News & Blog

Lily Dubach started as a Student Assistant in the Acquisitions Department in 2014, then held part-time roles in other departments, including as Adjunct Librarian for the Office of Scholarly Communication before joining us full time as the Connect Librarian supporting the Valencia West Campus.  She has a Bachelor of Science from UCF and a Master of Science in Information from Florida State University.

Lily officially becomes the new Textbook Affordability Librarian on May 8, 2021. In this role, she collaborates with teaching faculty, librarians, instructional designers, and pertinent campus units to promote and transition traditional course content to affordable textbook alternatives. These textbook alternatives include open educational resources (OER) and library-sourced materials. To date, UCF faculty have taught over 950 classes using open or library-sourced materials, in turn reaching over 65,000 students and potentially saving them just over $6.7M as of Spring 2021.

For more information about how Lily can help you reduce textbook costs, visit our Textbook Affordability page.

Did you know that many books include chapters authored by experts? Our very own library faculty and staff have written book chapters included in published books.

This is the second post in our Library Author Spotlight Series. If you missed the first one, check out our post on books.

We are thrilled to announce the winners of our 2021 poetry contests.

Haiku Winner
Colors by Madeline S. Anderson

Limerick Winner
My Best Friend by Mariah George

In addition to joining the KnightVerse National Poetry Month collection in the UCF Libraries’ digital repository STARS, the two winners also receive a UCF Libraries’ reusable water bottle and UCF Libraries’ ducky temporary tattoo.

Thank you to everyone who participated. You can read winners and submissions from all years of Libraries’ student writing contests at STARS KnightVerse.

Congratulations to our librarians who earned promotions this year!

Associate Librarian
Sandy Avila, Research & Information Services – Sciences
Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collection Services

University Librarian
Ven Basco, Research & Information Services – Computer Science & Engineering

The promotion process takes nearly an entire academic year as faculty are evaluated on three main areas: research, teaching and service. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication to helping make UCF and the Libraries a major research destination. You are what makes UCF excellent!

To see the full list of UCF faculty receiving promotions or tenure in 2021: UCFToday: 138 Faculty Promoted Across the University

Welcome to Asian Pacific American Heritage Month!

It has been a difficult 14 months for the world, but our Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) brothers and sisters have faced even more struggles. From small harassments to intense acts of violence, the AAPI community has borne the brunt of American fears and grief relating to the pandemic. These malicious acts demonstrate as a country we are not living up to the ideals of our nation. As Americans and Knights, we need to demonstrate these ideals are worth fighting for. Actions you can take range from learning more about the AAPI experience and history to using any privilege we have to push back against racism and violence.

One way to learn more about AAPI history and experiences is to visit the Libraries’ Readings on Race guide. This guide includes pages for general information about racism in America and how to have conversations about it to pages specifically addressing the experiences of marginalized communities in the United States such as Asian America Pacific Islander, African American, Hispanic/Latinx, and Indigenous. Take some time to familiarize yourself with lived experiences beyond your own race or ethnicity so we can stand together and become a more inclusive Knight community.

If you witness or experience incidents of discrimination or violence, report them to the university. If any of these incidents have impacted you, UCF has resources that can help. For more information, visit UCF Cares, Student Care Services or UCF Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) if you are a student, and the Employee Assistance Program if you are an employee.

For 2021 Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, UCF Libraries faculty and staff have suggested these 20 books from the library’s collection by or about Asian Pacific Americans. Click the link below to see the full list, descriptions, and catalog links. There is also an extensive physical display on the main floor of the John C. Hitt Library near the Research & Information Desk.

Featured Bookshelf: 2021 Asian Pacific American Heritage Month