Celebrate Muslim-American Heritage Month this January with our featured collection of books by Muslim and Muslim-heritage authors.
January 2026 Muslim-American Heritage Month
REMINDER: January 14 Workshop on Understanding Federal Agency Public Access Policies
This post was written by Tim Vollmer, Anna Sackmann, and Elliott Smith
Are you a UC Berkeley faculty or researcher publishing results arising through federal grant funding?
Starting in 2026, research funded by all federal agencies will be made freely and immediately available to the public, with no embargo. Some agencies have already updated their public access plans, including the National Institutes of Health, which went into effect on July 1, 2025. All federal agencies must update their public access policies no later than December 31st, 2025.
Join UC Berkeley Library staff on Wednesday, January 14, 2026 from 1:00-2:00 pm on Zoom for an overview of federal agency public access policies affecting research publication and data, and what you need to do as an author.
RSVP for the workshop
We’ll cover essential requirements for a variety of federal agency funders such as the Department of Energy, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and more. We’ll unpack publication and data deposit procedures, review publisher challenges to compliance, and highlight related UC open access publishing support.
Participants will leave with clear takeaways on what they need to do to meet public access requirements, the tools they can utilize, and where to find ongoing support.
The workshop presentation will be recorded and distributed to registrants afterward.
La Hora (Uruguay) on Sitios de Memoria Uruguay
La Hora is an essential primary source for scholars of Latin American political and economic history. This period marked a decline in Uruguay’s historic democratic stability — marked by high inflation, government, crackdowns on leftist political movements. La Hora offers a unique lens on the political conditions that led to significant social changes in Uruguay. “Sitios de Memoria Uruguay” has digitized forty-two issues of La Hora from 1984 to 1989.
The site description is as follows,” La Hora (diario cooperativo) fue un diario vinculado al Partido Comunista del Uruguayo, pero a la que se integraban periodistas de otros sectores del Frente Amplio. Sus números se publicaron entre 1984 (aún en dictadura) y 1989, año en que se fusionó con El Popular. De esa fusión surgió el diario “La Hora Popular”, publicado entre 1989 y 1991. El antecedente inmediato a la aparición de “La Hora” fue la publicación “Cinco días”, editada durante solo 4 semanas entre marzo y abril de 1984 hasta su clausura.
La Hora tuvo suplementos temáticos, como “La Hora sindical”, “Liberación” y “La Hora Internacional”. En los casos en que la publicación completa pudo obtenerse, estos suplementos se presentan integrados dentro de un mismo archivo. Cuando solo pudo conseguirse los suplementos, se presentan separados.”
Below is the landing page of the newspaper archive.
Publisher Highlight: Seven Seas Entertainment
Seven Seas Entertainment (website) is a Los Angeles based publishing house. In 2004, Jason DeAngelis founded the House with the intention of providing English language translations of manga (i.e., Japanese comics/graphic novels). A fan of the genre and a translator thereof, they decided to fill a significant gap in the market.[1] Since then, the House has released thousands of titles translated into English as well as expanded into print editions of serialized web comics.
Over the last two decades, Seven Seas Entertainment has expanded with several imprints including:
- Airship, for light novels (ライトノベル)
- Danmei, for, well, danmei (Chinese fiction genre focused on love between men)
- Ghost Ship, for “the booty”
- Siren, for audiobooks
- Steamship, for steamy tales
- Waves of Color, for coloring books
- Webtoons, for digital comics
Readers can find announcements about new releases and more on Seven Seas Entertainment’s Instagram page.
Select Titles at UC Berkeley
Additional Material
Readers can find more material through a publisher focus in our UC Library Search. Readers can also find limited titles from the imprint Seven Seas Ghost Ship (UC Library Search). Readers should be aware that the comics collection in Doe Library is in the PN section – and that there is another comic collection in the East Asian Library!
Notes
[1] Shannon Fay, “Seven Seas Entertainment » News » The Man Behind Seven Seas: Getting to Know Jason DeAngelis,” Go Manga, 2004-2014, https://www.gomanga.com/news/features_gomanga_012.php.
[2] Wikipedia, “Seven Seas Entertainment,” December 10, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Seven_Seas_Entertainment&oldid=1326781874.
