Author Archives: Madeleine Gaiser

CECH Library’s study room was designed for you!

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As part of the 4th floor renovation, CECH Library reimagined the study room located in 400B to be a space where learners of all kinds can be successful. The room includes a shelf of study and focus tools, part of the Study & Focus Tools Collection (STFC), for your use while in the space.

In addition to the enhancements below, wall art was added to space to make it more inviting and colorful.

Choose your own lighting

The room’s overhead lights are on a dimmer switch so you can adjust the brightness to your preferences. Not a fan of fluorescent lighting? There is also a floor lamp. The lamp has three LED lamp heads that operate independently. Each lamp head can be adjusted for both brightness and color temperature.

Supporting your focus

Our study room has its own set of SFTC items, available to anyone using the space. This includes a variety of fidgets, a weighted lap pad, blue light glasses, a small timer, and more! These items are designated to live in the study room. If you are interested in borrowing an item from the library, check out the shelf of SFTC items on CECH Library’s 3rd floor, by the board games and stairs.

Volume controls

Enjoy our private study room with the right amount of noise for you. The SFTC shelf has sound-blocking headphones and a white noise machine. The white noise machine has 30 sounds and a sleep timer.

Get comfortable

Study is hard work so you should at least be comfortable. Our space has a comfortable armchair in addition to a round table with four chairs on wheels. Feeling antsy? Try standing on the wobble board! It might even help you think.

The study room is available by reservation only. Make a reservation on 25Live and check in at the CECH Library front desk at the time of your reservation. Hope to see you soon!

Madeleine Gaiser, CECH Library.

New Collection Alert: CECH Library Study & Focus Tools

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CECH Library is excited to announce that the new Study and Focus Tools Collection (SFTC) is available to the UC community. The collection is located on the 3rd floor of the CECH Library near the stairs and items can be checked out for one week.

The SFTC was created with your help through a survey and many of you have interacted with the collection at ‘sneak peek’ events in Spring 2025. With your help, we also named our fidget slugs: Gleeb, Glorb, and Grape Juice.

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Level Up Your Research with CECH Library Workshops

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From the CECH Library, welcome back for another great school year!

The CECH Library will be offering a variety of virtual and in-person workshops this fall. Register for workshops via Faculty OneStop using the links below.

  • Keep your sources organized and your citations pristine with Zotero, a free citation management tool. Zotero boasts desktop and web functionality as well as collaboration features. Come to a Zotero workshop to learn more.
  • Need a research refresher? Been out of school for a few years and your research skills feel a little rusty? Join us at our research skills refresher workshop.
  • Did you notice that the UC Libraries homepage looks a little different? Want to learn the ins-and-outs of our new search bar? Get all your questions answered at our Secrets of OneSearch workshop.
  • Interested in pursuing a systematic review? Are you a student or researcher in the social sciences? Learn everything you need to know about systematic reviews at this social sciences-focused workshop.

Checkout CECH Library’s workshop offerings and all UC Libraries’ workshops on Faculty OneStop. Hope to see you soon.

CECH voted!

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This semester the CECH Library wanted to know your thoughts. You helped us name fidget slugs, determine the best book-to-screen adaptation, and even answered burning questions like ‘is water wet?’ Check out all the ways CECH Voted this Spring Semester:

March Madness

Popular books battled it out throughout the month of March to determine: what is the best book-to-screen adaptation? With surprising early round eliminations of fan favorites like Holes and Percy Jackson, The Hunger Games claimed the prize, narrowly beating out Harry Potter. Disagree? Check back next March for the next round of CECH Library March Madness!

Large yellow poster showing a voting bracket with books and their movie adaptation.
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Changes to ERIC: 2025

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In March 2025, journal publishers received a notice from the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) which stated: 

The Department of Education is working with the Department of Government Efficiency to “reduce overall Federal spending” and “reallocate spending to promote efficiency” (EO 14222). As a result, the number of records added to the ERIC collection will be significantly reduced going forward. The number of actively cataloged sources will be reduced by approximately 45% starting April 24, 2025. Subject matter was not considered during the process to identify which sources would be made inactive.  Please note that all records currently in ERIC will remain available.

ERIC is a core resource for education, social sciences, and engineering research, and UC Libraries is working hard to learn more about these announced changes. While this is currently an evolving situation, we do know the following: 

  • On March 20, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order that includes closing the Department of Education. ERIC is funded by the Department of Education under Institution of Education Sciences (IES).
  • Journal availability in ERIC will be reduced from approximately 1,200 to 700 by April 25, 2025.
  • Journals cut from ERIC will not have content added to ERIC going forward. Records currently in ERIC will remain searchable but there will no longer be full-text access.
    • For example, if a journal is removed from ERIC, articles in ERIC prior to April 2025 will appear in your search results but there will no longer be full-text access, nor will new article records from that journal be added.
  • Other resources such as National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) will also be affected by changes to the Department of Education.

