News & Blog

UCF Libraries is offering a full calendar of virtual Diversity Week activities from family friendly crafts to talks by area experts and film discussions. Don’t miss out on our community showcase which features UCF alumni and faculty and how they support the Knight community. We even have digital puzzles and downloadable coloring pages. And you can also add your voice to the 2020 UCF story by participating in our digital time capsule.

Introduction to Bookbinding Workshop
Monday, October 19
1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
Register: Bookbinding @ Home – Diversity Week 2020

Diversity in Comics
Monday, October 19
3:00 – 4:00 pm
Register: Diversity in Comics – Diversity Week 2020.

Beginner’s Crochet: Show Your Pride with Crochet
Tuesday, October 20
10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Register: Beginner’s Crochet: Show Your Pride with Crochet – Diversity Week 2020

Stronger Together Showcase
Tuesday, October 20
2:00 – 3:30 pm
Register: Stronger Together Showcase – Diversity Week 2020

Henna Art with Priya
Tuesday, October 20
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Register at Henna Art by Priya on Zoom

Weaving History: Connecting our Present to our Past
Wednesday, October 21
11:00 – 12:30 pm
Register at Weaving History: Connecting our Present to our Past – Diversity Week 2020

Film Discussion: The Talk: Race in America
Wednesday, October 21
2:00 – 3:00 pm
Register for the discussion at Film Discussion – The Talk: Race in America – Diversity Week 2020

Family Fiber Arts: Pipe Cleaner Crafts
Thursday, October 22
10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Register at Family Fiber Arts: Pipe Cleaner Crafts – Diversity Week 2020

Open Heart, Open Mic
Thursday, October 22
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Register: Open Heart Open Mic – Diversity Week 2020

Diverse Families Bookshelf
Friday, October 23
11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Register to attend at Diverse Families Bookshelf – Diversity Week 2020

Film Discussion: Don’t Be Nice
Friday, October 23
2:00 – 3:00 pm
Register for the discussion at Film Discussion – Don’t Be Nice – Diversity Week 2020

Knights Stronger Together Digital Time Capsule 

Add your voice to the 2020 UCF story by submitting a landscape 11″ x 8.5″ image or story so you can influence how the present will be remembered.
Full details and submission form at: Submit at the Knights Stronger Together Digital Time Capsule Qualtrics form 

To learn the full details about all of the UCF Libraries Diversity Week events visit: guides.ucf.edu/diversityweek 

Wednesday, October 7, 2020
3:00 pm- 4:30 pm

Register to attend at Zoom – Supporting Hispanic/Latinx Communities through Florida Libraries 

Please join us next week for the UCF Libraries’ inaugural event to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, “Supporting Hispanic/LatinX Communities through Florida Libraries.” Sandy Avila, Science Librarian and UCF’s Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) Engagement Librarian will moderate an informative panel highlighting the role Florida library staff play in supporting their diverse Hispanic/LatinX communities in the Panhandle, around Central Florida, and in South Florida.

Come join our fantastic speakers from the Bay County Public Library, Orange County Library System, and Broward College as we share insights into our Hispanic communities and how we are serving their needs.

Heather Ogilvie
Bay County Public Library

Heather Ogilvie is the Outreach Librarian for Bay County Public Library in Panama City, Florida. She specializes in nontraditional library services, using community partnerships to create innovative solutions for underserved populations. Ms. Ogilvie was the recipient of the 2020 American Library Association’s Lemony Snicket Prize for Noble Librarians Faced with Adversity for her work in Florida Panhandle after the aftermath of Hurricane Michael a Category 5 storm. Despite adversity, Ms. Ogilvie was able to serve outreach sites by helping to rebuild personal libraries destroyed in the storm and other materials to assist in community recovery.

Brigitte Martinez
Orange County Library System

Brigitte Martinez is the Assistant Manager for Marketing and Public Relations at the Orange County Library System. She studied Biology at Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, in Santurce Puerto Rico.
Ms. Martinez’s job is to inform and educate Central Florida’s multicultural community by holding events, opportunities and programs that the Orange County Library offers. These services help improve lives.

Cristy Moran
Broward College

Cristy Moran is a faculty librarian at Broward College, an institution which serves a predominantly minority population, including a 38% Latinx student body. She is a critical librarian, a lifelong South Floridian, and Hispanic-American of Cuban heritage.

The University of Central Florida Libraries wish to welcome our international graduate students to a virtual library orientation on August 18, 2020, 3:00 – 5:00pm. Attendees will learn how the UCF Library System supports our international graduate students and their research. This two-hour event is designed for new and returning international students.

Participants will have the opportunity to connect with their subject specialist librarian, to learn about the Libraries’ collections and resources, and to leave the event knowing how to contact a subject librarian in their area of research.

The program will cover a variety of important topics including library cultural adaption, scholarship/publishing academic integrity and resources, etc.

Register through our Qualtrics form

UCF Libraries is building a digital time capsule, based on this year’s Diversity Week theme, Stronger Together: Unified! Connected! Family!

In this unprecedented year marked by COVID-19 and the continued fight for racial equity, we ask you to tell your story, share your voice, and be heard. Chronicle your connection to this year’s theme by contributing photographs you have taken, illustrations you have created, or text you have penned. You can influence how the present will be remembered. Share your message.

Submission information:

• Open to UCF students, faculty, staff, and UCF Alumni. 
• One submission per person. 
• Submissions will be digitized and housed in STARS. STARS is UCF’s digital repository to publicize, disseminate, and preserve works by, for, and about UCF.
• Submissions must be sized 8 ½” X 11” in a landscape orientation.
• Submissions formats are pdf, jpg, png, or docx.
• All submissions must be original work(s).
• Participants must submit a consent form granting permission for their content to be digitized and placed into STARS as part of the Qualtrics form.
• Submissions will be accepted August 1, 2020 – October 25, 2020.
• Sexually explicit content will not be accepted, and UCF Libraries reserves the right to omit any submission.
• All works will be placed into the digital time capsule as received; no editing services will be provided.

Submit at the Knights Stronger Together Digital Time Capsule Qualtrics form.

UCF Libraries wants to see your design skills! Will you accept our design challenge?

Select one of the titles below and illustrate the cover for that book. The submission deadline is Sunday, July 26, 2020 at 11:59PM.

• Knightro and the Strange, Scary Pandemic Semester
• Knugget Takes a Vacation
• The Golden Vulture Strikes Again

For full contest rules and to submit your illustration, check out the contest page.

• Contests for UCF students only.
• One entry per student.
• If more than one entry is submitted by a student, all the entries by that person will be disqualified from the contest.
• Judges reserve the right to not select a winner due to limited submissions, or lack of exceptional submissions.
• Entries with explicit sexual content will not be considered for this contest.

The winner will be announced on Monday, August 3, 2020. Prizes include a #UCFLibraries water bottle and a limited edition Quiet Space Rubber Duckie.