REECAS Northwest, the annual ASEEES northwest regional conference , April 16-18, 2026
REECAS Northwest 2026
The 32nd Annual Conference for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies
April 16-18, 2026
University of Washington
Seattle, WA USA
Deadline: January 9
REECAS Northwest, the annual ASEEES northwest regional conference for Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies (REECAS) will take place April 16-18 at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA.
The REECAS Northwest Conference welcomes students, faculty, independent scholars, and language educators from the United States and abroad. Proposals on all subjects connected to the Slavic, East European, and Eurasian regions are encouraged. The conference hosts panels on a variety of topics and disciplines including political science, history, literature, linguistics, anthropology, culture, migration studies, gender studies, LGBTQ studies, film studies and more.
Established in 1994, REECAS Northwest is an important annual event for scholars and students in the Western U.S., Canada, and beyond. This interdisciplinary conference is organized by the University of Washington’s Ellison Center for Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies.
The REECAS Northwest Conference welcomes both individual paper proposals and also panel/roundtable proposals. Individual proposal submissions will be grouped into panels with a common theme. To submit your proposal, please submit a 250-word abstract and abbreviated C.V. using the form on the REECAS Northwest Conference webpage: Call for Proposals Form: REECAS NW 2026 – Fill out form. Deadline January 9th, 2026.
Questions? Please email cereas@uw.edu with any questions not answered on the conference webpage.
New Open Access Resource in Eastern European and Slavic Studies: Estonia Digital Archive (1991-2009)
We have access to a fully digitized daily newspaper from Estonia (1991-2009) aimed at Russian-speaking citizens of Estonia.
Following Estonia’s independence in 1991, the Tallinn-based Russian-language broadsheet Estoniia was launched. Built by the staff of the former Sovetskaia Estonia, it stood out as one of the country’s pioneering private media outlets. The paper took inspiration from Western journalism, focusing its reporting on global and local politics, financial trends, and the arts. Under the financial patronage of Vitaly Khaitov, the publication grew significantly and rebranded as Vesti dnia in 2004, though it eventually folded in 2009 due to economic challenges and a competitive market.
Publisher Highlight: Krupskaya Books
Established in the Bay Area in 1998 under editors Jocelyn Saidenberg, Rodrigo Toscano, Hung Q. Tu, Krupskaya books (website) has been providing readers with experimental literature for almost three decades. The press prints both poetry and prose that “challenge traditional literary forms.”[1]
Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya, for whom this author assumes the press was named, was a Russian politician and theorist. They believed in social reform and would play significant roles in the Russian revolutions of 1917. Afterwards, she would be heavily involved in politics, particularly as regarding education.[2]
Following in Krupskaya’s call for social reform through education, Krupskaya Books focus on collaboration and responsibility, providing mixed-genre and adventurous works.
Readers can follow the press on their Instagram page for new book announcements or calls for manuscripts.
Recent Titles
For more at UC Berkeley
Readers can find additional titles at UC Berkeley through the UC Library Search with a limit to publisher.
Notes
[1] “About | Discover Experimental Literature,” K R U P S K A Y A, accessed December 16, 2025, https://www.krupskayabooks.com/about.
[2] Andy Willimott, Living the Revolution: Urban Communes & Soviet Socialism, 1917-1932, (Oxford University Press, 2016); Wikipedia, “Nadezhda Krupskaya,” October 4, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nadezhda_Krupskaya&oldid=1315094491.
Upcoming Workshop: Understanding Federal Agency Public Access Policies
This post was written by Tim Vollmer, Anna Sackmann, and Elliott Smith
Are you a UC Berkeley faculty or researcher publishing results arising through federal grant funding?
Starting in 2026, research funded by all federal agencies will be made freely and immediately available to the public, with no embargo. Some agencies have already updated their public access plans, including the National Institutes of Health, which went into effect on July 1, 2025. All federal agencies must update their public access policies no later than December 31st, 2025.
Join UC Berkeley Library staff on Wednesday, January 14, 2026 from 1:00-2:00 pm on Zoom for an overview of federal agency public access policies affecting research publication and data, and what you need to do as an author.
RSVP for the workshop
We’ll cover essential requirements for a variety of federal agency funders such as the Department of Energy, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and more. We’ll unpack publication and data deposit procedures, review publisher challenges to compliance, and highlight related UC open access publishing support.
