USF Library

The library’s website at the University of South Florida is an incredible resource for public records and all kinds of other information. The USF library’s website is a great place to start for anyone needing to create an accurate profile of local public figures.

Coordinator for General Collection and Government Documents Cheryl McCoy helped guide our class through the library’s links and resources. Under resources, one can locate the class link for Public Affairs Reporting. One useful link on the class’ site is idiganwers.com, a website created by Joe Adams. The site shows updates of the Florida Public Records Handbook and even shows you the old laws that were changed. There is also a link on the site to the Florida Sunshine Review, which shows recent news stories pertaining to public records. Many of these stories show violations of public record laws as well as talks of changes in the laws. There’s even an archive that contains news stories about public records going back to 2003.

The library’s site also has a link to the Brencher Center, which is a site dedicated to educating the public about the importance of public records and current public records laws. It also works to expand the laws of public records so that they may be more easily accessible.

The Government in the Sunshine link can also be found on the library’s website. This site also shows changes in the current laws. The First Amendment Foundation is a similar link that can be found, which shows updates and talks of change in public records laws.

One of the best links on the library’s website is that of myfloridacounty.com. This site allows users to search public records databases by county. You can find information such as birth certificates, death certificates, marriage and divorce records, wills and many other public records.

The link to Hillsborough County’s website also shows upcoming public meetings and what’s on the agenda for the meetings. The site also shows happenings of past meetings in the county. There is also an A to Z index link that allows users to easily locate information like property records, building permits, arrest records and budgets.

The library also has a link that allows you to search for a particular news topic in various newspapers around the state like the Tampa Tribune, Orlando-Sentinel and the Miami Herald. You can also expand your search to national newspapers like the USA Today.

Overall, the USF library’s website is an incredible source of information about public records. It is an excellent starting place for anyone who needs to know anything about public records in the state of Florida.