew aims to teach students what primary sources are, where to find them, and how to conduct the critical analysis necessary to wield primary sources effectively.
Research Methods Primary Sources (RMPS) is an online learning tool for primary source literacy designed to support students of the humanities and social sciences by introducing key methods and approaches to working with historical material.
“What is exciting about RMPS is that it doesn’t just contain digitized primary sources — it is designed to teach students how to engage with primary sources, and it can be used by faculty to design learning activities and assignments,” said Robin Katz, the UCR Library’s Arts and Humanities Teaching Librarian.
Adam Matthew approached Katz to provide input on the tool due to her expertise in primary source pedagogy.
“I gave feedback on how the then-proposed tool would be useful to librarians, faculty, and students and how it could best meet their goals,” Katz explained. “I also authored a case study on using oral histories.”
The platform's flexibility allows it to be easily incorporated into a classroom setting or used as part of a student’s independent study. Students will learn through videos, how-to guides, and peer-reviewed essays. Students will also be able to access over 140 case studies and put their new skills into practice, all within the platform.
Research Methods Primary Sources is sure to become an essential resource for students seeking to develop the skills necessary to conduct research and evaluate primary sources confidently.
This innovative teaching and learning tool is now available to all UCR students, faculty, and researchers. To connect to RMPS, navigate to the UCR Library's A-Z Database page, or head straight to the Research Methods Primary Sources website. If you’re connecting from off-campus, ensure you have your VPN installed and turned on to access the resource.
Dive Into Summer Reading on OverDrive
Enjoy your summer with e-books from our digital leisure reading collection! We’ve curated three collections perfect for summer.
Summer Reads
Relax with chill reads for a hot summer. This collection features a variety of stories from thought-provoking reads to light-hearted stories that are perfect for unwinding. Explore the collection.
Television and Movie Reads
Read the book before watching the show or movie! This collection includes bestselling novels and captivating stories that have been adapted into popular TV shows and films. Discover the collection and immerse yourself in the original stories behind your favorite screen adaptations.
LGBTQ+ Collection
Dive into popular fiction, graphic novels, Lambda Award winners & nominees, nonfiction, and magazines featuring LGBTQ+ characters, authors, and topics. This collection celebrates diverse voices and stories within the LGBTQ+ community, offering a rich array of reading material. Check out the collection.
Happy reading!
Check out these collections and more at ucr.overdrive.com or download the Libby app and add the UCR Library as a “library”.
Students, faculty, and staff can use their UCR credentials to access these books for FREE from their computer, phone, laptop, or tablet!
Propel your research to the next level in the STAR Lab!
Ready to take your research to the next level? The Scholarly Technology and Research (STAR) Lab at the Orbach Science Library (Room 147) is the perfect place.
With the launch of the STAR Lab, the UCR Library has created a dedicated space where UCR students and researchers can access advanced digital tools and software like NVivo and Adobe Creative Suite.
The STAR Lab boasts four high-performance Windows workstations, each loaded with a wide array of software for a variety of research needs. There's also a top-quality flat-bed scanner and a mobile TV monitor available for use.
“The STAR Lab takes lots of fantastic technology and applications that are often out of reach for the average student or researcher and presents them in an accessible space for different types of exploration and research,” said UCR Library’s Research Services Assistant Andrew Morales who helps run the STAR Lab.
Wondering what you can do in the STAR Lab? It's not just about research – it's about bringing your creative and analytical ideas to life. Whether it’s:
- Mapping
- Photo editing
- Data visualization
- Video editing
- Audio editing
- Machine learning analysis
- Running OCR (Optical Character Recognition) on documents and more!
We’ve even integrated Git into our systems. This means you can easily manage your work, ensuring it’s safe and shareable.
The STAR Lab embodies UCR Library’s commitment to digital scholarship and research excellence. Our goal is to empower UCR students and researchers with the best resources to conduct cutting-edge research, explore creative digital possibilities, and collaborate on innovative projects.
The STAR Lab stays locked, but with a confirmed reservation, you can pick up a key from the Orbach Library Circulation Desk. Any UCR student, researcher, or staff member can reserve a workstation for almost two hours at a time, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday.
Curious to see the full list of software offered or want to book some time in the STAR Lab? Check out guides.lib.ucr.edu/starlab.
Library blogs highlight our work
On occasion, UCR Library employees document their work through a blog.
Using blogs as a communication tool for the library allows insight into the behind-the-scenes processes that library patrons don't usually get to see. Blogs also make it possible to highlight new discoveries of important or interesting content in our collections as we identify it.
Collections Management Librarian Jessica Geiser kept a detailed record of her progress while working on the George Brown political papers, before that collection was made available to the public in 2016.
Similarly, the Jay Kay and Doris Klein Librarian for Science Fiction, JJ Jacobson and graduate student Miranda Butler, her co-curator for the "200 Years of Frankenstein" exhibit scheduled to debut in fall 2018, are currently documenting their exhibit-design journey on the Frankenblog.
Those interested in learning more can read other UCR Library blogs here.
Music Library to close on Sept. 6 as materials move to Rivera
After many years in the basement of the Arts Building, the Music Library materials and services will be relocated to the Tomás Rivera Library in mid-September.
All materials (music scores, audio CDs and LPs) will be relocated to the Rivera Library during the week of Sept. 9 - 13. The Music Library will close its doors at 6 p.m. on Friday, September 6, 2019.
Note that due to the move, music scores, audio CDs and LPs will be unavailable to the public during the week of Sept. 9 - 13.
The integration of the Music Library into the Rivera Library comes as a response to the request from the Music Department and the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS) who have long needed more space for their expanding academic programs.
While the library is sad to be leaving the Music Library space, this move finally brings together all the physical music library content (books, journals, scores and audio) into the same building, as the Music Library only held the scores and audio. The scores and audio will now be available to faculty and students for over 50 more hours per week during the academic quarters, as the Music Library had limited hours of operation.
Library staff carefully determined the new locations of the collections involved, taking extensive measurements, evaluating the space available, and deciding on the best locations for optimal accessibility.
Where to find Music Library materials, starting on Sept. 16:
Music books, journals, and scores
- Music Library M, ML and MT call number materials will be moved and shelved after the new location of the L call numbers in Rivera Library, second floor (unit one).
- Music Study Scores will be shelved separately, following the MT call numbers.
Music media (CD, VHS, LP, etc.)
- Music audio (CDs and LPs) will be interfiled in security cases along with the current Media Collection on the first floor of Rivera Library.
Listening equipment
- The record and cassette players will be set up along the southwest wall on the first floor of Rivera Library (past the print stations).