UCI Libraries’ Special Collections & Archives is hosting a lecture in support of its current exhibit, “Sixteen Books by Ed Ruscha,” from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 8, at Langson Library, Room 570. Cecile Whiting, professor and chair of art history, will discuss “Reading Los Angeles with Ed Ruscha,” focusing on the early books of the influential pop artist. Whiting has published and spoken extensively on post-World War II art in Southern California and is the author of “Pop L.A.: Art & the City in the 1960s,” winner of the 21st Eldredge Prize for outstanding scholarship in the field of American art. Many of Ruscha’s books capture the bland, urban landscape of certain parts of Los Angeles, with an emphasis on the trappings of car culture, such as gas stations. After the lecture, Steve MacLeod, public services librarian in Special Collections & Archives, will briefly present other examples from the libraries’ Artists’ Books collection, which features works by and about women; works that explore contemporary politics; and works produced in Latin America. The Ruscha exhibit is located just outside Special Collections & Archives on the fifth floor of Langson Library and is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday through March 16.