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The Periódico Unión Cívica Collection: From Dictatorship to Democracy in the Dominican Republic

By Katrina Yaskowich on July 9, 2026

Today we are highlighting a new and exciting collection on Open Collections. The Periódico Unión Cívica collection is a rare Spanish-language periodical that offers rich insights into the politics of the Dominican Republic in the immediate aftermath of the Rafael Trujillo dictatorship.

Physical copies of this newspaper are also held at the National Archives of the Dominican Republic.

After the fall of the Rafael L. Trujillo dictatorship in May 1961, the Dominican Republic entered a new era: newly acquired freedoms led to an explosion of political parties and publications. The Unión Cívica Nacional movement was the first and most powerful political organization in the fraught transition period that culminated with the first free elections held in the Dominican on December 20th, 1962. Through the publication of its newspaper, the Unión Cívica movement forcefully intervened in the country’s political debate and shaped public opinion.

The collection includes 126 issues of the Unión Cívica newspaper spanning August 1961 to November 1962. We hope this collection will allow researchers and historians to trace the transformation of Unión Cívica Nacional from a movement to a full-fledged political party that participated in a contested election, as well as to take note of the political and social climate of the Dominican Republic in the immediate aftermath of dictatorship.

Con la caída de la dictadura de Rafael L. Trujillo en mayo de 1961, la República Dominicana entró en una nueva era: las libertades recién adquiridas provocaron una explosión de partidos políticos y publicaciones. El movimiento Unión Cívica Nacional fue la primera y más poderosa organización política en el tenso periodo de transición que culminó con las primeras elecciones libres celebradas el 20 de diciembre de 1962. A través de la publicación de su periódico Unión Cívica el movimiento intervino con fuerza en el debate político en el país, moldeando así la opinión pública.

Esta colección presenta 126 números, desde agosto de 1961 hasta noviembre de 1962, lo que permitirá al público y a los investigadores rastrear la transformación de Unión Cívica Nacional de un movimiento a un partido político plenamente consolidado así como tomar nota del clima político y social de la República Dominicana en el periodo inmediato posterior a la dictadura.

See a selection of pages from the collection below:

The front page of the October 21, 1961 edition

Cover of the October 20, 1962 edition, honouring youth protests against the Trujillo regime.

Page 16 of the 1961 edition of Union Civica. *‘La farsa de la democratización del Trujillato. A sangre, fusta y mazmorra el trujillato conduce su mentirosa democratización.’*

Explore the Periódico Unión Cívica collection.

Posted in Carousel, Collections, Digitizers' Blog, open collections, Union Civica | Read More | No Comments

Display in the Law Library – History of the Law Library: 1945-2015

By Law Library on July 8, 2026

Posted in Carousel, Featured, General Announcements | Read More | No Comments

Get started with cIRcle: Green Open Access

By cIRcle Office on July 7, 2026

Green OPEN sign hanging in a window, framed by a green and white window frame

Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash

Have you recently published a paper, or are you planning to submit a manuscript for publication in a peer-reviewed journal? Many publishers allow authors to deposit a version of work into their institution’s repository. Green open access, or self-archiving in an institutional repository like cIRcle, provides authors with an avenue for sharing their work openly, without any fees.

Where do I start?

If you’ve recently published an article and want to make it freely available via cIRcle, the following resources and guides can help you get started:

Publishing grant-funded research articles in cIRcle : The Green Open Access Route : this blog provides an overview of the Green Open Access framework, considerations for Tri-Agency funded research projects & outputs, and detailed instructions about how to prepare your publication for deposit to cIRcle.

UBC Library’s Author’s Guide to Self-Archiving, Publication Versions and Permissions: this two-page quick reference guide outlines key components of the publication process, from figuring out which version of your work can be shared and when, to instructions onhow to locate a publisher’s self-archiving permissions.

Copyright & Permissions for Faculty & Staff: our Faculty & Staff submissions page offers additional information, instructions, and links to resources that can help you get started with exploring options for sharing your work open access, based on where and when your work was published.

Deposit your work to cIRcle

Ready to make your publication openly accessible to all? Follow the Submission instructions that align with your current UBC affiliation. Still have questions about how Green Open Access works? Contact us!

