University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries

Check out HSCL's newest traveling exhibit!

Through a $99,000 Institute of Museum and Library Services grant, the University of Florida Smathers Libraries’ "Planning for Open Grants Final Deliverables Report" underscores the importance of accessibility in the grant-making process.

Read the report here:

osf.io

There are no bad views from UF Library West

Happy 4th! 🐊

📸: Alex Avelino

Haikus and repurposing materials?
Say less.

In celebration of Juneteenth, the Map and Imagery Library is hosting a display featuring Louise E. Jefferson. Jefferson is known as an illustrator, photographer, graphic designer, founding member of the Harlem Artists Guild, and as one of the first Black female cartographers. Louise E. Jefferson’s passion for portraying disenfranchised populations can be seen especially on her pictorial maps, three of which will be on display in the Map Library. Also showcased will be Jefferson’s artwork and photography in her book The Decorative Arts of Africa, on loan from UF’s Africa Studies Collection. For this installation, the Map Library will be borrowing two books from the Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature, which were illustrated or designed by Jefferson. This display will remain in the Map and Imagery Library for the duration of the summer.

Happy Pride and Happy Caribbean American Heritage Month, Gators! To celebrate we will have book displays, resources, and more throughout the month of June!

Happy Pride Gators! Watch for resources, book displays, and events throughout June!

Congrats Gator Grads! You did it!

HOURS UPDATE: All the libraries will CLOSE at 3pm on Friday, May 3rd for the University commencement! Please make sure to check our hours page https://libcal.uflib.ufl.edu/hours/ before visiting the branches. Congrats !

We're celebrating three observances this month! May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Haitian Heritage Month, and Jewish American Heritage Month. Make sure to check all six branches for different displays, resources, and events!

Our first Concert at Noon event happened on April 12th! We are so thankful for everyone who came to watch the show and the students who performed. We hope this is the first of many so stay tuned!

Here's a wrap-up of our latest acquisition event focusing on photojournalist Eduardo "Guayo" Hernandez!

The Eduardo “Guayo” Hernández Papers collection contains documents, letters, newspaper articles, photographs, slides, correspondence, films, documentaries, and ephemera. “Guayo” was one of the premiere cameramen and journalists of pre-revolution Cuba. “Guayo” formed Noticuba, a news documentary production company that featured his documentaries in theaters.

One of the most popular cameramen in Cuba, Guayo was alongside Agustín Alles Soberón, the first cameraman and photojournalist to reach Fidel Castro in Sierra Maestra. Disenchanted with Castro’s regime ideals, Guayo left Cuba and worked in Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and Miami.

The collection, donated by his son Luis Hernández Abreu, is an invaluable resource that documents the history of Cuba before, during, and after the revolution, covering counter-revolutionary missions to Cuba with Brigada 2506 and Alpha 66.

IT’S ALMOST TIME! Celebrate National Library Week with the official Smathers 5k! Run/walk during the week of April 7-13. Participants can win an official Smathers 5k T-shirt and sticker and say they’ve conquered the Smathers 5k! Ready, Set, Libraries!

Official 5k Route Map -
(We suggest using the Yulee tunnel to cross 13th Street)
https://lnkd.in/eYw9CnX8

Raffle Entry
https://lnkd.in/eGhWRhxW

Join us as we celebrate Arab American Heritage Month! As we go through the month, we'll have book displays, resources, and more at each of the six branches so make sure to stop by.

As we come to the end of Women's History Month we're here to recap our OutLoud event. Participants picked books, newspapers, poems, and more to celebrate women authors. This month the event was held at HSCL on March 20th.

We wanted to thank all who stopped in, sat down to read, and borrowed materials from our Smathers Libraries Reading Room during Swampcon 2024. The Libraries showcased our sci-fi, graphic novels, and manga collections across the branches. To learn more about where to find these collections in the libraries check out the link below!

https://guides.uflib.ufl.edu/COMICSGRAPHICNOVELS

On Feb. 28, in Smathers Room 100, the George A. Smathers Libraries hosted a launch event for its digital exhibit “Guts & Ambition: 50 years of The Independent Florida Alligator.”

