University Library News - University Library at Florida Gulf Coast University

Help support the University Library on Give Day 2025! Beginning at noon Wednesday, March 26, through noon Thursday, March 27, you can give to the library to help us continue to support academic success.

Your donation is invaluable to us because it allows our more than 16,000 students, faculty, staff, and community members increased access to technology, teaching, high-quality resources, collections, research, and more. We’re more than just books!

Please make your gift today by clicking HERE. Please spread the word and help us reach more people to achieve our goal. Every donation counts and we can’t do it without your support.

Recent Posts

Give Day 2025 -- Help us Support Academic Success!

Help support the University Library on Give Day 2025! Beginning at noon Wednesday, March 26, through noon Thursday, March 27, you can give to the library to help us continue to support academic success. Your donation is invaluable to us because it allows our more than 16,000 students, faculty, staff, and community members increased access to technology, teaching, high-quality resources, collections, research, and more. We’re more than just books! Please make your gift today by clicking HERE. Please spread the word and help us reach more people to achieve our goal. Every donation counts and we can’t do it without your support. ...

Threads of Memory

By Xena McKinley, Archives Assistant Xena McKinley and Jeffrey Quinn together, 2024. I started working with the University Archives and Special Collections after participating in the internship program in the Summer 2024 semester. Throughout my internship, I had the opportunity to create a display with rare materials from the Koreshan Unity Collection and contribute to the Dean’s Council finding aid. Since the Fall 2024 semester, I have been working to document the history and lived experience of World War II Navy veteran, Lawrence Quinn (1918-1999) who served on U.S. Navy destroyers, including the U.S.S. Borie (DD-215) before she was lost in battle in 1943. His photographs, letters, and reports were brought to us by his son, Jeffrey Quinn to preserve and digitize. My role is to make digital scans that are added to the Lawrence Quinn Collection on our digital repository, DigitalFGCU, and to create a digital humanities project that helps tell his father’s life story. Lawrence Quinn (far right) with five other men in uniform.It is inspiring to read how Lieutenant Quinn was remembered by his shipmates; he was known as the one who would make them laugh despite their situations. Reading the handwritten letters that he would send home helps give such a unique perspective of the daily life of naval officers during the war. The letters he received from his fellow shipmates after the war, are heartwarming as they reminisce over the ways they passed the time on duty and found ways to have lighthearted moments during a tumultuous time. It has been a genuine privilege to be able to help weave the threads of Lieutenant Quinn’s life and naval career together for his family and future generations to appreciate. The opportunity to work at the University Archives and Special Collections and this collection, has helped solidify the importance of this kind of work. I have gained valuable experience in the field and I now want to build my career in. Once I graduate this May, I plan to attain my graduate degree as soon as possible and continue to preserve as much history as I can as a reparative archivist.Find out more about Lieutenant Quinn by visiting the Lawrence Quinn Collection on Digital FGCU and make sure to keep an eye out for the digital humanities project, coming soon! For more information about this project and University Archives and Special Collections internships, please contact the Archives Coordinator, Emily Murray (eamurray@fgcu.edu). ...

Usability Study Participants Wanted

The FGCU Library is looking for students to help us improve the library website. Any current FGCU student, undergrad or graduate that is over 18 years of age is eligible to participate. If chosen to participate, you will meet online with a library researcher where you will be given tasks to complete on the library website. Participants that complete the study will get a $25 Starbucks gift card. Complete the pre-screening survey to volunteer for the study or email Anna Carlin with questions....

Scholar Series: Student Edition

Join us on Wednesday, March 12, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. for our third Scholar Series: Student Edition. Grace Gentle, a graduate student in history and Betul Guner, a graduate student in curriculum and instruction, will present their talk, “The Life and Legacy of Ellen Peterson: A Teacher's Journey to Establishing an Environmentally Conscious Community in Southwest Florida.” Ellen Peterson (1923-2011) was a community leader and activist. She dedicated her life to environmental conservation in Southwest Florida. In 2006, Peterson created the non-profit organization, Happehatchee Center Inc., on her property. Still serving the community today, the center is dedicated to environmental education and spirituality. As a champion of social causes, Peterson left a lasting impact on Southwest Florida. The talk will take place on the first floor of Library West, by the Data Visualization Wall area. Snacks will be provided. Registration is encouraged but not required. Click HERE to register....

Give Day 2025 -- Help us Support Academic Success!

Florida Gulf Coast University Library