The George A. Smathers Libraries of the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

constitute one of the largest university library systems in the United States. The system includes eight of the nine libraries of the University of Florida and provides primary support to all academic programs except those served by the

Lawton Chiles Legal Information Center The Lawton Chiles Legal Information Center at the Levin College of Law is part of the library system at the University of Florida. The Lawton Chiles Legal Information Center contains legal research materials supporting the study of state, federa ...

. Previously the Health Science Center Library was also separate, but it was integrated into the Smathers Libraries on July 1, 2009. The current dean is Judith C. Russell. All of the libraries serve all of the university's faculty and students, but each has a special mission to be the primary support of specific colleges and degree programs, with Marston being the favorite library. As is common in research libraries, library materials are housed in a variety of locations depending upon discipline. The three largest libraries cover an extensive range of disciplines while the smaller libraries focus on three or fewer disciplines.

George A. Smathers Libraries and collections

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Other UF library collections

Collection strengths

Together the Libraries hold 6 million+ print volumes, 1.5 million digital books, 1,000+ databases, approximately 150,000 print/digital journals, 14 million digital pages. The Libraries also administer the Florida Academic Repository (FLARE), a centralized shared print storage facility that houses millions of books from the State University System of Florida and the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

. The libraries have built a number of nationally significant research collections primarily in support of graduate research programs. Among them are collections discussed above, i.e., the Latin American Collection, the

Isser and Rae Price Library of Judaica ThIsser and Rae Price Library of Judaicawithin the University of Florida LibrariesSpecial & Area Studies Collectionssupports the teaching and research missions of thCenter for Jewish Studiesand the University of Florida. The Isser and Rae Price Li ...

, and the Map and Imagery Library. Others include the Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature which is among the world's greatest collections of literature for children (Smathers Library, Special Collections); and the P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History, which is the state's preeminent Floridiana collection, holding the largest collection of

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

documents concerning southeastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in North America as well as rich archives of prominent Florida politicians, (Smathers Library, Special Collections). The Libraries also have particularly strong holdings in architectural preservation and 18th century American architecture (AFA), late 19th and early 20th century German state documents from 1850–1940, Latin American art and architecture, (AFA and Smathers Library),

national bibliographies A national bibliography is a systematic bibliography of acquisitions of a national library. Most countries either have a national bibliography or are in the process of compiling one. Some countries that do not have a national bibliography of thei ...

(Smathers Library, Reference), U.S. Census information, especially in electronic format (Marston Science Library, Documents), the rural sociology of Florida and

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

and subtropical agriculture collections (Marston Science Library), English and American Literature, and U.S. Documents (Marston Science Library, Documents).

Benefactor

The library system was named in honor of George A. Smathers, a former Florida senator. Smathers attended the University of Florida's school of law and served as student body president. He donated approximately $20 million to the University of Florida's library system in 1991, which was at the time the largest donation to a public university in the state of Florida.

Brief History

In 1905 the University of Florida was founded in Gainesville and with it a library which, at the time, was situated within Thomas Hall. The first librarian who managed the library and its collections is recognized as C.A. Finley. In 1909 the Law Library, the Botanical Library, the Zoological Library, and the Physics Library were established. In 1910 the University of Florida’s Agricultural Library, which had previously shared its space with the Main Library in Thomas Hall, was moved to Agriculture Hall. The University of Florida’s Main Library was built in 1925 to house a growing collection of forty thousand books, numerous journals, and various documents. The fledgling library, which was constructed in the collegiate Gothic architectural style, consisted of a reference room, a reserve reading room, and offices. In 1938, for the first time, the UF Library allowed books to circulate outside the library. In 1941 the libraries automated their book circulation and fines using an IBM punch card and sorting machines. The annual meeting of the Florida Library Association was held in Gainesville in 1950. It was hosted by the Director of the UF Libraries, Stanley West. The assembly also included the inauguration of a new addition to the main library building and a donation by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings of many of her papers and manuscripts for the creation of a Creative Writing Collection. In 1963 the libraries hit another milestone with the acquisition of their one-millionth volume. In 1967 The University of Florida’s Graduate Research Library opened (which in 1970 was to be renamed Library West), and the Main Library became the Undergraduate Library (which in 1970 was to be renamed Library East). This resulted in students and patrons alike being able, for the first time, to browse open stacks. The same year the Veterans Affairs Medical Center Library also opened. During the 1970s the UF Libraries underwent noteworthy developments in automation. This was mainly done by installing terminals with access to the bibliographic utility OCLC and other online databases, along with the acquisition of its first computer programmer, and the creations of a Systems department. The UF Libraries acquired the NOTIS software in 1980. They did so to run a PC-based, automated online card catalog and circulation system. In 1987 a new Science Library (later renamed the Marston Science Library) is opened at the University of Florida. The library was created from the merger of several science branches, including the Hume Agriculture Library. Reakes, Patrick. 2016. Alachua County Library History: Library History Timeline. UF George A. Smathers Libraries. https://guides.uflib.ufl.edu/c.php?g=147371&p=966877

External links

George A. Smathers Libraries

Link to all of UF's libraries

University of Florida Digital Collections (UFDC)
including
statistics page
that is updated as materials are loaded
UF Libraries History Timeline

Smathers Libraries Campus Conversations

Special and Area Studies Collections Blog

References

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