News & Blog

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Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive: 1.5 million pages of historical documents including 7,000 books and pamphlets as well as 80 newspapers and a dozen manuscript collections.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

The UCF Libraries subscribes to Physics Today, the flagship publication of the American Institute of Physics. This publication is the most influential and closely followed physics magazine in the world. Here are just some of the featured stories for this week:

A nonlinear look at music
Physics Update: Recorded music and other time series carry information on small and large scales. A new hierarchical analysis can help make sense of it all.
—Richard J. Fitzgerald

Science and journalism revisit the attribution of extreme weather to climate change
Science and the Media: Scientists report improved understanding: Attribution science now “brings climate change to our doorsteps.”
—Steven T. Corneliussen

Belgium drops request for US bomb-grade uranium
Politics and Policy: To reduce the risk of the material falling into terrorist hands, a US company will convert the uranium to fuel for Belgium’s research reactor.
—David Kramer

Want details about the presidential candidates and upcoming elections? Check out our Elections and Florida Elections guides, the Library of Congress Election Stats guide, or try Google’s recently updated search option, provided in conjunction with the Center for Responsive Politics, to see more about presidential elections and campaign finance.

Find more election/campaign resources at the following sites – or ask your librarian …

• Campaign Finance Disclosure Portal
• Elections: Fact Checking
• Open Secrets
• Opinion Polls
• Public Agenda
• Supervisor of Elections, Orange County, FL

(Image used above is “Creative Commons Vote image” by Theresa Thompson is licensed under CC BY 2.0)

Kanopy has recently added some great new films to its video streaming. New titles include Malala – Shot for Going to School, Chasing Bonnie & Clyde: When Texas Gets Smart on Crime, and A Requiem for Syrian Refugees. To browse more titles visit Kanopy’s website here.

One of UCF’s most interesting electronic resources is CQ Researcher. Its readable reports on political, economic, health, human rights, and many other topics always include a pro-con section, and key statistics, along with a timeline. CQ‘s most recent report on virtual reality is no different: did you know that reality-based game sales will hit $12 billion in 2018, or that the chronology for virtual reality begins in 1838? Click on databases on the Libraries’ front page to search for CQ Researcher and select it from the list of databases beginning with “C”. If you can’t think of a topic for a paper or research project, this is a great place to start!