Dear UCLA Faculty,

As you consider your teaching for the next academic year, there is an opportunity for a UCLA faculty member to teach an undergraduate seminar at the Clark Library.

The course would be listed in your department, and be part of your normal teaching load. It would be open to upper-division undergraduates from any UCLA department, and be centered around an area represented in the Clark’s collections, which include strengths in the 17th and 18th century, Oscar Wilde and his circle, book arts and fine press, history of the book and typography, and Montana and the American West. Normally the seminar would meet once a week, with at least several of those classes being held at the Clark. More visits are welcome, and the library is happy to collaborate with the instructor to accommodate as many visits as our resources will allow.

Enrollment in the seminar is limited to ten students, who must conduct research at the Clark Library. Those who successfully complete the course requirements, determined by the instructor, receive a scholarship of $1,000. A list of past courses can be provided upon request. Additional graduate students may be permitted to enroll at the instructor’s discretion but would not be eligible to receive a scholarship.

If interested, please send details about the proposed seminar to Ikumi Crocoll, our Instruction & Engagement Librarian, at icrocoll@humnet.ucla.edu, by Friday, January 26, 2024.

Please include the quarter you would be able to teach the seminar, a working title, a few sentences outlining the topic, and a brief list of materials from the Library’s holdings you would like to use. Ikumi would also be happy to consult with you if you have any questions about library resources and services. To facilitate hands-on engagement with the collections, we are available to help develop focused exercises and assignments based on the Clark’s primary sources as well as provide instruction on safe handling of materials. We can also provide opportunities for remote interaction with materials.

General Information about Class Visits to the Clark Library

The Clark Library welcomes class and other group visits from UCLA affiliates, local university and college classes, primary and secondary schools, and more. For more information about arranging a group visit, please see: https://clarklibrary.ucla.edu/visit/group-visits.

For all UCLA instructors who would like to hold classes at the Clark Library to study the collections, please also note that the Center & Clark will arrange and pay for student transportation upon request. For any questions, please contact Ikumi Crocoll, icrocoll@humnet.ucla.edu.

The Clark Library, one of UCLA’s major libraries for rare books and manuscripts, specializes in the study of England and Western Europe from the Tudor period through the long eighteenth century and from the mid-Victorian to late Edwardian periods, with a focus on Oscar Wilde and his circle. Other collection strengths include modern book arts; fine printing and the history of the book; and Montana and the American West. The library’s primary sources and artifacts further research in queer, disability, and ecocritical studies, music/musicology, art, architecture, astronomy, geographies, mathematics, crime and incarceration, translation, foodways, and how-to manuals, among other areas. We preserve and share our collections with all who wish to conduct research with its holdings, both onsite and remotely, regardless of age, institutional affiliation, or research agenda. It is part of our core mission to support all researchers, and especially those seeking to surface underrepresented voices and experiences.