Digital Library Center - University of Florida Smathers Libraries

Giving to the Center

The Digital Library Center relies on the generosity of individual donors and charitable organizations to fund collection development and public programs. Support for the Libraries and the Center builds lasting, sustainable resources while also developing new methods and systems for studying and understanding those resources across the sciences, humanities, and arts.

The Center's Activities

In addition to regular exhibits and events, nearly every day the Digital Library Center adds new materials to the digital collections, sharing them with the research community and the public. The Digital Library Center sponsors exhibits and other public events while also offering tours that show the Center's activities and the role of digitization in creating sustainable and accessible resources. The Center is unique as a bridge from the Libraries' history, working closely with the traditional role of universities and libraries to protect and provide access to the many rare and wonderous materials collected within the University of Florida's Libraries. In these ways and more, the Digital Library Center contributes to public intellectual and creative life, and radiates new thinking across disciplines, into the classroom, and throughout the larger community.

Priority: the Florida Digital Newspaper Library
The Florida Digital Newspaper Library (FDNL) provides access to yesterday’s news of Florida, including both historic and continuing publications. Issues are page viewable with text search capabilities in English, Spanish and French. (The Spanish and French interfaces are in development.) The Library serves researchers in the State Universities of Florida, but is most heavily used by the patrons of public libraries, genealogists and individuals with general interests. >> More

Contribute to the University of Florida's The Florida Alligator >>
Priority: Digital Library of the Caribbean
Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) provides access to historically significant archival, library and museum materials from or about the Caribbean. Materials are page viewable with text search capabilities in English, Spanish and French. The Library represents a partnership of content-providing institutions in Florida and several Caribbean nations. This collection of otherwise geographically dispersed materials preserves cultural heritage while giving the researcher a single destination gateway, reducing the cost of travel. The program provides equipment and training in exchange for digital content from partnered institutions. >> More
Priority: Data Mining and Geo-Temporal Referencing
Most research whether conducted at University, in grade school, or even in commercial offices succeeds or fails based on ability to find data about a person, place or named thing. Typically, the research entails a lot of footwork. One digs through library catalogs and archival collections. Our Research & Referencing project is designed to build the smart systems that bring the researcher directly to need research resources, saving time and money. Smart search systems make the researcher more efficient, affording more time for analysis of data or productivity increases. >> More
Priority: The Florida Digital Aerial Photography Collection
Historical aerial photographs dramatically document changes in Florida’s land use. Between 1938 and 1971, the U.S. Department of Agriculture created more than 88,000 black and white, 9 x 9 aerial photographs with 2,421 accompanying photomosaic indexes (1938-1971) of Florida. Due to the unstable nature of the photographic negative’s sodium nitrate composition, the U.S. government destroyed archival negatives for the earliest photos. As a result, the aging hardcopy photographic prints are all that remain of this historic resource. Originally intended to assist farmers determine accurate assessments for their farms and to provide information on crop determination and soil conservation, today these images provide some of the oldest land use/cover information available. They are used extensively in agriculture, conservation, urbanization, recreation, education, hydrology, geology, land use, ecology, geography, and history. >> More

Ways to Give

Make an online gift: To make an online gift now, please click here.

Postal Mail: Click here to print a Friends of the George A. Smathers Libraries donation form.

Mail to: Office of Development
George A. Smathers Libraries
University of Florida
P.O. Box 117001
Gainesville, FL 32611-2001

Donate by Phone: To donate by credit card, call the UF Foundation’s Annual Giving office at 1-800-279-6796. They can immediately process MasterCard, Visa, and Discover donations with the strictest of confidence.

The libraries’ giving Web site (http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/admin/giving/index.htm) has additional information. At the University of Florida Foundation Web site, there is information about gift types and incentives at UF. If you have questions regarding making a gift to the University of Florida, you may wish to consult the University of Florida Foundation Frequently Asked Questions page. If you still have questions, feel free to contact us.

We welcome gifts of any size—every dollar makes a difference!

For more information about gift opportunities at the Digital Library Center, please contact the libraries’ Office of Development at (352) 273-2505.