News & Blog

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!

Learn French with our newest resource: Mango Languages!

Content Includes

• Over 60 languages–Arabic to Yiddish
• English for Non-Speakers for 17 languages
• Special thematic & cultural modules, e.g., legal & medical Spanish, Brazilian & Spanish soccer, Oktoberfest German
• Film-based learning for Mandarin Chinese, English for Spanish Speakers, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Latin American Spanish

Features

• Online web-based platform with no downloads or installations needed
• Off-line access by downloading lessons to app on your mobile device
• Learn through conversations with memory building exercises
• Goal-based learning: conversational & grammar goals
• Cultural & grammar insights sprinkled into lessons
• Interactive words & phrases with semantic color mapping
• Pronunciation helpers with phonetic popups & audio
• Record your speech & compare it to audio from a native speaker

Students, Faculty, and Staff can create free accounts to track progress.

Ask Us if you need help! 

The UCF Libraries is excited to announce a new tool for your arsenal – Mango Languages!

Mango Languages provides “Deliciously simple language and culture learning in over 70 languages.” Mango includes many common languages like Spanish and French, but also unique languages like Pirate and Igbo.

To view a full list and explore our trial site, visit the UCF Mango Connect page.

On the trial site you can take a sneak peek of which languages are included, and make your first attempt at learning what “Belay yer carousin’ and haul wind smartly” means.

Stay tuned for an announcement that the full site is live and you can make your own Mango account to track your progress!

Questions? Ask us.