Posted in cIRcle, cIRcle News, Communication, Open Access, research discovery, scholarly publishing | Read More | No Comments

New Books at the Asian Library (June 2026)

By antheakm on July 2, 2026

Posted in Carousel, Chinese language, Circulation, Collections, Japanese language, Korean language, New Books, South Asian language | Read More | No Comments

Rice: Far more than a simple grain – New display at the Asian Library

By antheakm on June 25, 2026

How often do you eat rice in your meals? If you asked people from Asian cultures this question, many would likely say, “Countless times!” In East Asian and South Asian cultures, rice represents far more than a simple grain, deeply influencing people’s lives and traditions both in the past and today. This display features books […]

Posted in Carousel, Circulation, Collections, Displays, Library display, Resources | Read More | No Comments

Crane Library Part 2: Accessibility, Technology, and Innovation

By Katrina Yaskowich on June 25, 2026

This week we are building on our previous post about the Crane Library, UBC’s special library for the blind, and jumping back into Open Collections to highlight various fascinating technologies blind and deafblind students used in the library before modern digital tools.

Content Warning: This blog post features items that may contain outdated, ableist, and derogatory language about blind, deaf and disabled people.

This post is part of a short blog series inspired by National AccessAbility Week 2026, which seeks to raise awareness around the importance of accessibility in Canada, and National Deafblind Awareness month which seeks to draw attention to deafblindness this June.

Read our first post on the Crane Library here!

New Technologies for the Blind in the Crane Library

At its peak service levels in the 1970s and 1980s, the Crane Library saw the introduction of many creative new technologies for the blind, some of which were developed by UBC students, professors, or alumni.

The “Talking” Typewriter

One of the earliest UBC inventions that found its way to the Crane Library was a “talking typewriter” developed by UBC Professor of Engineering, Michael Beddoes, and his team in 1973.

Michael Beddoes with Judith Thiele and “talking” typewriter
for the blind, 1973, UBC Archives Photograph Collection

The functionality of the typewriter is described this way in the March 15, 1973 issue of UBC Reports.

(Click to Zoom) UBC Reports, March 15, 1973

The OPTACON

In 1975, the Crane Library was donated funds to obtain a groundbreaking new tool for the blind called the OPTACON, which allowed users to translate scanned text into tactile sensations.

(Click to Zoom) “Optacon provides tactile eye,” Aldergrove Star, February 11, 1976, p.18.

The OPTACON was groundbreaking for the time, but required significant time and training to use.

CCTV Enhancement Screens

The Crane Library’s dedicated reading room had special cameras and closed-circuit TV screens that allowed students to “zoom” in on small text.

Student using CCTV screen and a camera to read a
document, 1982, UBC Archives Photo Collection

Van Schyndel Voice Indexer

In the 1980s, the Crane Library also started exploring innovative solutions for audio recordings. As discussed in our previous post, the library created “talking books” for blind students, but it was hard for listeners to find specific sections or page numbers in a recording.

Paul Thiele, Crane librarian listening to a recorded
tape, 1976, UBC Archives Photograph Collection

In 1982, a UBC PhD physics student named Andre Van Schyndel came up with an innovative solution called the “Van Schyndel Voice Indexer”. The indexer worked by encoding additional audio on the tape that was only audible when the tape was fast-forwarded or rewound. The following news article explains how it worked:

(Click to Zoom) UBC Reports, December 1, 1982

Kurzweil Reading Machine

In 1982, the Crane Library was gifted a KRM III Kurzweil Reading Machine, a cutting-edge piece of technology that employed the first use of commercial text-to-speech technology for the blind.

Group looking at Crane Library’s KRMIII reading machine
purchased with funds from Wesbrook Society, 1982, UBC
Archives Photograph Collection

The Kurzweil machine was outfitted with a flatbed scanner that would capture the image, OCR the text, and then read the resulting words out loud in a mechanical voice.

DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System)

Finally, in 1997, the Crane Library received the trial version of the cutting-edge DAISY/Plextalk book indexing system which was meant to fulfil a similar function to the Van Schyndel Voice Indexer. This was a sign of the oncoming shift to digital audio formats for the blind and an improved version of the DAISY system is still used in libraries to this day.

