News & Blog

Women’s History Month began as a week-long celebration by in Sonoma, California in 1978 which was centered around International Women’s Day on March 8. A year later during a women’s history conference at Sarah Lawrence College, participants learned how successful the week was and decided to initiate similar in their own areas. President Carter issued the first proclamation for a national Women’s History Week in 1980. In 1987, Congress (after being petitioned by the National Women’s History Project) passed Pub. L. 100-9 designating March as Women’s History Month. U.S. Presidents have issued proclamations on Women’s History Month since 1988.

The University of Central Florida community joins together to celebrate Women’s History Month across the multiple campuses with a wide variety of activities including workshops, film screenings, and WomanFest2019. Visit the Office of Diversity and Inclusion’s #visionarywomen page to learn more about the scheduled events, and stop by the library to view the display wall, Portraits of Empowerment: Womanhood & Activism, which includes bras decorated at our Honor, Remember & Support workshop. UCF Libraries is featuring a faculty author talk by Dr. Kimberly Voss called Women’s Page History in Florida in the 1950s and 1960s on Friday, March 8 at 10:30 am in John C. Hitt Library 223.

Here at the UCF Libraries, we have created a list of suggested, and favorite, books about women in both history and fiction. Please click on the link below to see the full book list with descriptions and catalog links. And don’t forget to stop by the John C. Hitt Library to browse the featured bookshelf on the 2^nd (main) floor near the bank of two elevators for additional Women’s History Month books and DVDs.

Featured Bookshelf: Women’s History Month

Fair Use / Fair Dealing Week is being celebrated this year between February 25 – March 1, 2019. The annual event provides an opportunity to learn more about these essential limitations and exceptions to copyright that are vital components to innovation, creativity, and scholarship.

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January 1, 2019, marked an important day for copyrighted works. For the first time in more than 20 years, published works from 1923 will enter the public domain. This means that anyone can use the works for free and without any copyright restrictions. The last time this occurred was in 1998 before the United States’ Congress passed the Copyright Term Extension Act. This act is also often referred to as the Sonny Bono Act (named in memory of the late Congressman, Sonny Bono) or the Mickey Mouse Protection Act due to the Walt Disney Company’s support of such copyright extensions.

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Happy Love Data Week! This international event held February 11-15, 2019 gives researchers an opportunity to learn more about data management, sharing, preservation, re-use, and library-based research data services. If you’re a researcher or just curious about data management and best practices, you can learn more by visiting: https://lovedataweek.org/

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On its 13th year, the Book Arts Competition sponsored by Special Collections & University Archives at the University of Central Florida Libraries have been recognizing the artistic works of undergraduate and graduate students in book arts. Book arts are works of art that pushes the form and reading structure of traditional books. Many artist books are handmade by the artist themselves. Each year the competition awards one student artist book to be included in the permanent Book Arts & Typography Collection at Special Collections & University Archives. A panel of judges selects the winning artist book based on creativity, craftsmanship, content, and design. This year’s judges were David Benjamin, Head of UCF Libraries’ Special Collections & University Archives, and Rachel Simmons, Professor of Art at Rollins College.

The competition had a breadth of unique entries. Each artist book submitted was distinct in both form and content, ranging from personal experiences to whimsical stories. Leaves by Jacob Wan is the 13th Annual Book Arts Winner. Wan’s artist book visually tells the longing of nostalgia; the connection and disconnection, the familiar and unfamiliar, the similarity and difference between reality and memories. Delicate sewing stitches and handmade paper interweave throughout the book as photographs recreate moments of the artist’s youth.

This exhibit runs through February which features all entries submitted as well as select past winners.