UCSB Library

New to campus? We got you. 🔑

Swipe through for the top UCSB Library hacks, free resources, and study spots every UC Santa Barbara student needs to know.

Which resource are you trying first? Let us know in the comments! 👇

Welcome home, Gauchos! 💙 💛

No matter how you study, create or recharge, UCSB Library is here to help you thrive every step of the way during your time at UC Santa Barbara.

Come say hi during Week of Welcome!
📍 Paseo | Today-Wed | 11 AM-2 PM

Stop by our Week of Welcome tables to grab some goodies, win prizes and learn about the many free resources available to you at your favorite library.

Voices of Chicanismo.

The Luis J. Rodriguez Papers are now open for research in our Special Research Collections.

The expansive collection documents the life, literary works, and social advocacy of the renowned American author, poet, mentor, musician, artist, and Chicano activist.

Born in El Paso, Texas, in 1954 and raised in East Los Angeles, Luis Javier Rodriguez is a pivotal artist and public figure whose life and work illuminate the modern history of Chicanismo – from the Los Angeles high school walkouts and the Chicano Moratorium to contemporary community advocacy. His experiences with gangs, drugs and urban hardships in his early life informed his classic 1993 memoir, "Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A."

The collection spans more than three decades of materials documenting Rodriguez's creative output, political organizing, and community development, and provide scholars, students, and community members with a rich resource for studying Chicano literature, grassroots activism, and social movements.

📖 Full story: https://www.library.ucsb.edu/news/voices-of-chicanismo

Capturing the stories of families, organizations, and communities is essential to preserving local history. 📚 ✨

Through our Santa Barbara Community Archives Project (SBCAP), UCSB Library is helping safeguard everyday stories that rarely make it into traditional archives, amplifying historically unheard voices and celebrating the full breadth of Santa Barbara County, CA's heritage.

Highlights of the project include:
📣 Santa Barbara High School Anniversary Prep: Partnering with the Santa Barbara High School Alumni Association to preserve organizational archives and alumni photos, like this vintage image of SBHS cheerleaders, for the school's 150th anniversary.
📜 Cultural Heritage: Collaborating with the Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society to showcase Hispanic family heritage.
🎒 K-12 Education: Partnering with UC Santa Barbara’s UCSB Interdisciplinary Humanities Center on the "Finding Fiesta" program to help K-12 educators bring primary sources into the classroom.

Read more about SBCAP's impact: https://www.library.ucsb.edu/news/helping-local-communities-preserve-their-histories

Advancing "open science" – increasing the transparency and accessibility of publicly funded research – at UC Santa Barbara is one of UCSB Library’s four strategic priorities.

By embedding open science directly into campus workflows and classes, we’re fostering reproducibility, data reuse, and interdisciplinary collaboration across campus. Recent efforts include:

🔹 Deepening the Library's Research Data Services (RDS) integration into the UCSB Bren School's graduate curricula.
🔹 Partnering across STEM and humanities to integrate data analysis and information management techniques.
🔹 Leading UCSB’s participation in the University of California-wide Open Source Program Office (OSPO) Network.
🔹 Developing recommendations for the responsible and effective use of AI grounded in open science principles.

"This collaboration ensures that public research remains transparent, reproducible and ready to face the complexities of modern scientific research," noted Greg Janée, RDS Director.

📖 Read more about our initiatives: https://www.library.ucsb.edu/news/advancing-open-science

At UCSB Library, we believe high textbook costs should never stand between a student and their education.

High course material costs create hidden financial barriers that disproportionately impact low-income and underrepresented students, sometimes forcing them to skip required readings or drop classes entirely.

To break down these barriers, professors like Carmen Galaz García (UCSB Bren School) are adopting Open Educational Resources (OERs), saving her students over $2,400 in a single term by switching to free, interactive materials.

To scale this impact across campus, Angela Chikowero, our Open and Affordable Course Materials Librarian, is partnering with faculty and instructors to find, adapt, and build zero-cost alternatives to traditional textbooks.

🔗 Read how we're driving equitable education at UC Santa Barbara: https://www.library.ucsb.edu/news/advancing-student-success-through-oer

library staff have been racing against time to preserve vital and historic aerial imagery for researchers.

Recent work by UCSB geographers relied heavily on decades of aerial photographs to record historic sand dune disappearance along the California coast. Many of these images, however, were threatened by a deterioration process that renders the film unusable.

Full story: https://ow.ly/MA6B50Zz3CF

Great discussions start with great books. 💡 📚

At UCSB Library, our award-winning UCSB Reads common book program brings the UC Santa Barbara campus and Santa Barbara communities together every year to read a common book that explores compelling issues of our time, serving as a bridge between academic research, student engagement, and public discourse.

We have released the shortlist for UCSB Reads 2027! The six titles (5 nonfiction, 1 fiction) explore diverse cultural, social, and scientific subjects that can ignite vibrant discourse inside and outside of the classroom.

The 2027 Shortlist:
40 Maps That Will Change How You See the World (Alastair Bonnett)
Ensh*ttification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It (Cory Doctorow)
Is a River Alive? (Robert Macfarlane)
Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma (Claire Dederer)
Raising Hare: A Memoir (Chloe Dalton)
Wild Dark Shore (Charlotte McConaghy)

We want to hear from our faculty, students, alumni, and community members.

Let us know by August 26 which of the books is your top pick: https://www.library.ucsb.edu/ucsbreadsvote

Explore the shortlist: https://www.library.ucsb.edu/news/ucsb-reads-2027-shortlist