Hiroshi Kawamura from the University of Tokyo installing the
DAISY talking book indexing system in the Crane Library,
1997, UBC Archives Photograph Collection.

We hope you enjoyed our trip through some of the fascinating technology behind the Crane Library!

Explore cIRcle: Undergraduate Research Projects in Environmental Science

By Vanessa Choy on June 23, 2026

UBC Pacific Spirit Park © Philip Jeffrey CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

ENVR 400 Community Project in Environmental Science is a project-based course in UBC’s Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric sciences. This course gives students the opportunity to work hands-on with community organizations on an environmental science project, gaining collaborative field experience and producing valuable research reports.

Since 2010, cIRcle has been receiving student projects from this course with topics that range across BC! The first deposited project was Waste Solutions for Metro Vancouver and it explored possible new waste management systems and how to improve the existing systems, all while making sure to maintain good human health in Vancouver.

Explore ENVR 400 student projects

More recent student projects have focused on different parts of Vancouver. Over by Stanley Park, the Water Quality Analysis of Lost Lagoon and Associated Biofiltration Ponds at Stanley Park took a look at the water quality and efficiency of biofiltration ponds in this area. Discussion focused on the various factors that negatively affect these ponds, and the report’s findings help contribute towards possible solutions for conserving and sustaining Stanley Park’s environment.

Vancouver’s diverse bat population has been facing habitat issues, and the project Vancouver’s Batscape : Enhancing Urban Habitats for Our Winged Neighbours helped the City of Vancouver identify ways to optimally coexist with Vancouver bat species and support bat biodiversity. Observations identified various Vancouver parks that had appropriate plant species to be a suitable habitat.

Although we’re moving into sunnier and warmer months, if you prefer rainy Vancouver, then give Rain Down the Drain : UBC Vancouver Green Rainwater Infrastructure Performance Monitoring and Future Weather Event Modelling a read. This report offers recommendations for Vancouver to better manage stormwater from an evaluation of green rainwater infrastructure on UBC’s Point Grey Campus, such as the Campus Energy Centre rain gardens.

Looking beyond urban Vancouver, the report Seeking shellfish harvesting safety, security, and sovereignty : Trends in Environmental variables, biotoxins, and shellfish harvesting closure instigations in coastal First Nations Territories in British Columbia examines relationships between the closures of climatic shellfish harvesting areas in four BC First Nations Territories, Canadian government organizations, and environmental factors like marine biotoxins to identify trends. This report is a part of the We All Take Care of the Harvest (WATCH) Project by the First Nations Health Authority.

Faculty champions for cIRcle

Undergraduate deposits to cIRcle require the support and approval of a UBC faculty member. Dr. Tara Ivanochko, along with Dr. Sara Harris, are longstanding instructors of ENVR 400, with both having subject interests in climate and environmental science, as well as geoscience education. Both have strongly championed cIRcle by encouraging more than a decade’s worth of ENVR 400 students to deposit their projects. This successful collaboration has seen nearly 120 projects added to cIRcle from ENVR 400 students.

Dr. Ivanochko has been involved in various UBC initiatives such as sustainability strategic planning and curriculum improvement for the Environmental Science program, and was recently appointed to a new role, Associate Vice-Provost, Teaching and Learning. Her new role will continue to demonstrate her passion and support for environmental science education. Congratulations, Dr. Ivanochko!

Deposit your work in cIRcle

You don’t have to be an ENVR 400 student to deposit your work in cIRcle! If you’re a UBC faculty, researcher, staff member, graduate or undergraduate student with an interest in submitting your work, check out the kinds of content accepted in cIRcle on our submissions page. Alternatively, if you have questions or would like more information, please go to our contact us page.

«Emigrante» Italian Migrant Stories: Memories and Secrets around the Table

By Katrina Yaskowich on June 11, 2026

We are excited to announce that the UBC Digitization Centre has digitized the Italian-language book «Emigrante» which is now available in UBC Open Collections.

