News & Blog

Welcome to the fourth installment of Diamond’s Hidden Gems, a blog series in which I introduce you to the University of Central Florida’s library services that you may not have known about!

Library Tips & Tricks

To new or casual users, the UCF library site can be overwhelming or convoluted, making it difficult to search for materials. We have several online resources to help with this, including video guides and virtual services, but this blog post will provide you with specific tips and tricks to clarify search results and more.

There are also various plug-ins and extensions that can help you with your academic research, something particularly helpful for off-campus students.

How to get better results from UCF Libraries

• Tip #1: Select a “search scope”
• Tip #2: Select what type of content you are searching for
• Tip #3: Use the sidebar filters
• Tip #4: Find search parameters
• Tip #5: Virtually browse
• Tip #6: “Ask A Librarian”

For full details on how to take full advantage of these tips, click on my full tutorial!

On July13th the UCF Libraries switches to Primo, a new library system replacing the library catalog and QuickSearch.

Primo is a next-generation integrated library system (ILS) that leverages cloud-based services and offers a responsive web and mobile design. Primo will improve access to materials and enhance the user experience for students, faculty, and staff. Specifically, Primo allows for:

• searching across books, chapters, articles, videos, and many other document types,
• cross searching the library collections of all 40 Florida public universities and state colleges, and
• virtual browsing, to show book jackets and titles organized as they would appear on the shelf.  This feature is especially useful as more items are stored in the Automated Retrieval Center (ARC).

Migrating to Primo means that links to the old library catalog and to QuickSearch will stop working.  Links that need to be updated include:

• all links to the current library catalog, including records for books, ebooks, videos, and other documents,
• all links to content on QuickSearch (EBSCO Discovery Service), including articles, book chapters, Research Starters, and other documents, and
• all links created using the QuickSearch Lite tool in Canvas.

Please contact your Subject Librarian for assistance with updating course links, chat with library staff real time for an immediate response to questions, or use Report a Problem for issues with accessing electronic materials or other library resources.  

Take a look at Primo!  Contact Library Instruction to schedule an introduction to Primo for your class.

UCF offers tens of thousands of streaming videos from Alexander Street Press, FMG and Kanopy. Go to https://library.ucf.edu/#Videos to search. If you cannot find what you are looking for, please click the button below and fill out the form. We will return your email as soon as possible.

Help me find a video

Did you know you can receive text notifications for your library items?

Receive messages when your items need to be renewed or if a book you’ve requested becomes available. Just log in to your Library Account, click My Account on the top right and select Set Alerts. You can choose which alerts you’d like to receive and change them any time!

From your account you can view the items you have checked out, when they’re due, and if they can be renewed. So go online or stop by one of the UCF Libraries’ service desks and sign up for text alerts and never pay an overdue fee again!

Notice anything different? The new Libraries website was designed with you in mind, making it easier to link to the resources and services you need for a successful new academic year. Be sure to let us know at Submit Feedback if you have questions or comments on the new design.