University Library E-News
For its first all-virtual exhibition, the Special Collections & Archives department presents, Los Angeles: On Film and On Record, now through July 30, 2021, which examines a selection of popular films that feature Los Angeles in the storyline and/or setting, and using film clips and digital images of archival and other primary sources, compares their vision to the documentary record of the “real” Los Angeles. Since opening August 22, 2020, the exhibit has had over 3,000 views. In keeping with its virtual genre and the Library’s support of student learning, the exhibit includes links to podcasts created by English students focusing on specific films in the exhibit for their final research assignment in their Honors Seminar class.
The AS/RS, an electronic bin-based storage and retrieval system, was installed in the Library as part of a building expansion in 1989. First of its kind, the AS/RS occupies a 3-story section of the Library’s east wing, and contains 13,260 steel bins moved around 6 aisles by computer-driven warehouse-style cranes.
But more than books are stored in AS/RS: a substantial number of the 800,000 items from the main collection are periodicals frequently requested by patrons at other libraries through InterLibrary Loan. Additionally, 30,000 valuable Special Collections & Archives items are kept in dedicated bins.
As CSUN began rapidly moving on-campus instruction to virtual modalities in response to the COVID-19 virus in March 2020, the University Library faced many challenges, including how to continue to provide resources and services to support student learning and faculty pedagogy and research while Library staff and faculty were required to telecommute. Early on, the Library’s millions of electronic articles, e-books, streaming media titles, digitized archival and scholarly materials, and online research and support services proved invaluable to supporting these needs.
The Reeses are pleased to be supporting access to electronic research resources, which can be cost-prohibitive to students. Access to resources has been especially important during this past year of campus closure. The couple has visited the Library and attended Friends of the Library events in the Gohstand Leisure Reading Room, and have come to appreciate the space. We look forward to seeing Bill and Dorothy again when the Library can open fully to the community. Their tribute to Teddy in support of CSUN students is a special treasure that we in the Library are so very grateful for.
A day in the life of Keith Rice’s career is never dull. The passion and pride he puts into his work as a historian/archivist at the Tom & Ethel Bradley Center in the University Library at CSUN deserves a radiant spotlight. From curating a museum exhibit to producing a documentary, Keith is making a positive impact in showcasing Black history, amplifying voices, and forging a visual pathway for social justice.
Get to know Keith, and the people and places that inspired him to pursue a career as a historian.
The beloved British writer C.S. Lewis once said, “We must stop regarding unpleasant or unexpected things as interruptions of real life. The truth is that interruptions are real life.” Most of us wish that we could avoid negative things, like a pandemic, but the reality is that we often learn more from disappointments than from “smooth sailing.”