Library News

The Abrescy-Kranich Award application deadline has been extended to February 7, 2024. Two awards of $500.00 each will be given to students who demonstrate effective use of library and information resources, as well as an understanding of the research process and growth in research practices. For more about the award and application criteria, please visit 2023-2024 Library Award for Student Research Excellence. If you have questions, please email libraryaward@ucmerced.edu. 

The UC Merced Library White Paper (June 2023) was written in response to a charge from former Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Gregg Camfield to the UC Merced Academic Senate Committee on Library and Scholarly Communication (LASC) to articulate the Library’s contributions to UC Merced’s mission of research, teaching, and service.

The White Paper highlights selected Library activities and aligns them with the campus’ Strategic Planning Goals; it does not showcase all Library services and contributions. Included recommendations suggest how an investment in the UC Merced Library can support the ongoing advancement of the university’s mission. The body of the White Paper follows an Executive Summary (pgs. 3-8) and Synopsis (9).

In fall of 2022, the UC Merced Library hosted an exhibition of photographs by David Bacon, Two Years of Heat and COVID in the San Joaquin Valley.  Over the course of the pandemic, rural farming communities in the Valley endured some of the highest infection rates in the state and the extreme temperatures of two heat dome events. 

The 67 photographs and five oral history panels focus on the daily lives of farmworkers and their families, including Filipino immigrants and indigenous Mexican migrants who did much of the essential labor in the fields. Photographs document farmworkers laboring in 117 degree heat as irrigators and as crews picking and tossing watermelons into trucks. Bacon's photodocumentary project highlights the crisis in rural housing, the struggles of small communities for a reliable source of water, and the conditions faced by the growing number of H-2A guestworkers. Organizations that partnered with Bacon on the project have used the photographs to organize community dialogues and advocacy campaigns. 

An opening reception at the Library featured remarks by David Bacon and by community organizers including Gloria Sandoval from Central Valley Journey for Justice, Mari Perez-Ruiz from the Central Valley Empowerment Alliance, and Myrna Martinez Nateras from the Pan Valley Institute. The Library was pleased to partner with Professor Robin DeLugan to bring the exhibition to campus, with additional support from UC Merced’s Community and Labor Center and the Center for Analytic Political Engagement. 

With funding from the UC Merced Community and Labor Center, the Library has acquired the exhibition as an addition to its permanent collection. David Bacon’s work carries on the work of photographers such as Ernest Lowe and George Ballis who have documented the lives and struggles of farmworkers in the Valley over the past century. The photographs record a critical contemporary perspective and reveal the persistent conditions—too often hidden from view—that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis. 

Farmworkers harvest watermelons early in the morning in a field near Arvin.

A worker in a watermelon harvesting crew gets a drink directly from the Igloo water container during a break. The temperature at the time, about 8AM, was over 95 degrees.

Students get on the school bus early in the morning, in Casas de la Viña, a housing development for farmworker families built with help from Self-Help Enterprises.

Sarah Sheets Reaches 20 Year Anniversary with the UC Merced Library

Published December 4, 2023

Sarah Sheets has been with the UC Merced Library for 20 years! She started in technical services at Rollins College's Olin Library in Winter Park, Florida, and discovered that she really loved this work.

After moving cross-country to Merced for her spouse's work, her mother-in-law mentioned a new university opening; she suggested that Sarah send in her resume. Sarah's first call was with Donald Barclay, who offered her a part-time position soon after. Her first couple of years were spent working at UC Merced's Castle Air Force location since the campus was not yet open.

Initially, Sarah's portfolio as Technical Services Coordinator involved working with both print and electronic materials. She ensured that the Library's resources were cataloged in OCLC and discoverable. When the Library was able to add another position to the Collection Services team, Sarah became our Electronic Resources Coordinator, focusing solely on digital resources.

Sarah's position requires systemwide involvement, and her participation at this level has only increased with the implementation of a systemwide integrated library system (SILS). She was deeply involved in the SILS launch which required an enormous amount of work as data was extracted for the migration. She currently serves on a systemwide group to examine what statistics are most needed from the Library's software system and how they can be exported for reporting purposes and collection decisions.

On a typical day, she is connecting with her co-workers, trouble-shooting any e-resource access issues, contributing to systemwide projects, cataloging UC Merced theses and dissertations, and making sure that the rich electronic information resources available to our UC Merced students, faculty, and staff are findable in UC Library Search.

When recognized at our All-Staff meeting, Sarah's supervisor Jim Dooley spoke highly of her and with much appreciation. "Sarah is an important contributor to the Library's success in providing access to information resources. She is also a joy to work with."

Congrats Sarah!