Collections

Carmen Galaz García, an assistant teaching professor in UC Santa Barbara’s Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, completed her undergraduate degree in mathematics in Mexico, where specialized textbooks were prohibitively expensive. She recalls how important it was that professors provided notes and materials so students wouldn't have to buy expensive books they'd only use for a few months. Today, she sees students at UCSB facing similar systemic barriers.

Generations of researchers who rely on primary sources faced a frustrating hurdle. Conducting original historical research typically required traveling to distant archives, navigating cost-prohibitive interlibrary loans or adjusting a project’s scope based on access to sources. For students engaged in a senior honors thesis or a graduate seminar, these logistical barriers frequently stifled academic curiosity before research even began. As a result, scholarship was often limited to those with the resources to access specific geographic locations or well-funded departments.

Culminates multiyear effort to unite Library collections and services in central, state-of-the-art space

This article was originally published in UCSB’s The Current. 

The new Sara Miller McCune Arts Library will open to the public on Monday, December 2. 

The creation of this thoughtfully designed and vibrant new space with state-of-the-art technology on the main Library’s 1st floor Mountain Side was made possible by the generosity of philanthropist, arts lover, and longtime UCSB donor Sara Miller McCune. The gift was made in collaboration with McCune’s social science publishing company, Sage Publishing. 

UCSB Library has been awarded a $349,993 grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for the American Record Corporation (ARC) Access Initiative of the American Discography Project.

The UC Santa Barbara Library’s recorded sound collections are vast and diverse: they include over 400,000 recordings representing voices throughout history, from intimate home recordings from the 1890s, to rare commercial recordings on wax cylinders and 78 rpm discs, to unique radio broadcasts. Thanks to a generous donation by alumni Mark Maxson ‘75 and Mary Burchill ‘76, the collection now includes a unique set of recordings made by California author and Nobel Prize laureate John Steinbeck (1902–1962).

UCSB students, faculty, and staff can now enjoy complimentary access to The Washington Post online for day-to-day browsing and reading thanks to the UCSB Library’s new subscription.

In 2007, Bay Area artists Melanie Cervantes and Jesus Barraza created Dignidad Rebelde, a graphic arts collaboration that uses art to highlight community struggles, amplify stories, and support global indigenous and people of color movements.

In Fall 2022, the archives of the music and comedy duo Smothers Brothers were donated to the UC Santa Barbara Library’s Performing Arts Collection on behalf of the two brothers, Thomas and Richard Smothers.

On January 1, 2022, an estimated 400,000 pre-1923 sound recordings formerly restricted through copyright entered the public domain, thanks to the passing of the Music Modernization Act (MMA). 

The UC Santa Barbara Library had already digitally preserved over 60,000 of these recordings from its Performing Arts Collection, and now those recordings are freely accessible to anyone, for any purpose, in high-resolution formats.