Professor of Music Partners with Pepperdine Libraries to Offer Unique Learning Experience
During the spring 2025 semester, professor of music Lincoln Hanks partnered with Pepperdine Libraries’ Boone Special Collections and Archives to offer a unique learning experience for students enrolled in his Music Composition Seminar (MUS 103) course. Each week, students listened to a record—in its entirety—in the Special Collections Reading Room. Dr. Hanks conceived the course around the concepts of long-form listening, deep listening, and developing an appreciation for the art and intention behind an entire music album.
Pepperdine Libraries to Acquire Prestigious Research Collection from Bob Woodson and the Woodson Center
Pepperdine Libraries will be the exclusive home of more than four decades of work by Bob Woodson and the Woodson Center. Led by former civil rights activist Bob Woodson, the Woodson Center has worked for over four decades to empower indigenous leaders in troubled neighborhoods to address problems of their communities through innovative initiatives that increase public safety, spur upward mobility, and inspire racial unity in America.
Alicia Petersen Appointed Librarian for Special Collections
Pepperdine Libraries is pleased to announce the appointment of Alicia Petersen to the position of librarian for Special Collections. In her role, Petersen will collaborate with faculty members to lead engaging classes for their students using objects of enduring historical value from Pepperdine Libraries’ Boone Special Collections and Archives. She’ll also promote the use of the collections within the Pepperdine community and the broader research community and work with dean of Libraries Mark Roosa on growing the collections in accordance with Pepperdine’s research, teaching, and collecting priorities.
Pepperdine Libraries Establishes “Death in Cambodia, Life in America” Collection
On January 7, 1979, Vietnamese forces and Cambodian rebel forces overthrew Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge,the communist guerilla movement that came to power in Cambodia between 1975-1979. During its brutal regime, the Khmer Rouge established labor camps where millions of Cambodians were expected to produce rice at an unrealistic scale to support its mission of national independence and societal restructuring. Robert Chau was only sixteen when he and his family were separated and forced into some of these labor camps. His incredible story of surviving and escaping from the Khmer Rouge, immigrating to California, and becoming a successful entrepreneur in the donut industry has been lovingly recorded by his daughter, Dorothy Chow, in her podcast “Death in Cambodia, Life in America.”
Pepperdine Libraries Showcases Recently Acquired Rare Books
Pepperdine Libraries is pleased to host a new exhibition in the Boone Special Collections and Archives wing of Payson Library. Titled "Enriching Classroom Learning: Newly Acquired Rare Books," the exhibition showcases rare and unique books recently added to our collection. The new acquisitions span a range of subjects and authors, including a first-edition American stage play "Death of a Salesman," a two-volume set of Darwin’s "Descent of Man," a first-edition, first-printing of Charles Dickens’ final novel, a book on cerebral anatomy, essays on demoniacs in the New Testament, and much more.
Newly Published J.M. McCaleb Papers Highlights Missionaries’ Service to the Church in Japan
John Moody McCaleb, a young preacher from the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement, and his wife Della, sailed for Japan in 1892. Newly wed and newly inspired for the Christian mission that awaited them there, they could hardly have imagined the ways in which their lives would be shaped and formed by nearly 50 years of service to the church in Japan. Their story is documented in the newly published digital collection, J.M. McCaleb Papers at Pepperdine Libraries.
Pepperdine Libraries Acquires New System to Ensure Digital File Preservation
You may have walked past Pepperdine Libraries’ cold storage in Payson Library, specially designed to protect our delicate rare and archival materials. What is less visible, but equally vital, is Pepperdine Libraries’ new digital preservation storage environment, Preservica. Preservica is a system designed to address the unique preservation challenges of digital files.
Pepperdine Libraries Partners with Faculty to Preserve Rare Materials
Pepperdine Libraries has engaged in exciting conservation work to stabilize a selection of books from its Boone Special Collections. The Libraries engaged Pepperdine faculty from the Humanities and Teacher Education Division to sort through the collection in collaboration with Special Collections librarians and identify those books of enduring value that the faculty might like to use in the classroom or their research. Then the Libraries identified a professional book conservator to carefully mend the damage so that students, faculty, and staff can now safely interact with the centuries-old books.
Pepperdine Libraries Appoints Gabrielle Riter as Head of the West Los Angeles Graduate Campus Library
Pepperdine Libraries is pleased to announce the appointment of Gabrielle Riter as West Los Angeles campus librarian. Riter earned a master's in library and information studies from UCLA and a bachelor’s in art history from Loyola Marymount University. In her role, Riter will oversee the West Los Angeles Graduate Campus Library, which supports the research, learning, and teaching needs of the Graziadio Business School and the Graduate School of Education and Psychology—both headquartered in West Los Angeles.
Pepperdine Libraries Awards $20K to Faculty in Support of Open Access Publishing
Several years ago, as part of our commitment to supporting open scholarly inquiry, Pepperdine Libraries began awarding open access publishing stipends to faculty. To date, the program has been tremendously successful, awarding more than $20,000 to nearly a dozen faculty members. And, we just recently increased the amount available faculty can apply for. The stipends are used to pay publishers for their article processing charges to prepare articles for open access publication.