March 20, 2026

LAUC-B librarian Ann Glusker, Liaison Librarian for Sociology, Demography, Psychology, & School of Social Welfare and Librarian for Research Methods has released "Librarians Navigating Change," an oral history project. The collection of 15 interview transcripts are available on the University of California’s eScholarship platform. 

These interviews focus on changes in libraries, and particularly librarianship, over the past 40 years, as related by long-time UC Berkeley librarians. The collection comprises about 400 pages of transcripts, with narrators from a range of roles and services in this complex academic library setting, who were interviewed in April-May 2025. In this collection you’ll find content related to:

• Careers in librarianship
• Changes in library service provision (especially the impact of COVID)
• Technological change and adaptations
• Changes in collection processes, publishing, and purchasing
• Budgets, budgets, budgets
• Organizational changes and their impact on collaboration and morale
• Reflections on the rewards and difficulties of being an academic librarian
• Advice for future generations of librarians, as the landscape changes dramatically

One interview tells the story of a black market for purchasing UC Berkeley Library passwords on Telegraph Avenue back in the day. 

Read more about Ann and the oral history project in this UC Berkeley Library News article.