The online exhibit incorporates artifacts from five decades of the Alligator, one of the nation’s largest student-run newspapers. The Independent Florida Alligator has been operating independently from the university since 1973. This exhibit highlights important stories told by student journalists and the publication’s impact on the university and local community over the last 50 years.

UF Librarians Melissa Jerome and April Hines have spent over 18 months curating printed newspapers, photographs, old UF yearbooks, and oral history transcripts for the digital exhibit.

Check out the digital exhibit below!
https://exhibits.domains.uflib.ufl.edu/alligator50/

We are slowly approaching the end of our L is for Libraries series! Our second to last post is all about UVWX! Check out all these cool resources below.

U is for... UF Digital Collections!

The University of Florida Digital Collections (UFDC) hosts many outstanding digital collections, containing millions of pages, covering tens of thousands of subjects in rare books, manuscripts, global and generic maps, children's literature, newspapers, theses, and dissertations, data sets, photographs, oral histories, and more for permanent access and preservation. Through UFDC, users have free and open access to full unique, and rare materials held by the University of Florida and partner institutions.

V is for... VPN!

The Gatorlink VPN service provides secure remote access to the University of Florida network and makes it appear as if your computer were physically attached to the campus network.

By using the Gatorlink VPN client, you may access resources on the UF network that are not typically available over an Internet path.

When off campus you can use the Gatorlink VPN to access library resources such as UF Library Journals.

Thanks for keeping us connected to the libraries 24/7!

W is for... Workshops!

The library regularly hosts workshops on topics such as citation management tools, copyright/fair use, 3D printing, and more!

We provide workshops for students, employees, and the UF community, and hope you'll join us sometime soon!

Check out the library workshops calendar on our website for upcoming events!

X is for... E(X)hibits!

Did you know we have several exhibits and mini-exhibits all around the libraries?

Our exhibitions are carefully developed to support the mission of the George A. Smathers Libraries and the University of Florida. They promote interdisciplinary approaches to research and teaching and stimulate intellectual curiosity. Items included in exhibits are primarily from the Libraries’ collections and supplemented, as appropriate, with materials from other sources.

All exhibitions are open to the public and free of charge. Physical exhibitions are open during the same hours as the building in which they are housed unless otherwise specified and with occasional exceptions for maintenance. The Libraries also create and host online exhibitions which complement physical exhibitions and highlight the collections. Online exhibitions are freely available and accessible year-round.

Next time you swing by one of our six branches look around for exhibits or stop by Smathers to see the exhibits on the second floor!

Smathers Libraries are SO MUCH MORE than just books!

Event Recap! This past Wednesday we celebrated Black History Month with an OutLoud event. Participants came and read excerpts from Black authors to a group outside of Marston Science Library. Every month we host an OutLoud related to the observance during that month so stay tuned for events in the future!

On Valentines day Library West collected data about misprinted candy hearts otherwise known as situationships. The event demonstrated how data can be interpreted and manipulated via candy hearts! This event was to promote the use if the ICPSR database for the annual week. ICPSR is an international consortium that provides a data archive of more than 250,000 files in the social, health, and behavioral sciences for students to be able to download and use in their research!

Check it out here: https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/pages/

Get ready for: Guts and Ambition: 50 years of The Independent Florida Alligator.

The online exhibit incorporates artifacts from five decades of the Alligator, one of the nation’s largest student-run newspapers. The Alligator has been operating independently from the university since 1973. The exhibit highlights important stories told by student journalists and the publication’s impact on the university and local community over the past 50 years. UF librarians Melissa Jerome and April Hines have spent over 18 months curating printed newspapers, photographs, old UF yearbooks and oral history transcripts for the exhibit. “This digital exhibit celebrates 50 years of The Florida Alligator becoming The Independent Florida Alligator, and the impactful student journalism that was made possible by that independence,” Hines said. “Noteworthy news clips, photographs, and oral history quotes will show a timeline of Alligator staffers over the decades, and the unique stories they were able to tell from 1973 to today.”

Register Here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeM2o1drTII8cca7AA5aGmqNRoCblQsECZ4YZEAlNg94qlajg/viewform