About Luria Library
About Luria Library
Our Mission:
Embracing its slogan (Explore, Learn, Grow), the Luria Library seeks to inspire discovery
by offering dynamic, innovative, and welcoming physical and virtual environments for
students, staff, and faculty, and providing the resources, services, and instruction
they need to achieve educational, professional, and personal growth and success.
The Library does this by developing and providing collections and services to meet
educational, cultural, professional and personal needs; offering student-centered
instruction and ongoing interactive communication aimed at developing information
literacy and critical thinking; promoting cultural and academic activities; encouraging
experimentation and innovation; maintaining physical and virtual spaces that support
diverse needs of students.
About the Library
The Luria Library is a vital, popular, active learning commons, located on SBCC’s West Campus. We seek to welcome and serve the community in the broadest way possible, with our faculty and staff, resources, programs, instruction, and facility.
Serving up to 2,000 people per day, the 37,760 square foot Luria Library seats up to 550 people at a time in a variety of study and social spaces, including group study tables, study carrels in both quiet and conversational areas, lounge seating areas, reservable group and individual study rooms, a computer lab, and a classroom. The Library’s quiet lower level is especially popular with students. Guest and SBCC wifi networks are available throughout the Library and Chromebooks and calculators are available to SBCC students and employees for short- and long-term checkout.
The Library collection includes over 138,000 books (61,000 in print and 77,000 ebooks), 38 individual periodical subscriptions (23 in print and 15 online), and 58 online database subscriptions providing access to at tens of thousands of additional full-text periodicals. The greatest use of our Library collection is in our textbook check-out program: the Library purchases copies of most required course materials and offers these materials to students for short-term loans, both physically and digitally.
Research and information literacy instruction is central to the Library program. Library faculty teach course-based and topical research and information literacy workshops and provide instruction and academic support in person at the Reference & Information desk, via online chat, by phone, by email, and in individual appointments, during all Library open hours. The Library team includes four full time faculty librarians (one serving as Library Department Chair on a rotating basis) and four full time staff, as well as part time librarians, staff members, student technology tutors, and other student workers.
In addition to providing all standard Library services, the Luria Library, as a learning commons, is a central hub for student support. We provide academic and technology supports and collaborate with other SBCC programs to provide additional holistic supports to students in the Library space, including free food from the Basic Needs Center and tutoring from Learning Resources Center (LRC) during some of the times when the LRC space is closed. The Library promotes diverse academic activities by offering spaces for student events such as study groups, drop-in librarian office hours, poetry readings, guest speakers, exhibits, club meetings and activities, and by promoting departments and campus programs throughout the library and on social media.
Luria Library History
In the early years of the College, the Library was located on the lower level of what is now the Student Services Building. The Luria Library was opened in 1989, and named in honor of Eli Luria, who served on the Board of Trustees, including two terms as the Board President. He helped create the SBCC Foundation and also served on the Education Advisory Council. Mr. Luria served as co-chairman of a citizens committee which worked to acquire SBCC’s West Campus, where the Library is located. Along with his wife Lee and daughter Kandy Luria-Budgor, the Luria family provided significant financial support for numerous College projects.
Friends of the Luria Library
The now inactive Friends of the Luria Library was established as an Auxiliary Organization of Santa Barbara City College Foundation, interested in supporting the SBCC Luria Library. Private gifts from the Friends built an endowment fund and provided for special and reference collections, periodicals, and services not funded by the state budget. Over the years, the Friends funds supported projects including weekend hours, textbook scholarships, technology, furniture, Spanish language publications, signage, and a Resident Librarian position.