Classes and Workshops

We’re Here for You…

Introduce your students to research, create assignments, or trace the long history of an idea through the collections. From in-class visits and presentations to assignments, the classes at UF give new life to old books. Incorporating items from our collections into your syllabus will spark your students’ creativity and curiosity.

What does a class look like?

Experience: Classes work collaboratively to discuss, explore, and contextualize materials. Our faculty and staff work with instructors to select and design classes and activities that promote active use of the collections and center the immediacy of working with primary sources.   

Reflection: Primary sources require students to empathize and understand diverse perspectives, both on their own and in comparison with their present values and beliefs. Students are encouraged to make meaningful connections through discussion, written or creative work. Context and empathy are necessary in order to ask informed, important questions about the statements and silences in our collections.  

Transformation: Our lessons are rooted in the materiality of collections, but not limited by them. Classes help build the research skills for students to explore beyond the boundaries of their classroom or the holdings of the library, and to create new knowledge from their experiences.  

Here’s some of what you can do:

• Presentations on materials either in-person or for integration into your class assignments and discussions.
• In-depth walkthroughs of course topics from the collections.
• Lecture followed by examination or discussion of collection items.
• Multi-visit small group research project with in-class presentations.
• Semester-long assignments for courses with a focus on non-traditional learning (QUEST, Intersections)

…Wherever You Are

Collaborating with faculty to custom-build material for your courses.

Possibilities Include

• Live presentations on a subject area of the collections.
• Video walkthroughs of our holdings for assignments and projects.
• Introductions to a topic, followed by a live discussion.
• Guided tours of digitized books – at UF and around the world.