University Library E-News

Featured: The AmaZine World of Underground Publishing

Back on campus, creativity is thriving in hands-on, unexpected ways. At the CSUN University Library, zines have become a space where students, staff, and community members come together to share ideas, tell stories, and explore issues that matter to them. Zines—short for “magazines” or “fanzines”—are self-published, small-run works that have long been a way for people to share ideas outside of mainstream publishing. They’re often handmade using whatever tools are available, like paper, scissors, glue, and photocopiers, and passed around through informal networks, events, and community spaces.

What's New: Navigating the Information Age — How LIB 290 Is Empowering Matadors

Every day, CSUN students scroll, swipe, search, stream, and submit. They move seamlessly between social media and scholarly articles, between AI tools and academic databases. But in a world overflowing with information and misinformation, knowing how to navigate that landscape thoughtfully is more important than ever. That reality inspired LIB 290: The Information Ecosystem, a one-unit course developed by Dr. Ahmed Alwan, Dr. Eric Garcia, and Christina Mayberry to help students better understand the digital world they inhabit both inside and outside the classroom.

Spotlight: Why Leisure Reading Matters — Cultivating Curiosity and Reflection at the University Library

As bibliographer for the Robert and Maureen Gohstand Reading Room Leisure Collection, I truly enjoy selecting fiction and nonfiction titles for CSUN students and promoting leisure reading as an act of self-care and intellectual growth in a distracted world. We live in an age of digital distractions, where leisure reading is more important than ever for personal growth and relaxation. Today’s readers are immersed in a world filled with digital notifications, social media feeds, and AI-driven content that can fragment attention and easily misinform. Choosing to sit down and read a book—slowly and voluntarily—is an act of focus, self-definition and self-care.

We Would Like you to Meet: The Interns and Fellows of the Library

The University Library is guided by core values of curiosity, learning, service, and inclusive excellence. Our deep commitment to student growth and opportunity is reflected in the Library’s internships and fellowships, which provide hands-on learning, meaningful professional development, and a space for passion to thrive.

In Memoriam: Virginia Elwood-Akers

The CSUN Library community honors the memory of Virginia Elwood‑Akers, Librarian Emeritus, historian, author, and lifelong advocate for equity and education. With family roots in Los Angeles reaching back to 1889, she carried a profound sense of connection to the city. As a second‑generation Angeleno, she took great pride in the history, culture, and community that shaped her life from the very beginning.

Message from the Dean: Curiosity in Motion — Reading, Research, and the Digital Lives of Matadors

At the University Library, curiosity is far more than a habit of the mind—it is our unofficial campus superpower. It beckons students into undiscovered worlds, nudges them toward fresh questions, and occasionally sparks the sort of insight that can redirect a major, reshape a scholarly path, or open an entirely new chapter of one’s life. This issue of eNews revels in curiosity in all its wonderfully varied forms: scholarly and playful, reflective and imaginative, steady and delightfully unruly. In short, the kind of curiosity that ignites when books, people, and ideas converge—and refuse to sit still.