Library Spaces: Second Issue Introduction

An introduction to the new multi-issue SOURCE series on library spaces.

Table of Contents

Table of contents for SOURCE Volume 4, Issue 1.

Digital Support Services and the UF Digital Collection

The UF Digital Collections are home to over 15 million pages of historic and current content which are routinely visited by millions of visitors every month. This article explores the growth and development of the program from it's beginnings in borrowed space to it's current location with a full department to support it.

Affiliated Libraries Feature Specialized Collections

The George A. Smathers Libraries Affiliated Libraries program serves to make specialized collections in partner libraries accessible. These satellite libraries showcase how the UF Libraries reaches beyond our own physical spaces and collections to support creative use of partner libraries' collections. Ten affiliated libraries each host distinctive collections in subjects ranging from tropical horticulture, plant specimens, and citrus research to architecture, art studies and LBGTQ readings. These collections are managed by entities on campus and across the state, reaching distant students and the public far from UF’s main campus.

Dean's Message

A welcome message for the Fall 2021 issue of SOURCE, from Dean Judith Russell.

Old Books, New Stories: Undergraduate Discovery Fellowships in Special Collections

This spring, Special & Area Studies Collections hosted its first cohort of Undergraduate Discovery Fellows, a research opportunity designed to give students the skills and freedom they need to use our collections for research or creative projects. Under the (virtual) mentorship of SASC curators and staff, three fellows dove into the collections, pursuing individual questions that they wanted to explore. The article features the projects that they worked on during their semester, as well as their reflections on their time in the library and their experience as a group.

Conservation at the University of Florida

Hidden away from public view and far from the reference desks, the Conservation and Preservation unit has been working to save and repair Smathers Libraries collections for over 30 years.

The Judaica Suite

The history and significance of the Judaica Suite in Smathers Library

Filling Archival Silences: Reflections on Community Archiving for Social Justice

George Floyd’s murder by ex-police officer Derek Chauvin sparked an international wave of protests against racial injustice. In Gainesville, the community came together to place memorials to Floyd and other victims of racial injustice at UF and on the 34th St. Wall. Materials left at the memorial site and the photographs taken of the Wall and the memorial site are archived in University Archives at the George A. Smathers Libraries. The goal of the “All Black Lives Matter: Documenting Community Response to Racial Injustice” project encourages students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members to reflect on this moment in the nation’s history, as well as the responsibility they have to dismantle racism and anti-Blackness in their sphere of influence.

A Serene Space: The Todd Prosser Memorial Garden

The history and elements of the prosser memorial garden was researched using library resources and the UFDC, as well as interviewing Mr. Tedd Prosser Jr. The resulting article is a brief but fairly thorough narrative of how the space in front of Smaterhs became the garden it is today, and how it has affected the people who frequent it.