Five students wearing Arboretum and Public Garden t-shirts smile in front of a wall decorated with hanging plants.

Arboretum-inspired study room opens at Shields Library

Student interns collaborate to bring the Arboretum indoors

Wed, February 04, 2026

The UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden has long been one of campus’s favorite places to study, recharge and find inspiration. Now, thanks to a collaboration between Learning by Leading™ Arboretum Ambassador interns and Shields Library, students can enjoy a little piece of the Arboretum indoors while prepping for exams or working on group projects.

An Arboretum-themed study room filled with live plants, natural materials and interpretive displays is now available for reservation on the second floor of Shields Library.

The collaboration began in summer 2025, when library assistant Bianca Iosif reached out to the Arboretum and Public Garden as part of a larger effort to transform Shields Library study rooms into spaces themed around iconic elements of UC Davis, including Unitrans, the Eggheads and, naturally, the Arboretum and Public Garden.

“For the Ambassador team, our role is outreach, community engagement, and essentially being public representatives of the Arboretum,” said Kevin Le, a Learning by Leading™ Arboretum Ambassador intern. “When Bianca proposed this project, the partnership was an obvious choice.”

Le worked alongside fellow Arboretum Ambassador interns Brisny Argueta Balan and Luz Robles to help bring the room to life. After meeting with Iosif to share ideas and develop a plan, the team divided tasks and collaborated throughout the summer.

Five students wearing Arboretum and Public Garden t-shirts sit around a table in a room decorated with plants, a map of the Arboretum and Public, and framed materials relating to the Arboretum — Learning by Leading™ Arboretum Ambassador interns work in the newly finished Arboretum-themed study room, surrounded by hanging planters, interpretive signage and a large map of the Arboretum. (Photo by Anjie Cook, FOA Communications)

Wall decorated with hanging planters and framed photos of the Arboretum and Public Garden — On the walls of the Arboretum-themed study room, frames made from natural materials showcase photos of iconic Arboretum locales. (Photo by Anjie Cook, FOA Communications)

The finished space includes live plants, a large wall graphic map of the Arboretum, a “curiosity box” featuring natural materials such as cork oak and oak galls, and custom artwork made from pressed leaves collected from the Arboretum.

“We wanted to use plants that looked great and didn’t need much maintenance,” Balan said. She worked with Arboretum Teaching Nursery manager Abbey Hart to help guide plant selection. The plants are housed in self-watering pots and maintained with support from library circulation desk staff.

Le recreated the Arboretum and Public Garden’s oak leaf logo inside a decorative shadow box, using pressed leaves from valley oaks and other Arboretum shrubbery.

“I had fun because it allowed me to be creative and explore how we could represent the Arboretum, while also making it the backdrop for late-night study sessions or stressful crams before finals,” Le said.

Library staff have been enthusiastic about the partnership and finished space. “The room looks so good, “said Kristin Burns, digital communications manager at the UC Davis Library. “I want to kick the students out to use it myself.”

The Arboretum-themed study room — Study Room 204 — is complete and available for reservation through the UC Davis Library website.