News & Blog

The UCF Libraries’ Special Collections & University Archives and Digital Initiatives departments are pleased to announce the completion of a project to digitize the University of Central Florida’s student newspaper. The publication ran from 1968 to 2016.   

The newspaper’s first issue appeared on October 7, 1968, to coincide with the first day of classes at the newly opened Florida Technological University (FTU), now the University of Central Florida (UCF). The first five issues of the publication did not have a name. Instead, the paper referred to itself as F.T.U.???. By the fifth issue, it became known as the FuTUre. Despite the university changing names from FTU to UCF in 1978, the newspaper’s name did not change to the Central Florida Future until 1985.  

In the early 1990s, the newspaper became unaffiliated with the university. Over the next two decades, it was bought and sold to multiple different companies. It eventually became an entity of Gannett, the owner of USA Today and Florida Today. Sadly, Gannett shut down the Central Florida Future in 2016. 

Since 2012, the UCF Libraries has been digitizing 48-years’ worth of this publication. Unfortunately, due to copyright, only the issues from 1968 to 2010 are available publicly online at https://stars.library.ucf.edu/centralfloridafuture/. 

The university’s history covered in the Central Florida Future is an amazing resource. We are so happy to have it available and preserved. 

Congratulations to Lee Dotson for being named an Institutional Repository All-Star during the Digital Commons North American Conference 2021! Ms. Dotson is the interim department head for Technology Solutions & Digital Initiatives and has been the Repository Manager for STARS since it launched in 2015.

UCF’s Lee Dotson was one of four 2021 IR All Stars!

Ms. Dotson was introduced by Benjamin Gaunt, Digital Commons customer service representative, who described her as “…perhaps the busiest and most effective IR manager I’ve worked with — her repository contains literally hundreds of collections and has received over 5 MILLION downloads to date. This all-star leads the University of Central Florida’s STARS repository with extraordinary vision and collaboration — her tight-knit team at the library is known for bringing diverse, innovative collections on board and working closely with us here in Consulting Services to meet each collection’s individualized needs. As a result, I believe she may be one of the most knowledgeable and cutting-edge users of Digital Commons to date.”

UCF content creators, authors, and the community are the heart of STARS, UCF’s Showcase of Text, Archives, Research & Scholarship, which exists to collect, share, and provide ready access to works by, for, and about the University of Central Florida. Explore the collections at stars.library.ucf.edu. For more information about how STARS can help you share your work with a worldwide audience, visit our STARS Digital Repository page or contact stars@ucf.edu

Open access provides free access to scholarly research to anyone, anywhere in the world. However, publishing in open access may not be free for authors. That’s because there may be costs associated with publishing.

In some open access journals, if an author wants to publish and make their work openly accessible, they will often have to pay a fee, called an Article Processing Charge (APC). This fee helps off-set publishing and editorial costs that are typically charged as a part of a subscription. Prices for APCs vary and will depend on the publication.

At UCF, there are currently a few different options for APC support for researchers. For more information about these, be sure to visit our guide on open access. 

APC Funding: College of Graduate Studies is currently offering the following APC support for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Students.

• Open Access Publishing Fund (Graduate Students & Postdoctoral Scholars): The College of Graduate Studies currently offers annual support up to $1,500/year for Article Processing Charges (APCs) for current and recent (within one year of graduation or employment) graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.

APC Discounts and Waivers from Read & Publish: The UCF Libraries has several ”Read & Publish” agreements with major publishers that covers the APC for UCF authors.  The Libraries pays a yearly subscription fee bundled with waivers for some or all APCs for articles from UCF authors. See the list of current Read & Publish agreements below.

For additional information or if you have questions about current Open Access publishing support, please contact Scholarly Communication Librarian, Sarah Norris. 

Did you know that open access materials, like journal articles, can be found using UCF Libraries’ library system Primo? Sandy Avila, Science Librarian, shows you how to search Primo for OA resources with just a few easy steps.

For more information about locating resources for your research, contact your subject librarian. For more information about open access visit our guide or contact Sarah Norris, Scholarly Communication Librarian.

Have you heard the terms “open textbooks” or, more broadly, the umbrella term “open educational resources” (OER)? OER are free, openly licensed textbooks or other types of course materials. They are designed to be high quality, free alternatives to traditional textbooks.