August 2026

UCSB Library has announced the shortlist of books under consideration for UCSB Reads 2027, our award-winning campus- and community-wide common book program. The five nonfiction titles and one fiction title explore diverse cultural, social, and scientific subjects that can ignite discourse and thoughtful discussion inside and outside of the classroom.

Review the shortlisted titles and vote for your top pick by Aug. 26 for a chance to receive a free copy of the selected book.

Gaucho Spirit: Stories of UCSB Athletics & Community highlights how sports have fostered a century of enduring connections between the University and surrounding local communities.

Aug. 26, 2026–July 7, 2027
Special Research Collections (3rd Floor, Mountain Side)

To democratize the research process at UCSB, we've added a comprehensive suite of digital archives from AM (formerly Adam Matthew) to our collections, making millions of curated historical materials available to researchers and students across disciplines. 

The Library collaborated across campus to build a custom, in-house digitization lab to scan deteriorating historical aerial photos. Researchers like Professor Ian Walker (Geography) use the scans to analyze century-long coastal trends, helping to restore native sand dunes and improve public health outcomes on the Central Coast.

Samuel Liu '26 earned first place at the 2026 Library Award for Undergraduate Research (LAUR). Leveraging the Library's vast collections, services, and resources, he turned his personal and professional observations as a resident assistant into a high-quality independent research project.

The American Library Association (ALA) awarded a 2026 John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award to UCSB Library for our UCSB Reads 2025 common book program.  

The award is widely considered one of the most prestigious honors bestowed in the library profession.

The University of California has received a new grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to sustain the UC Open Source Program Offices (OSPO) Network.

UCSB's Open Source Program, led by the Library, will continue developing initiatives to support open-source software and hardware on campus.

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