PHOTO VIA UCF
UCF abruptly shut down two campus libraries and its LibTech Desk last week, laying off employees without advance notice in what the university is calling a “realignment” of library operations.
The LibTech Desk and Curriculum Materials Center on the main campus in Orlando, and the Addition Financial Downtown Campus Library were all closed Thursday. UCF’s library hours webpage now lists the LibTech Desk and Curriculum Materials Center as “no longer available” and the downtown library as “not currently available.” It is unclear whether any of the three will reopen.
Antonella Herrera Hernández, a senior technical communication major who worked at the downtown library, told UCF news site The Charge that she learned her job had been terminated during a phone call with UCF Human Resources on Thursday. She said she was given no advance notice and no explanation beyond the word “realignment.” Read their full article for more quotes from Hernández.
The LibTech Desk allowed students to borrow calculators, cameras, chargers, laptops, and tablets at no cost. A university webpage listing those services recently went offline. Signage at the main campus library now directs students to return checked-out equipment to the Access Services desk on the second floor of the John C. Hitt Library.
In a statement to Orlando Shine, UCF said the changes “followed a comprehensive review of library usage, academic priorities, and available resources to ensure limited resources are focused on the services that provide the greatest impact for students, faculty, and researchers.” The university did not specify which services were being cut or whether any would be replaced.
The library closures are part of a broader wave of cuts at UCF. According to a reader who contacted Orlando Shine, the university also conducted a reduction in force at the College of Education roughly two weeks ago, affecting 13 people ranging from administrative staff to tenured professors. The same reader said UCF Global recently laid off employees, some of whom had worked there for more than 20 years.
The reader also noted that UCF’s new provost has a history of cutting education programs at previous institutions, and that the provost was reported to have spoken critically about the College of Education while addressing the College of Business — though those claims could not be independently verified.
The cuts come as UCF pursues preeminent university status under state criteria, though the Florida Legislature did not approve preeminence funding this year. UCF announced the largest financial donation in university history to its College of Business on April 15 and is set to spend $290 million expanding science and engineering research in the 2026-27 academic year, according to the university’s 2025 Accountability Plan.
