UCI Libraries Newsroom

Irvine, Calif, April, 19, 2017 – The University of California, Irvine (UCI) Libraries have been awarded a prestigious Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant in the community anchors category for “Transforming Knowledge/Transforming Libraries.”  This three-year research project will explore the outcomes of undergraduate students applying what they learn in ethnic studies combined with lived experience in contributing to community archives.

The team, led by Audra Eagle Yun, Head, Special Collections & Archives and University Archivist, will partner with the UCI departments of Asian American Studies, Chicano/Latino Studies and African American Studies, as well as stakeholders representing organizations throughout Orange County, California. Further, this collaborative will work to connect library and information studies practice with the ethnic studies curriculum and provide undergraduates with first-hand experience in building and providing access to the digital cultural heritage of the under-documented. Other research team members from the UCI Libraries include Krystal Tribbett, Ph.D., Oral History & Documentation Projects Coordinator and Thuy Vo Dang, Ph.D., Archivist for the Southeast Asian Archive.

“This is a vital time in the history of UCI and our community to begin this work. We look forward to collaborations with students and faculty, in addition to partnerships with important organizations in the community on this project,” explains Lorelei Tanji, University Librarian.

The UCI Libraries is also home to the Orange County & Southeast Asian Archive (OC&SEAA) Center, which will play an integral part in the work of this project as a repository, learning, research and oral history center and a model for community-archiving.

According to the grant award letter, IMLS received 58 applications requesting $17,275,700. Of these, 14 projects were selected to receive funding totaling $4,320,327.

About UCI Libraries:

Established in 1963 as one of the founding academic units on campus, the UCI Libraries connect users—faculty, researchers, scholars, students, staff, or community members—to information resources, facilitating the creation, preservation, and sharing of knowledge in all disciplines. The Libraries support the research needs of UCI and the community through the Libraries’ website and at four library facilities: the Langson Library, the Science Library, and the Libraries Gateway Study Center on the UCI campus, and the Grunigen Medical Library in Orange. For more information on the UCI Libraries, visit http://www.lib.uci.edu/