Undergraduate Students

When Samuel Liu noticed workplace friction among fellow Resident Assistants (RAs) at UC Santa Barbara’s San Nicolas Residence Hall, he decided to investigate. As a senior majoring in Communication and Sociology, Liu turned his personal and professional observations into an award-winning independent research project. His study, titled " 'It’s Not Just a Job, It’s Literally My Housing': Resident Assistants, Job Embeddedness, and Dissent," earned first place and a $750 prize at the 2026 Library Award for Undergraduate Research (LAUR).

Generations of researchers who rely on primary sources faced a frustrating hurdle. Conducting original historical research typically required traveling to distant archives, navigating cost-prohibitive interlibrary loans, or adjusting a project’s scope based on access to sources. For students engaged in a senior honors thesis or a graduate seminar, these logistical barriers frequently choked academic curiosity before research even began. As a result, scholarship was often limited to specific geographic locations or well-funded departments.

UCSB Library has named Samuel Liu and Shirley Qiu as the recipients of the 2026 Library Award for Undergraduate Research (LAUR). This year’s winners were selected for their deep engagement with Library collections, services and resources, and their ability to produce high-quality, scholarly work. Liu will receive a first-place award of $750 and Qiu a second-place award of $500.

New Library Exhibition Celebrates 20th Anniversary of UCSB Reads 

UC Santa Barbara Library is celebrating the 20th anniversary of UCSB Reads, the University’s award-winning common book program, with a new exhibition, Creating Community Through Books: 20 Years of UCSB Reads.

The Makerspace is a free, creative resource within the UCSB Library available to all students, faculty, and staff. We offer access to technology including 3D printing, laser cutting, sewing, electronics prototyping, and more.

DECEMBER 2025 UPDATE: For the remainder of the 2025-2026 Academic Year, UCSB Library will open to the public at 7:00 AM Monday-Sunday and remain open to UCSB students, faculty, and staff from 1:00 AM to 3:00 AM on Sunday-Thursday nights for Study Commons. View building hours.

The Makerspace is a free, creative resource within the UCSB Library available to all students, faculty, and staff. We offer access to technology including 3D printing, laser cutting, sewing, electronics prototyping, and more.

On July 1, 2025, the UC Libraries will migrate to a new Interlibrary Loan (ILL) management system. The new system will make it easier for patrons to view and manage transactions by merging the contents of My ILL Requests into My Library Account, creating a single platform for patrons to view all active ILL and circulation requests and loans, place renewal requests, and view fines and fees.

UCSB Library is pleased to announce the recipients of the seventh annual Library Award for Undergraduate Research (LAUR).

The interface of the database list on the Library homepage will change on Tuesday, September 17. Library website users who click on the “Articles & Databases” button or the “Articles & Databases” link in the main navigation menu will be redirected to the new interface, https://guides.library.ucsb.edu/az/databases. 

The new interface will make it easier for Library users to discover available databases and electronic resources by offering several improvements: