IMPACT REPORT I Message from the University Librarian Since we celebrated the 75th anniversary of UC Santa Barbara last year I have been reflecting on how the UCSB Library has always been a community hub, supporting our faculty and students to be successful in everything they do and engaging the Santa Barbara community in the intellectual and cultural life of UC Santa Barbara.
The last few decades have shown how the internet and the web have transformed libraries. Having been a librarian throughout this transition, I can assure you that libraries are—and I believe will remain—adaptive and durable institutions in the digital age. Libraries have embraced new technologies, leveraging them to make many of our unique collections available to the world and to bring the world of scholarship to the desktops of our researchers and students.
But the digital library revolution is also complex and brings with it unintended consequences. Since journals began to move online in the 1990s, scholarly journal publishing has grown to become a $10 billion industry, largely funded by research Kristin Antelman libraries, and one in which most content sits behind increasingly expensive paywalls.
Over the last year, the University of California has found itself on the world stage showing unprecedented leadership in standing up to publishing giant, Elsevier, by terminating our contract with them until we can negotiate both a more sustainable price and open access publishing for all UC-authored articles. As a public institution whose research is funded largely by public money, it is core to the UC mission to make that research openly available to be used by the residents of California, and beyond.
On the Cover Jane Gottlieb is a Southern California artist, known for her use of vibrant color and her remarkable imagination. Forty large pieces of her work are installed across UCSB, and this recent piece will be on display in the Library. "For me," Gottlieb says, "art is an expression of one’s imagination and creativity. Being able to share this UCSB Library artwork is a great joy." As you’ll read in this report, the UCSB Library is broadly committed to advancing open scholarship. We are partnering with the open access publisher, Punctum Books, as part of an international coalition of scholar-led publishers working together to develop tools and business models to support open access book publishing.
At the same time, we are constantly working to improve the physical library, which is used more than ever. It is the only building on campus open 24 hours and serves as an inclusive “third place” for students. This year we added more seating, electrical outlets, whiteboards, and even nap pods to better support student success.
Our undergraduates are developing as budding researchers not just in the labs across campus but also in the Library. Last year, we inaugurated a new Library Award for Undergraduate Research to showcase some of the outstanding scholarship produced by these talented undergraduates.
Crossing departmental boundaries and bringing knowledge to bear to solve problems and learn about the world are what libraries are all about and why we are so perfectly aligned with the mission and purpose of UCSB.
Thank you all for being ambassadors for the Library and supporting our efforts. I invite you to join us in helping the Library continue to be such a strong pillar of faculty and student success.