News & Blog

Fourth Floor

This floor is mainly for quiet study. There is plenty of seating and outlets as well as many chances to see art and views of the UCF campus.

Art

The Gallery is fairly new to the fourth floor but has already featured a variety of exhibits like Spirit Splash, Student Book Arts, and other collections from our University Archives and Special Collections. Follow us on social media to learn what the next exhibit will be.

Talk about hidden Mickeys! You can spot some pieces of history and art in the Reading Room like this wooden Mickey Mouse or the original Vinnie the Vulture.

Seating

A variety of seating is available on this floor along with plenty of outlets and some great views of the UCF water tower and campus. Lots of students enjoy quiet study time in the reading room pictured here with its ecletic furniture and some great pieces from our SCUA art collection.

Quiet

One of the most important thing to know about this floor is that the 4^th and 5^th floors are designated quiet spaces. These floors are for users to engage in quiet solitary study. Patrons needing group study or conversation, should visit the 1^st – 3^rd floors or check out a study room.

Collections

General Collection books, which are the ones patrons can check out of the library rather than being used only while in the library, are located on this floor. Books with call numbers N – Z are located on this floor.

Our UCF Author collection can also be found on this floor in the Reading Room. Get in good with your professor by picking up their book!

Food/Drink

Got the munchies mid study? There are two vending machines on this floor stocked with snacks and cold drinks.

Restrooms

There are two sets of restrooms on this floor. One near the Student Union side of the building and the other nearer the center.

Events

If you attend an event or workshop at the Hitt Library, it might be in room 402 which features lovely carved wooden doors, projectors, and floor to ceiling windows which look out over UCF.

Join us next week as we cover the fifth and last floor of the HItt Library. After that we’ll cover our specialty libraries: Curriculum Materials Center, Rosen Library, College of Medicine Library, and our various branch libraries.

Third Floor

We are so excited that we can finally share an announcement with our UCF community! Please join us on Monday, February 27, 2023 for the grand opening of your all new third floor at the John C Hitt Library. At 10am, a treasure hunt will be hosted for students to assist them in wayfinding on the floor with a grand prize of a limited-edition duck to the first 300 participants.

Seating, Computers, and Study Rooms

We now have 520 all new study seats in a variety of configurations including height-adjustable desks as well as 70 desktop PCs with oversize monitors and 30 group study rooms with varying seating capacities, whiteboards, and big screens, bookable via the Study Rooms icon on the Libraries’ website. Other improvements include generous natural light and improved overhead lighting as well as study-conducive colors and enhanced acoustical treatments.

Art

Patrons can relax under the stars, or at least lights set in an approximation of the Pegasus constellation, while viewing Genesis, a colorful stained glass window created by Leonardo Nierman in 1987.

Restrooms

Improvements here include greatly increased accessible restroom capacity, as well as a family-style bathroom. All new bathrooms include baby changing stations and the women’s and family bathrooms have free tampon/pad dispensers.

Unique Views

Patrons can get a window sized peek into the Automated Retrieval Center or ARC from the third floor. Viewing windows are located near the Student Union facing side of the library along the brick wall and feature a variety of seating nearby.

Collections

The reference book collection from the second floor will be relocated to the third floor near room 330. Current periodicals will also be found on this floor as well as an exciting collection of board games and puzzles by room 360. Please note that all items including the reference books, periodicals, board games, and puzzles are for in library use only. None of these items can be checked out and removed from the library building.

Services

A new suite will house librarians and staff from the Libraries’ Academic Engagement department who enhance teaching, learning, and research at the university. This suite includes consultation rooms where students, faculty, staff and the local community can meet in-person for one-on-one appointments with faculty librarians for research assistance. In-person and virtual research consultations are available via the Libraries’ Schedule an Appointment page.

Looking forward to seeing everyone as we explore our latest renovations together on February 27, 2023.

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.

Walt Disney revolutionized the film and art markets, and in the 1930s, he took on the consumer market with the development of the all-encompassing marketing program. Every Disney film, beginning with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, has included a complete marketing campaign, and the successful marketing of Disney characters has brought beloved characters into our everyday lives.

The latest exhibit in Special Collections & University Archives, “Walt Disney, Impresario of Consumption,” looks at Disney’s marketing strategy from the 1930s to today using publications, artifacts, and ephemeral materials produced by and about the Walt Disney Company. The exhibit was curated by UCF students in Dr. Keri Watson’s “The Art of Disney” class (ARH 3888).

The Special Collections & University Archives’ exhibit space is located on the fifth floor of the John C. Hitt Library. The exhibit will be up through January 6, 2018.

Florida artist Joy Postle Blackstone pioneered the art of depicting Florida wildlife like no other. She was deeply inspired by the sights, sounds, and scents of nature from an early age and this greatly influenced her as both an artist and as a writer. She developed her talent for capturing the world around her through mediums such as oil paints, watercolors, pencil sketches, pen and ink, as well as the written word though her writings and poetry. Joy’s dedication to her art propelled her through the hardships of the Great Depression, and she persevered. Her passion and devotion to her work has earned Joy a special place in the history of Central Florida. (more…)