Feeling lost in a sea of irrelevant sources? Find your way to the best sources for your project in record time with these tips! Image by Emily Parente
Dean Case comes to the UCF Libraries from the University of Toledo where he served as Dean since 2017. Previously he held various roles, including Head of Arts & Humanities, at the University of Michigan library. As a Ph.D. candidate in experiential learning (degree anticipated May 2022), one of his key outcomes at Toledo was founding the libraries’ co-curricular program in that field.
Among his accomplishments Dean Case describes completion of major library renovations, collaborative creation of a new research portal, investment in new staff positions, mentoring, and staff development. As Director of the University of Toledo Press, he led a team in the development, production, marketing and sales of scholarly books and journals.
Earlier in his career Dean Case won a United States Information Agency Fellowship to the National Library of the Republic of Moldova, a former Soviet republic. He speaks Romanian, the official language of Moldova, and has taught German, Greek, Latin, and other classics courses.
During the interview process Dean Case revealed much about his vision, strategic plans, and passion for developing the “library as a catalyst for innovation.” The staff of the UCF Libraries looks forward to his energetic leadership and enthusiastically welcomes Dean Case to our family.
Congratulations to Ven Basco!
The UCF Libraries is proud to announce that the 2021 Jean Key Gates Distinguished Alumni Award of the USF School of Information has been awarded to our own Ven Basco! This award is given in honor of USF Professor Emerita of the same name. The award is presented annually to an alumnus whose outstanding professional career achievements serve as a role model for all information science graduates.
Many of our knights have benefitted from Ven’s expertise in his role as the Engineering and Computer Science Librarian at UCF where he has been serving the UCF community for over two decades. Either via a one on one science consultation session with him, attending one of his library instruction sessions, utilizing one of his many online research guides, or just having access to the many books he has helped procure for our collection. Ven has held may many titles and responsibilities over the years. In addition to being a subject librarian, he also coordinates the library’s research consultation services and Ask a Librarian service, two of the services that the library provides that made a tremendous impact to the type of services that the library offered during the pandemic. His interest and many years of involvement with international aspects of libraries through ALA’s International Relations Committee, and ALA’s International Relations Roundtable committees made him aware of the various opportunities to meet and network with a lot of librarians here and in Asia. He was the past president and Executive Director of the: Asian Pacific American Librarians Association for seven years. He was also the 2019 recipient of the Excellence in Librarianship Award at UCF and the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC) Distinguished Service Award.
Take a moment to relax before the stress of finals by playing some games; visit the Downtown Campus Library between November 7-13 for International Games Week!
International Games Week began as International Games Day in 2007 as an attempt to break a world record for the most people playing the same game simultaneously. It has grown into a weeklong event to showcase games and gaming in libraries.
DTC Library is participating this year by offering take-and-play games and featuring the game design titles in our collection. Want something you can play one on one? Come grab a few sheets of Nim, Hedron, or Hex. Got a large group? Get a copy of our social deduction game, Swans and Bakers. If you are interested in collaborative storytelling, take a copy of the one-sheet games Dear Elizabeth… or Hey, this song reminds me of you.
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.”
“Over 5 MILLION downloads from STARS to date!”
In accepting this award, Ms. Dotson recognized that STARS is truly a team effort made possible by the incredible efforts, encouragement, championing, and support from nearly every department in the UCF Libraries. From Scholarly Communication to Cataloging and Subject Librarians to Archivists, the success of STARS depends on an environment of cooperation and collaboration throughout the libraries and across the campuses. The day to day operations and rapid growth require creative, dedicated, and hard-working individuals. “I’m fortunate to work with amazing colleagues and that Page Curry and Kerri Bottorff rise to the challenge every day to support varied faculty, student, and community digital projects,” said Ms. Dotson.
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