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Category: Collections

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Staff Book Recommendations

If you’re having trouble finding your next read, don’t worry, we have lots of reading suggestions from our staff! All the books listed are available in your library for check out.

The Last World by Christoph Ransmayr

This Austrian author is fond of stories within stories within stories, time-bending, and genre-blurring (also check out his multilayered Terrors of Ice and Darkness). This retelling of Greek and Roman mythology is also a mystery, a fantasy, and historical fiction. The main character, Cotta, sets out from worldly and wondrous Rome in search of his friend, the poet Ovid, who had been exiled to a decaying town on the Black Sea as a result of insulting, through his poetry, the Emperor Augustus. Cotta encounters people who knew Ovid, and they tell his fantastical stories of transformation. But these individuals themselves also become the characters of myth, with their existence woven into the ancient mythological tales. The obsession of the poet drives the obsession of Cotta to learn more. The book, like a metamorphosis, is as unsettling as it is beautiful.

Beau Case, Dean of Libraries

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

The Sympathizer is the story of this captain: a man brought up by an absent French father and a poor Vietnamese mother, a man who went to university in America, but returned to Vietnam to fight for the Communist cause. Viet Thanh Nguyen’s astonishing novel takes us inside the mind of this double agent, a man whose lofty ideals necessitate his betrayal of the people closest to him. A gripping spy novel, an astute exploration of extreme politics, and a moving love story, The Sympathizer explores a life between two worlds and examines the legacy of the Vietnam War in literature, film, and the wars we fight today”–Publisher’s website.

Also, HBO has ordered the A24 drama series adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel with Downey attached to co-star. Downey will play multiple characters in the series, including a California congressman, a CIA agent, a Hollywood movie director, and more, with the plot following a half-French, half-Vietnamese Communist spy during the war and his exile to the United States, in what’s designed as a cross between a cultural satire and a political thriller. https://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/robert-downey-jr-s-hbo-series-the-sympathizer-shoots-this-summer/

Ven Basco, University Librarian

Packing for Mars : the curious science of life in the void by Mary Roach

The author of Stiff and Bonk explores the irresistibly strange universe of space travel and life without gravity. Space is a world devoid of the things we need to live and thrive: air, gravity, hot showers, fresh produce, privacy, beer. Space exploration is in some ways an exploration of what it means to be human. How much can a person give up? How much weirdness can they take? What happens to you when you can’t walk for a year? have sex? smell flowers? What happens if you vomit in your helmet during a space walk? Is it possible for the human body to survive a bailout at 17,000 miles per hour? To answer these questions, space agencies set up all manner of quizzical and startlingly bizarre space simulations. As the author discovers, it’s possible to preview space without ever leaving Earth. From the space shuttle training toilet to a crash test of NASA’s new space capsule (cadaver filling in for astronaut), she takes us on a surreally entertaining trip into the science of life in space and space on Earth.

Megan Haught, Administrative Assistant

The Library Book by Susan Orlean

A gripping tale that reads as if it were a whodunit. It recounts the vast fire in 1986 that destroyed many valuable materials at the main location of the Los Angeles Public Library. It delves into fire and arson science, but also reveals the major workings of a research library. And who really started the fire?

Richard Harrison, Associate Librarian

Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler

I love many of Anne Tyler’s novels due to her fully developed characters, but this one is my favorite.  It is a touching story of 17-year-old Ian Bledsoe in 1965 whose careless comment leads to tragedy that changes him and his family forever.  The novel follows him and his family over 20 years as he tries to atone for what he has done. 

Dawn Tripp, Library Technical Assistant

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris

The first in a trilogy of books about the life of Theodore Roosevelt won both the Pulitzer and National Book Award for Biography.  This is a well-researched and wonderfully approachable book about the life of Roosevelt prior to become president.  The reader has an intimate look into the events that shaped and molded Roosevelt from a sickly, privileged child of New York into the Rough Rider, Progressive reformer, and future president.  This is a book that I revisit and one I recommend to readers of history or biographies. 

