News & Blog

Congratulations to Dr. Robert Cassanello! His podcast project “A History of Central Florida” was recently featured in Perspectives on History. A History of Central Florida Podcast is a 50-episode podcast that examines the history of central Florida through local area objects found in museums, historical organizations and other places.

“History on the Download: Podcasting the Past” describes how the project began in 2012 when “…the University of Central Florida’s Robert Cassanello brought podcast production into his Historical Documentary and New Media class. He had some experience with podcasting and thought the form was well suited to a collaborative project that would require his students to engage with public history while also producing something of their own.”

Last summer the UCF Libraries partnered with Dr. Cassanello to make the podcast project available in STARS, UCF’s Showcase of Text, Archives, Research & Scholarship, which provided him the opportunity to add images, Google maps, and related resources to each podcast.

All 50 episodes of A History of Central Florida are available for free on iTunes and STARS.

Visit the collection to listen to podcast episodes, view images related to each podcast, and discover relevant locations using Google maps.

Like this project? Find out how you can put STARS to work for you, too!

Browse our NEW BOOKS shelf in the Knowledge Commons for some recreational reading over Spring Break.  The bookcase on your left as you approach the Research and Information Desk is devoted to showcasing our latest academic book purchases.  Come by or check the website to see what we have, and feel free to take as many as you like–everything on display here is available for immediate check out: just take your selections to the circulation desk.

***NEW*** Now you can peruse the New Books Display website to read synopses of each book on display!  Titles link directly to our online catalog so you can find similar titles and check availability before your visit.

The following floors in the John C. Hitt Library will close during Spring Break week:
3rd Floor: Saturday 3/5 – Tuesday 3/8
4th Floor: Tuesday 3/8 – Thursday 3/10
1st Floor: Thursday 3/10 – Saturday 3/12

2nd (main) and 5th floors will remain open for the week.
The LibTECH Desk can be reached using the West stairs and the 2 adjacent elevators.
Computers will be removed from 1st, 3rd, and 4th floors beginning Friday, 3/4. Computers will remain available on 2nd (main) and 5th floors.
Reservation of study rooms during the week is suspended. Rooms on open floors will be available without reservation.
There will be some dust and odor resulting from removal of old carpet and the carpet adhesive.
So sorry for the inconvenience; please let service desks know if we can retrieve books for you on a closed floor or help in any other way.

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!