The Library Corner - Spring 2023 Edition

May 22, 2023
Kris Kasianovitz

BIMI Cultures in Community Mural @ the IGS Library!

The IGS Library is so pleased to partner with the Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative (BIMI) to display this mural. It is a colorful and joyful addition to the Library.

The IGS Library seeks to be a welcoming place for all UC Berkeley students. We want the IGS Library to better reflect the diversity of the student, staff, and faculty in such a way that says "this is your space, you belong here".  This is the first of what we hope will be several murals in the library that will help our students see themselves and their communities reflected in the work that they and IGS engage in.

The mural was unveiled on May 4th as part of the BIMI’s Student Showcase of work for the Cultures in Community Program. The mural features images of Sikh, Afghan, Ethiopian, and Yemen communities all taken by the students in Cultures and Community Program. 

The next time you visit the IGS Library, please take a moment to reflect on the beauty of these communities, and the amazing work of UCB students. 

Check out these New Books! 

IGS Library Reference Staff are Here to Help! 

IGS-PPIC Research Affiliate Heather Harris had a unique request in March: Find the establishment date of every public defender office in the state! Heather was on the verge of publishing a blog about indigent defense in California in just a few days. Since no previous study or paper had assembled this information in one place, reference staff were going to have to put on their research caps. PPIC Liaison Paul King got to work right away, conducting in- depth online searching, making phone calls to county offices, and sending out dozens of emails.

After working with Heather for several days, the information was found in the nick of time!  Entitled "California’s Leading Role in Providing Criminal Defense to the Poor(link is external)," the blog was published on March 16. It coincides with the landmark Gideon vs. Wainright  (link is external)March 1963 decision, where the U.S. Supreme Court established that the Fourteenth Amendment creates a right for criminal defendants who cannot pay for their own lawyers to have the state appoint attorneys on their behalf. Around half of California counties had already established public defender offices before the Gideon ruling. The remaining counties slowly followed suit after the decision, with constituencies establishing offices as late as 2022! 

Some other take away from Heather's blog:

  • The first public defense agency in the nation was established in Los Angeles County in 1913.

  • Approximately 9 in 10 criminal defendants in the US cannot afford to hire a lawyer. 

  • Public defender offices receive 82% less funding than district attorneys.

  • Many counties contract with law offices or individual attorneys to provide indigent defense.

IGS reference experts regularly work with faculty, graduate students, visiting scholars, and research affiliates like Heather to locate vital data, which is used to form the basis of hundreds of scholarly publications. With over 20 years of combined reference experience in the areas of government, public policy, and political science, they play an important role in obtaining important research at UC Berkeley and beyond. 

You can make a reference appointment with the library by email or phone call (510-642-1472), or just drop by the Library(link is external) between 1pm -5pm. 

Hidden Gems in the Collection –  East Bay Municipal Utility District or EBMUD

This year marks the East Bay MUD’s 100th Anniversary. (link is external) While helping a researcher who is working on the centennial, we discovered many important and historic documents in the Library’s collection that are primary resources on the establishment of EBMUD, its governance,  and how it communicated with the general public about water consumption, water management and treatment.

Robert Toyama, Ethnic Studies and IGS Library cataloger, is creating bibliographic records so these items can be more readily discoverable for researchers AND the general public. Here are a few of the items that have been recently cataloged:

[East Bay Municipal Utility District information to patrons]. (1936). East Bay Municipal Utility District. A collection of 21 pamphlets that were sent out to EBMUD customers in the 1930’s.  See the detailed contents notes in the UC Library Search Record(link is external) for specific titles. Print, non-circulating.

Hall. (1946). Report on area, population, and water consumption of the East Bay Municipal Utility District and the Special Sewer District no. l : part II. Growth and distribution of population. [East Bay Municipal Utilities District]. Available in print(link is external), non-circulating.

Pardee, & Pardee, G. C. (George C. (1937). Organic act of the East Bay Municipal Utility District, 1937. [publisher not identified]. Available in print(link is external), non-circulating. This is the complete text of the 1937 act that amended earlier acts passed by the California Legislature, which established the governance of the East Bay Municipal Utility District.

Come stop by for more information!

Topics

IGS Library topic page, News topic page