Some things are still unclear, such as: 

  • Which journals will be removed from ERIC
  • If additional journal cuts will occur in the future
  • If other source types will be removed from ERIC in the future

As soon as we have more information, we will provide updates via the Education Complete LibGuide’s ERIC Updates page. In the meantime, UC Libraries provides access to several education databases and we would be happy to work with you on your education research. As always, reach out to a librarian for support with your literature searching.

RefWorks is leaving…have you met Zotero? 

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UC Libraries’ subscription to RefWorks is ending in May 2025 due to low usage and increasing costs. While UC Libraries’ subscription to RefWorks is ending, we support other citation managers such as Zotero and EndNote. 

If you want to learn more about Zotero, register for the “Getting to Know Zotero” workshop hosted in CECH Library on April 15 at 12:30pm (you can bring your lunch!).  

Zotero is a free, open source citation management software with both a desktop application and web platform. It has awesome features such as Microsoft Word integration, built-in PDF reader, and group libraries. Come to the workshop to see a demo, set up your Zotero, and test out its capabilities! 

Madeleine Gaiser, online learning and instruction librarian
CECH Library

Adventure is out there with the CECH Library & IMPACT Innovation

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Travel the world this March at the CECH Library with a special display created in collaboration with the IDD Education Center’s IMPACT Innovation associates!  

As a part of the collaboration, IMPACT associates had the opportunity to become more familiar with library collections and engage in concepts of display building, such as creating visual elements to a theme. The beautiful visual elements found on the display were created by associates to represent places in the world they’d like to visit. Explore what wonders the world holds by reading books set in or about the places they’ve selected!  

Rachel Hoople, CECH Library operations manager and student supervisor

Empower yourself in CECH Library

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The College of Education, Criminal Justice, Human Services, and IT (CECH) celebrates Stress Less Week this semester Monday, March 10th– Friday, March 14th. This semester the focus is on YOU! Explore resources that allow you to empower yourself all week long at the CECH Library.  

CECH Library Programming for Stress Less Week:  

  • 3/10-14 - Stress Less & Empower Yourself with the CECH Library. Visit the CECH Library and explore the Stress Less display to find resources and materials to help you feel empowered. 
  • 3/10-14- Sticker-by-Number with the CECH Library. Visit the CECH Library during Stress Less Week to contribute to our community sticker-by-number art project. Don’t forget to stop by to see the finished product any time throughout the month of March. 
  • 3/12 10am-12pm- Study Tools Collection first look – Visit the CECH Library and learn from a CECH librarian about a NEW study tools collection coming soon to the CECH Library. 
  • 3/13 12pm-4pm- Study Tool Petting Zoo – Visit the CECH Library MakerLab to try out NEW study tools the library will be adding to our collection in AY26.  

Visit CECH Student Services Center on Get Involved UC for a full list of events.  

Rachel Hoople, CECH Library operations manager and student supervisor

Fidgets, sound muffs, and more coming soon to CECH Library

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Sometimes the hardest part about studying is staying focused. Whether you’re antsy or someone’s phone call is more interesting than tomorrow’s exam, focusing on school work can be a challenge.

CECH Library is building a new Study and Focus Tools Collection (SFTC) to debut in Fall 2025. Checkout two great opportunities to get a sneak-peak of the collection and play with some awesome fidgets!

Wednesday, March 12 (10am-12pm):
Get a first look at the collection. We’ll be tabling in the Teachers-Dyer Complex lobby (3rd floor).

Thursday, March 13 (1-4pm):
Come to the CECH Library and visit our Fidget Petting Zoo. A table will be set up near the MakerLab.

Wednesday, April 2
(3-5pm):
See our fidgets and study tools during the Tech & MakerLab Playground in CECH Library.

Gravity timer and fidget slug
Blue light glasses and worry stones

After doing research and surveying library users, CECH Library selected 20 items to support students’ focus and study habits – white noise machines, sound muffs, fidgets, and more! These items will be available for anyone in the UC community to use and checkout beginning Fall 2025. 

The Shashibo cube can shape-shift

–Madeleine Gaiser, CECH Library

Spring workshop offerings from CECH Library

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CECH Library is excited to announce our workshop offerings for the Spring 2025 semester. Workshops are open to faculty and graduate students across the UC community. Check out all our offerings below. 

You can see a full listing of CECH Library workshops and all UC Libraries workshops on Faculty OneStop, including descriptions, times, locations, and how to register.