This pocket-sized book, written in Italian and Italian dialects, had a print run of just 300 copies in 1985. Today, only a few known copies remain, including those held by The Italian Cultural Centre Library and the Vancouver Public Library. Some copies may also exist in private homes, kept by the families of those who shared their stories. Most of the original books were destroyed during a basement flood in the late 1980s, making the surviving copies all the more valuable. The Digitization Centre has made this book available as an important educational resource for historical research, giving voice to a past generation of Italian immigrants in Canada.

«Emigrante» is a collection of oral histories and traditional recipes from the home written by Italian immigrants in Vancouver and across British Columbia. It captures the challenges faced by early immigrants in pre-multicultural Canada, while also highlighting their resilience, determination and hope. These firsthand narratives, spanning from the late 1940s to the early 1980s, provide unique insights into working conditions, social interactions and family relationships within Vancouver’s Italian community. They also offer a snapshot of pioneer life in the interior of BC and touch on significant historical events, such as the displacement of Cominco smelter workers and the Renata inhabitants in the Kootenays.

See below for a selection of photos from the book.

June 1985 : a large group of members of the “Senior Citizens Association – Club Over 50” on a social outing to Peach Arch Park, White Rock, B.C.

**Top photo**: Gabriele Iacobucci, his wife Rosina, and their son Danny (1931).
**Bottom photo**: Gabriele and Rosina Iacobucci with their children Danny and Tricia (1934).

**Top photo:** Leonardo and Angela Maria Bellusci on the terrace of their home.
**Bottom photo:** Squamish, 1954. Linda De Paoli D’Odorico and her friend Rita Bortolossi.

Read the full book through UBC’s Open Collections!

Posted in Carousel, Collections, Digitizers' Blog, Emigrante, Immigration | Read More | No Comments

Explore cIRcle: Open Educational Resources (OER)

By Leila Malkin on June 9, 2026

UBC Open Collections results for the OER series, including Integral Calculus with Applications to Life Sciences and Queer Geography Dictionary, with book covers shown.

Integral Calculus with Applications to Life Sciences by Tsopméné, Paul, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Queer Geography Dictionary by Sloan Morgan, Onyx and Nassim Zand Dizari, CC BY-NC 4.0.

Open educational resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials that are freely available for others to use, adapt, and share. UBC has an ongoing commitment to OER as a way to reduce student costs and expand equitable access to course materials. This work is supported through initiatives such as OER Fund grants, collaborative support from the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT) and UBC Library, and recognition of open education contributions within the university’s teaching and promotion practices. If you are new to OER, Open UBC is a great starting point for exploring how OER are created and used at UBC.

Access and Preservation

A growing number of OER are available in cIRcle, which provides stable, long-term access to educational resources created at UBC. While cIRcle is not recommended for ongoing edits or interactive content, it offers a reliable “version of record” for OER. This makes it a useful complement to platforms such as Pressbooks, where resources may continue to be updated, by ensuring a preserved and citable version is available over time.

Enhancing OER Discovery in cIRcle

The UBC Open Educational Resources Series in cIRcle brings together OER across disciplines, making them easier to browse in one place. Some recent highlights include Integral Calculus with Applications to Life Sciences, a textbook which connects mathematics to real-world biological applications, and the Queer Geography Dictionary, a student-created resource that defines key terms in the evolving field of queer geography.

To further support discovery, a team at the Library has been working to enhance how OER in cIRcle are described. This work began as a pilot in 2024 and is now being integrated into ongoing operations. As part of this initiative, you may notice a brief “OER Description” added to the metadata of some records. These structured descriptions highlight key details such as resource type, subject area, and intended audience, helping instructors more effectively identify materials that match their course level and teaching needs. This additional context helps address some of the limitations of repository-based access by making materials easier to find and assess for reuse.

Getting Started

Explore recent additions to the UBC OER Series in cIRcle.

Are you a UBC faculty member who has developed an OER, and are interested in depositing a version to cIRcle? Review our Faculty and Staff Work page, where you can use the cIRcle Item Submission Form to get started with your submission.

Interested in integrating OER into your teaching or starting your own project? Explore Open UBC or reach out to the team at open.ubc@ubc.ca for a consultation.

Posted in cIRcle News, Communication, Guest Post, Open Access, Open Education, open education resources, Scholarly Communication | Read More | No Comments

New Books at the Asian Library (May 2026)

By antheakm on June 1, 2026