UCF Libraries Information for Legacy Pointe Residents

The John C. Hitt Library, the main library at UCF and named in 2011 after the University's fourth president, was the first academic building constructed on campus in 1968. It is an example of the "Brutalist" style of architecture, characterized by minimalist design and use of exposed unpainted concrete or brick and angular geometric shapes. In 1981, an addition was begun on the back of the building that was not completed until 1984.

In 2018, the first phase of what is called the 21st Century Library Project, which eventually will renovate the entire Hitt Library building, included the Automated Retrieval Center — or ARC — which houses a robotically guided system which, by virtue of density and height, is able to hold up to nine times more cubic material than conventional library shelving. This facility enabled the Libraries to move approximately 80 percent of the Hitt Library print collection into this compact structure, allowing tens of thousands of square feet to be repurposed as study, research, and learning space. Libraries across the world, including over twenty in the United States, have installed similar retrieval centers, such as the University of Chicago, North Carolina State University, University of Missouri – Kansas City, and Georgia Southern University. The John C. Hitt Library ARC is the first of its kind in Florida.

Some additional information about the UCF Libraries:

• The total Libraries' print collection is at over two million volumes, which includes government documents. Total print and e-books volumes now total 2,518,611.
• Total online database subscriptions total 515, including many primary source databases, such as the NAACP Papers Online, North American Women's Letters and Diaries: Colonial to 1950, Early English Books Online (EEBO), Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO), Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO), and World's Fairs: A Global History of Expositions.
• The Libraries have six streaming video collections: Alexander Street Press, Digital Campus/SWANK, Feature Films for Education, FMG: Films on Demand, Kanopy, and the PBS Video Collection.
• The Libraries are both a U.S. Federal Document Depository as well as a State of Florida Document Depository.
• The Libraries also is a U.S. Patent and Trademark Depository.
• The Bryant West Indies Collection in Special Collections and University Archives contains over 2,500 items, including 1,800 books and periodicals on the history, geography, economy, and social life of the West Indies and the Caribbean area. It is particularly rich in Caribbean artwork.