Fabiola Chavez Begins New Role as Archives Specialist in the UC Merced Library

When Fabiola Chavez began her academic career at UC Merced as an English major in 2013, she quickly realized she wanted to be a part of the UC Merced Library. She initially worked as a Library Student Assistant and then became a Library Student Assistant Supervisor. By the time she graduated from UC Merced (2016), she had learned vital customer service skills, library processes, and began to unearth her passion for the field of librarianship. 

In May 2019, Fabiola joined the UC Merced Library professional staff as a Night and Weekend Coordinator demonstrating her commitment to libraries and the profession. While managing student assistants and a full-time workload, she embarked on her Master of Library Information and Sciences at San Jose State University, earning her degree in December 2021. Then in May 2023, Fabiola began her new position with the UC Merced Library as an Archives Specialist. Fabiola reminisces on her time as a library student assistant where she more fully learned about the opportunities that exist in libraries and knew her library degree would help accelerate her focus on becoming an archivist. In her current role, Fabiola will process archival materials and work on special collection projects for the UC Merced Library. She will work directly with an archivist to digitally transfer and preserve historical and important materials, documents, film, and photographs to make them available for researchers and the public on an online platform. 

“I am excited about specializing in archives and getting to work one-on-one with physical materials. I am excited to be a part of the historical process.” As a Central Valley native, raised in Pixley, California, Fabiola is eager to make connections between the materials she will work with and the places where she grew up. “It is a full circle moment in terms of my professional career and my life. I have invested in what I have learned here. UC Merced was made for the Central Valley and I get to give back to the same community I was raised in.”