Participants will leave with clear takeaways on what they need to do to meet public access requirements, the tools they can utilize, and where to find ongoing support.
The workshop presentation will be recorded and distributed to registrants afterward.
Morrison Library Undergraduate Curator: Ashley Taylor
In Fall 2025, a small cohort of UC Berkeley students served as inaugural Undergraduate Curators in a new internship from Morrison Library. They met with Morrison Library staff and visited local bookstores to curate a set of selections for the library’s collection. Interns were tasked with reflecting on their experience and sharing their selected titles. Read on to hear from Ashley Taylor about her experience and see her list of recommendations. Be sure to check out Maya Looney’s recommendations, too. Find your next read by checking out Ashley’s and Maya’s books now on display in Morrison Library!
Ashley Taylor
Film and Media, Creative Writing, 2026
Q: Tell us about yourself.
“While I was born in San Diego, CA, I was raised in Mexico before I eventually moved back across the border for my education. English is my second language, and I learned it through books and movies. Since then, I’ve had a passion for sharing book recommendations, including those outside my preferred genres(romance and fantasy), when I worked as a Barnes & Noble Bookseller. I currently run UC Berkeley’s romance book club–Love Stories Book Club– where we’ve built a romance community and host social events for readers of all kinds. After I graduate, I hope to continue by either working directly in the book publishing industry or helping to adapt some of my favorite novels into film or TV.”
Q: How did you experience interning as a curator for Morrison Library?
“As a student who has always relied on libraries when I couldn’t afford new books, this internship was an amazing opportunity to be a part of the book curating process. I’ve always admired the elegant beauty and comfort of Morrison library with it’s range of fiction new releases.
During our first library meeting, we got to meet the staff and learn the history of the library. By far the most interesting part was learning about how they decide which books to keep by keeping track of how many times a title has circulated. Unlike other public libraries, Morrison doesn’t need to have multiple copies of the same book or older titles. Instead they only keep super popular ones like The Goldfinch and are constantly processing newly published books.
Continue reading “Morrison Library Undergraduate Curator: Ashley Taylor”
Morrison Library Undergraduate Curator: Maya Looney
In Fall 2025, a small cohort of UC Berkeley students served as inaugural Undergraduate Curators in a new internship from Morrison Library. They met with Morrison Library staff and visited local bookstores to curate a set of selections for the library’s collection. Interns were tasked with reflecting on their experience and sharing their selected titles. Read on to hear from Maya Looney about her experience and see her list of recommendations. Be sure to check out Ashley Taylor’s recommendations, too. Find your next read by seeing Maya’s and Ashley’s books now on display in Morrison Library!
Maya Looney
Astrophysics & Planetary Sciences, 2026
Q: Tell us about yourself.
“Hi I’m Maya, I’m in my final year at Berkeley and I do research on planetary interiors and melting permafrost. I grew up in Oakland and outside of school I work as a visual artist for low income housing projects there. I try to read as much as I can and I love reading sci-fi, literary fiction (when I get tired of space stuff) and poetry, especially from Bay Area writers.”
Q: How did you experience interning as a curator for Morrison Library?
“In my time as a curator intern at Morrison Library I’ve really enjoyed learning more about both the Berkeley library system and visiting my favorite local bookstores to find new additions. Taking the time to learn more about the Morrison collection and the considerations that go into the Berkeley library catalogue has changed the way I walk through a library. I love thinking about the ‘lifetimes’ of books I pick up, from why they were selected to how much they’ve circulated and how many times they’ve been read. Doing visits to Moe’s Books and East Bay Booksellers has also been personally exciting for me, beyond learning more about the different considerations they have to make about their selections, because I’ve been going to those stores since I was little and growing up in Oakland. Hearing about the inner workings and the highs and lows behind the scenes of being an independent bookstore owner has made me appreciate these community spaces. It reminded me that the books on their shelves aren’t just inventory – they’re the result of constant, thoughtful curation, risk-taking, and love for readers. This internship has made me more attentive to the stories behind how books travel through the world, and it’s deepened my connection to the literary spaces that shaped me. It’s been meaningful to feel like I’m contributing, even in a small way, to the future of those spaces and to the experiences of readers who will discover something new because of the work we’ve done.”
Continue reading “Morrison Library Undergraduate Curator: Maya Looney”