LibTech will be closing at 7:00pm on Tuesday September 27th and will remain closed until Monday October 3rd at 10:00am. Please make note of the following:
If you have items on loan, please hold onto them and keep them safe / dry.
All items that were due Monday 9/26 through Friday 9/30 have had their due dates automatically changed to Tuesday 10/4 at 9:00pm.
All items checked out on Tuesday 9/27 will be due back on Tuesday 10/4 at 9:00pm.
If something prevents you from returning to campus Tuesday 10/4, please let us know at the time of check in next week and we will work with you.
Please be safe, make good choices, and we look forward to seeing you again next week when campus reopens. Thank you!
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.
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.
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/
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
“A Splash from the Past: Homecoming’s History at UCF” exhibit is officially open! Dive into UCF’s rich history of Homecoming. From sports, to performances, and the ever-elusive Spirit Splash ducks origin story, the exhibit features memorabilia from UCF Libraries Special Collections & University Archives. Be sure to check it out at the John C. Hitt Library Gallery on the 4th Floor.
The exhibit will run from August until November 2022.
The exhibit was curated by Trinity Cruz and Elisabeth Jimenez, Special Collections & University Archives staff, with the digital designs created by Jawn Roppoccio.
UCF Libraries is proud to announce that Crystal Lu is the 2022 recipient of the June S. Stillman Memorial Endowed Scholarship.
Crystal Lu, 2022 June Stillman Scholarship winner
Lu is a third-year biology student pursuing the pre-vet/zoology track. She owns two pigeons and a green-cheeked parakeet and wishes to study ornithology and conduct research in a medical setting in order to aid in the conservation of birds. Lu started working at the Acquisitions and Collections Department in the John C. Hitt Library in March 2021. Her library responsibilities include maintaining serial records in Alma, processing and shelving serials, checking the microfilm collection for vinegar syndrome, and processing book donations.
Lu’s volunteer experiences include greyhound pets of greater Orlando and Seminole county parrot rescue and sanctuary where she tended the animals and cleaned up after them.
In the words of Lu’s supervisor, Joe Bizon, “Crystal is one of our valued student workers, proving herself to be a dedicated worker. She has earned my trust, and I do not shirk from giving her any task, knowing that it will be accomplished reliably. I find Crystal outgoing, easy to work with, and possessing of a good sense of humor.”
This is the 24st awarding of the Stillman Scholarship, which is given to a student or staff member of the UCF Libraries. June S. Stillman was one of the first two librarians hired when UCF (then Florida Technological University) opened in 1968. Her impact on students can be seen from a 25th anniversary survey of the first graduating class, a majority of whom listed her as a key figure from their student days. Stillman received her second master’s degree in English literature from UCF while working as the Head of Reference Services at the Library. She retired in 1996 and tragically passed away in 1998. Her friends and family established the June S. Stillman Memorial Endowed Scholarship in her honor. She is remembered as a consummate professional, the epitome of gentility and compassion, and a proponent of lifelong learning.
Did you know that the library and instructional designers work with faculty to find free course materials? Choice invited the Textbook Affordability Librarian, Lily Dubach, and Sr. Instructional Designer, Dr. John Raible, to speak about a couple examples at UCF. They highlighted an open educational resource (OER) project and library-sourced eBooks, two options that faculty can choose instead of traditional textbooks. Both OER and library-sourced eBooks are free to students. Faculty interested in these options should contact their subject librarian or the Textbook Affordability Librarian to discuss possibilities.
The webinar was held on July 20, 2022. Watch it below or read the accompanying case study.
