UCF Special Collections & University Archives Help: ArchivesSpace

To begin a search, use the search bar on the home page.

To see search specifically in Special Collections or University Archives, click the repository tab and then the specific repository.

To see a full alphabetical list of collections, click the Collections tab.

To see a full alphabetical list of our digitized materials, click the Digital Collections tab.

To see a full alphabetical list of subjects, click the Subjects tab.

To see a full alphabetical list of names, click the Names tab.

Once you’ve done a search and are on the search results page, you can use the filter pane on the right side of the page to further limit and customize search results.

You may use the filter pane to filter by repository, record type, subject, and name.

You may also use the search bar at the top of the filter pane to create additional searches within the search results.

ArchivesSpace does not include all archival materials at UCF. Materials not included here are:

• Unprocessed collections
  • Special Collections Unprocessed Collections
  • University Archives Unprocessed Collections
• Materials that have been catalogued.
• Most digitized items

Please see the Searching for Materials box on the Home tab in this LibGuide.

When you have done a search and are on the search results page, “Found In” at the bottom of each search result indicates which repository holds the collection.

When you are viewing a finding aid, the repository that holds the collection is at the top of the page.

Use the Citation button at the top of the collection’s finding aid to generate a formatted citation for the material you are viewing. Citations can be generated at all levels of a finding aid, including at the folder or item level.

Depending on your citation style, you may need to make alterations to the generated citation.

Some materials are stored in our Automated Retrieval Center (ARC) and require a minimum of 24 hours’ notice to retrieve. We strongly encourage all patrons to contact Special Collections & University Archives, either by email or phone (see Contact Us below) to request materials and/or to schedule a research appointment.

To request materials from a collection, select the request button at the top of the page (only viewable at container, folder, or item levels). After you click on the request button, you will be asked include your name, email, anticipated appointment date, and any notes to our staff. Because only one item can be requested at a time, we strongly encourage all patrons to contact Special Collections & University Archives, either by email or phone (see Contact Us below) to request materials and/or to schedule a research appointment.

Collections are non-circulating and must be used in the Special Collections & University Archives’ reading room. Researchers will need to provide a current government or academic-issued photo ID when visiting in person.

Special Collections & University Archives
University of Central Florida Libraries
P.O. Box 162666
Orlando, FL 32816-2666

Website
Phone: (407) 823-2576
Email: speccoll@ucf.edu

• Begin a basic search by entering your search terms in the search bar located at ArchivesSpace homepage. You may limit the search by record type, searchable fields, and date.
  • We recommend keeping Keyword as the searchable type because it searches the entire text.
• Record types allow you to customize the type of records you want a search to return:
  • Collection: Searches using this will only return records of complete collections, rather than people, subjects, series, and files.
  • Digital Materials: Searches using this will only return records of the materials that have been digitized.
• The searchable fields are:
  • Keyword: Searches the entire text of the finding aid.
  • Title: Searches titles of the materials described, including collection records and the series and files within collections. If you know the precise title of the thing you are looking for, searching by title can be very helpful.
  • Creator: Primarily searches the names of the persons, families, and organizations who created the collections. Please note that limiting by “Creator” will primarily search only creators of collections, not individual records or items within collections. Most creators are connected only at the collection level and not at series or file level.
  • Subject: Searches by subject headings assigned to materials by archivists and librarians, e.g. United States history.
  • Notes: Searches the processing information, which gives insight into who arranged the collection and the various alterations made to the collection.
  • Identifier: Searches by identifier, which is a unique number by which materials are tracked and requested.
• Searching by date is approximate, and results may fall outside the date span you enter. For example, if you search for records between 1970 and 1990, your results will likely show collections and series with broader date ranges, such as a result with a date span of 1900-1999 since that date range includes the years 1970-1990.
• You may construct a more complex search by selecting the + icon and adding additional search parameters.

• Searches are not case sensitive.
• You may search for phrases by including quotation marks (e.g. “John Smith”). Putting keywords together in quotes looks for that exact phrasing.
• By default, searches with two or more search terms return results containing all the search terms. Our ArchivesSpace instance defaults to the AND Boolean. You may add OR or NOT to change this behavior (e.g. Marini OR basketball or Marini NOT basketball).
  • For example, using just “Marini” (no quotes) as the search term returns 14 results.
  • Using "Marini Basketball” (no quotes) as the search term returns 4 results. These results have both Marini and Basketball in their records.
  • Using “Marini NOT Basketball” (no quotes) as the search term returns 10 results.
  • Using “Marini OR Basketball” (no quotes) as the search term returns 72 results. These results have either Marini as a result or Basketball as a result.
• You may add a tilde (~) to search for search terms within a specified number of words of one another
  • Using “Marini Basketball”~5 (with quotes) as a search term returns 3 results. These results have the term basketball occurring within 5 words of the term Marini.
• Wildcard symbols ? and * help return a greater number of relevant results by searching for variant spellings and forms of search terms simultaneously.
  • ? replaces a single letter in a search term. It cannot be used as the first character though.
    • Using “wom?n” (no quotes) as the search term will return both women and woman.
  • * replaces any number of letters at the end of a search term. It cannot be used as the first character though.
    • Using “mission*” (no quotes) as the search term will return mission, missions, missionary, and missionaries.

Archives are materials created or received by a person, family, or organization that are preserved because of the enduring value of the information they contain.

Collections are groups of materials assembled by a person, family, organization, or repository. They may be divided hierarchically into series, groupings, and files.

Containers are anything that houses or stores archival materials. A container might be a standard size archival box, an oversize box, a broadside folder, or a media case.

Digital records are born-digital and digitized materials that are available online.

Collection guides, also called finding aids or descriptive guides, are tools that help researchers find information in manuscript or archival collections and include information on the origin, extent, dates, contents, and subjects for the collection.

Repositories are institutions that hold archival materials.

Name records are the people, families, and organizations that create archival materials.

Subject records are topics, places, and genres used to describe the context and content of archival materials.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. Please see the Contact Us box.