Beyond the bookshelves: The hidden gems of Shields Library
Despite its popularity among students, few know just how much it has to offer
By AMRA ABID — features@theaggie.org
UC Davis students are likely all too familiar with Shields Library. However, the swaths of bookshelves and study spots are only a fraction of what your tuition funds in this building. If you take a break from the books and snoop a little further, you can meet with research librarians, touch an original copy of Shakespeare’s second folio and discover real-world datasets with unsolved questions waiting inside — all accessible because of your student status.
Want to bounce off ideas for a class paper? Need sources for a thesis? Even just want to figure out what kind of research interests you? Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Librarian Nancy Wallace can help. You’ll rarely see Wallace behind a reception desk or stocking books on shelves. Rather, Wallace, alongside eight other librarians in the Academic Engagement and Learning Department, works behind the scenes with undergraduate and graduate students one-on-one for daily free research and academic consultations.
“A lot of what we do is basically helping people get started, helping people narrow down their research question, because a lot of times people come in and they have an idea, but it's really broad,” Wallace said.
Wallace has helped students with everything from final papers to senior theses. According to her, no question is too broad or too narrow.
“I had a student who was interested in researching a particular individual from a small town in Louisiana,” Wallace said. “He was the first Black doctor that had worked in this small town. So I just gave her some options. And then I met with [the] student. We talked about some things to look for, where she could look to find more information about this person's history. And she, on her own, applied for an undergraduate research grant, which she received, and she was able to go to Louisiana to talk to people at Xavier University at their archives.”
Another resource students often overlook doesn’t even require a research question. Hundreds of students walk by the Department of Archives and Special Collections every day. Located on the first floor, the department houses all of the library’s rare books and university archives, with the intention of making them available for students and scholars alike. Kevin Miller, head of the department, described it as one of campus’ best-kept secrets.
"If you're careful, you can touch a copy of Shakespeare's second folio from the early 17th century," Miller said. "We have Greek Bibles from the 12th century, 11th century. [...] You can come here and come to our reading room and do original research with these materials. And it doesn't have to be extensive. It could be one rare pamphlet that was published 120 years ago."
Students interested in data and computing may benefit from utilizing the UC Davis DataLab on Shields’ third floor. Whether you’re a statistics major with a stack of tidy class assignments or a humanities major looking to analyze hundreds of documents at once, you can work with real research data at the DataLab. Part of a university-wide effort to bring data science to science, engineering and humanities disciplines alike, The DataLab offers workshops, classes and drop-in office hours for students of all programming skill levels to receive advice.
Carl Stahmer, the executive director of the DataLab, emphasized his commitment to supporting research across disciplines.
“We want to support [...] researchers that are trying to do computational stuff that they are not expert[s] in because they're biologists or medical researchers or sociologists, not computer scientists, while at the same time involving students at all levels — undergrad, graduate student — in education and trainings and workshops that are informed by that bleeding edge of where the research is at,” Stahmer said.
Staff at DataLab can help students starting their own projects choose a method that fits their question, check that they are using it responsibly and find clubs or faculty with projects to join.
As DataLab’s Associate Director Pamela Reynolds noted, the DataLab can be a helpful resource for students working with real-world data.
“A lot of classes use canned examples and simplified datasets, and that’s because they’re trying to teach you a specific method, technique or technology,” Reynolds said. “But when you get out into the real world, things get messy. Real data isn’t clean and perfect, and the right tools for the job might not even exist yet. And things often don’t go according to plan. So that’s where we get to jump in and help.”
Whether you’re looking for inspiration for a thesis, help with a paper or have an hour to kill in between classes, Shields’ librarians want students to know that you don't need a polished question or a good excuse to use their resources. A half-formed idea is enough for Wallace to start with, one rare pamphlet is enough to visit Miller's reading room and the DataLab welcomes students at every level — and all of it sits in a building students already walk into every day.
Written by: Amra Abid — features@theaggie.org