Jason Phillips, Associate Librarian

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

Surprisingly funny story of how the author’s existence was a crime; being born to a white Swiss father and Xhosa mother at a time when such a birth was punishable by five years in prison.  Trevor shares his unusual upbringing of being hidden by his mother until the end of apartheid. I enjoyed the author’s humorous stories but also the opportunity to learn about this period in South African history from a personal perspective and how it affected those forced to live under it.  

Cindy Dancel, Graphics Specialist

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Films available from our Libraries

Due to an unexpected acceleration in expenditures, we are scaling back the streaming video that we offer through Kanopy. UCF pays for most Kanopy films on an on-demand per-title basis. Since launching in 2015, Kanopy has attracted a lot of usage; and as a result our costs have quadrupled and expended our allocation for this year.

Films that were already licensed on Kanopy will remain available for the duration of their lease. Meanwhile, the UCF Libraries have thousands of DVDs available for checkout from the LibTech Desk on the 3rd floor, and tens of thousands of streaming videos available online from Alexander Street Press, and FMG. We will continue providing access to films from Alexander Street Press, FMG, and our limited Kanopy catalog.

All the videos can be discovered via the UCF Libraries Catalog.  Use the “Video” tab on our Homepage as a shortcut to find them.

How do I get a film for a course I’m teaching in Spring 2019?

Contact the  subject librarian in your area as soon as possible.

Construction Duck

U. S. Documents affected by 1st floor closure

Because of the preliminary construction on the 1st floor, about 40% of print U.S. Documents are temporarily stored offsite and are completely inaccessible. The remaining materials are accessible for staff to retrieve for patrons, but the 1st floor is closed to the public through the end of September.

Our UCF Ask A Librarian service will attempt to verify the availability of specific items. They will pass along requests to Government Documents librarian, Rich Gause, for anything they cannot locate.

See the guide at https://guides.ucf.edu/govx for more information.
Thank you for your patience!

March on Washington

Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century (ProQuest)

ProQuest History Vault: Civil Rights and the Black Freedom Struggle

The UCF Libraries would like to announce the acquisition of the following collections in ProQuest’s Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century database: Federal Government Records & Supplement; and Organizational Records and Personal Papers, Parts 1 and 2.

The focus of the Federal Government Records & Supplements modules is on the political side of the freedom movement, the role of civil rights organizations in pushing for civil rights legislation, and the interaction between African Americans and the federal government in the 20th century. Major collections include the FBI Files and records from the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Reagan administrations, detailing the interaction between civil rights leaders and organizations and the highest levels of the federal government.

The Organizational Records and Personal Papers parts 1 and 2 bring a new perspective to the Black Freedom Struggle via the records of major civil rights organizations and personal papers of leaders and observers of the 20th century Black freedom struggle.

UCF community members can access this database at https://guides.ucf.edu/database/BlackFreedom

 

New Africana Studies online collections

In honor of Black History Month, the UCF Libraries and the Department of Africana Studies would like to announce the acquisition of five new African American primary source databases. These collections, which were acquired as part of a technology fee proposal, fill a crucial need for primary source material related to the far-ranging field of African Americana studies. They contain a treasure trove of unique material that will be invaluable to subjects such as Africana studies, history, political science, legal studies, literature, art, and more. Here’s what’s included in the package:

Black Abolitionist Papers: Brings together a disparate collection of primary sources that tell the story of the abolitionist movement in the voices of the activists themselves. The collection ranges from 1830-1865 and contains reform newspaper articles, essays, editorials, speeches, sermons, lectures and more.

Black Thought & Culture: A foundational collection that consists of 100,000 of documents spanning 250 years of African American history. Highlights include the transcript of the Muhammad Ali trial, a full run of The Black Panther newspaper, and 2,500 pages of exclusive Black Panther oral histories.

Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive: 1.5 million pages of historical documents including 7,000 books and pamphlets as well as 80 newspapers and a dozen manuscript collections.

Slavery and the Law & Slavery in America: The most comprehensive collection of legal documents pertaining to slavery and emancipation. Highlights of this unparalleled collection include Petitions to State Legislatures, Petitions to Southern County Courts, and State Slavery Statutes, a master record of the laws governing American slavery from 1789–1865.

All five collections can be accessed via the Africana Studies database page. If you have any questions, please contact John Venecek, the Africana Studies subject librarian.

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