Site provides access to more than 150,000 sources from UC
system
Gilroy – A new Web site launched Monday morning gives the public free access to more than 150,000 sources from the University of California system libraries and museums.
“We know that learning is more exciting and teaching is more effective the closer a student gets to primary sources of information,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell said in a written release after announcing the launch of the new site.
“The Calisphere Web site is a remarkable tool that will provide students with a rich experience of California’s multi-cultural heritage. It puts the libraries and museums of the entire University of California system, along with rich historical resources from cultural heritage organizations, right at the fingertips of our students.”
Educators, students and the public may take advantage of the research tool, which contains images and documents aligned to the state’s K-12 standards.
For example, a high school teacher may use the site to quickly locate photos of the Black Panthers or University of California, Berkeley’s free speech movement to illustrate the political movements of the 1960s and 1970s or a fourth-grader may use it to dig up photos of diverse miners during the Gold Rush to show California’s early multicultural population, according to the California Department of Education’s press release.
“Calisphere embodies the university’s ongoing commitment to enriching the cultural lives of all Californians and to enhancing lifelong educational opportunities,” said Wyatt Hume, UC executive vice president and provost in a written statement. “Its innovative approach emphasizing technology, unbounded access to educational and cultural resources and partnerships with educators is a model for the future. In Calisphere, we see how the university can bring education to students wherever they are, whatever their needs and whatever phase of life they are in.”
The site’s primary source materials include photographs, documents, newspapers, political cartoons, art, journals, transcribed oral histories, advertising and other cultural artifacts that reveal California’s diverse history and culture.
In addition, it provides an entry point to more than 300 UC system Web sites.
