Collections

Melvyl, the UCSB Library's connection to library collections across the UCs and around the world, is getting a new and improved user interface starting Monday, June 17. Melvyl is a discovery platform designed for the UC system that offers the ability to search and request hundreds of millions of items from research institutions worldwide through a single search box.

February 28, 2019

**Updated: As of February 1, the University of California does not have an agreement with Elsevier. The UC and Elsevier have agreed to continue good-faith discussions for the time being. For now, access is expected to continue. Should we learn of any changes to access at UC, we will notify our community. Alternative access methods to find Elsevier articles are available.**

In consultation with UCSB’s Academic Senate Committee on Library, Information, & Instructional Resources, the UCSB Library has begun phasing out the main Annex, which contains primarily back runs of periodicals. By relying on the UC Regional Library Facilities (RLF) for access to these materials the Library will be able to redirect $250K per year spent on the lease and upkeep of the Annex into the acquisition of new collections.

Note: Current Kanopy access information can be found at https://guides.library.ucsb.edu/video/coursereserves

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On July 26, 2017 ebrary will become Ebook Central. If you have an ebrary account and you use the ebrary bookshelf, you’ll have the option to move all of your bookshelf contents to Ebook Central, complete with your saved notes, highlights, and bookmarks. 

Plans are underway to bring the Music Collection to the main UCSB Library. Currently housed on the second floor of the former Arts Library, the Music Collection supports academic and performance programs in Music at the undergraduate and graduate levels, encompassing both Western and non-Western music.

Use Google to search for “D.A.R.E.” (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), and the top 10 results include the organization’s official website, but also the video for the Gorrilaz song “DARE.”

Use Web of Science, an online subscription database available to UCSB students via the UCSB Library’s website, and you get a list of scholarly articles and studies about the drug-prevention program.

The collection of Lynn Andersen of Bisbee, Arizona, found a new home at the UC Santa Barbara Library last summer. Andersen was a collector of early phonograph recordings and was particularly interested in two-minute wax cylinders, Pathe discs, and foreign recordings. His collection was not huge in size, but had many significant recordings and was expertly curated. In the collection are about 1,200 two-minute cylinders and a similar number of disc recordings. Andersen passed away in November 2015.

In a contentious political environment, it’s comforting to know that some people prefer to argue about Bach.

Cellists from Pablo Casals to Yo-Yo Ma have interpreted and played Johann Sebastian Bach’s six Cello Suites in very different ways, with music scholars analyzing and debating every nuance.

When UCSB student Joanna Hui, a cellist and Bach fan, earned a $750 grant to study Bach’s Cello Suites, she turned to the UCSB Library and its extensive collection of music recordings to actually hear performances of the Suites by famed cellists.