Science Fiction at UF

The University of Calgary’s Bob Gibson Collection of Speculative Fiction consists of 28,000 published items of speculative fiction (SF) and reflects a lifetime of collecting by the late William Robert (Bob) Gibson. Following Bob’s passing in 2001, his son, Andrew Gibson, gifted the University of Calgary Library this remarkable example of speculative fiction.

The Eaton Collection of Science Fiction & Fantasy is one of the world's largest, richest, and deepest collections of science fiction, fantasy, horror, utopian literature and related genres. The collection originated with the personal library of Dr. J. Lloyd Eaton, consisting of about 7,500 hardback editions of science fiction, fantasy and horror from the Nineteenth to the mid-Twentieth centuries, which was acquired by the UCR Library in 1969.

Established as the first research center of its kind by esteemed author and educator James E. Gunn, the J. Wayne & Elsie M. Gunn Center for the Study of SF is dedicated to research and education in science fiction and other speculative forms.

Dating from the 1880s to the present, the Science Fiction Collection at Houghton Library includes trade paperbacks, magazines, fanzines, and prozines, as well as many works of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. The Science Fiction Collection at Houghton Library consists largely of 20th-century trade paperbacks, magazines, fanzines, and prozines. Established as a discrete collection in 1957, it complements the Rev. Francis G. Peabody Utopian Literature Collection, as well as the library’s individual author collections of such writers as Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Edward Bellamy.

The collection also includes pulp and slick magazines, posters, paintings, drawing, and related ephemera. Science fiction and fantasy fan culture and criticism often referred to as science fiction fandom are documented in serials known as fanzines. Notable fanzine collections include the Women Writers Fan Fiction Collection, circa 1979-1996, which includes fanzines, underground, and circuit literature written, designed, produced and distributed by female fans of science fiction media teleplays, actors, and characters.

Recognizing that history and literature occur outside of the established canon, the University of South Florida’s Science Fiction & Fantasy Collection provides scholars and students the opportunity to explore the development and influence of popular fiction genres. The Science Fiction & Fantasy Collection consists of several thousand volumes of iconic works and literary criticism, 200 linear feet of manuscript materials, a number of first editions and first printings of classic titles, European and Latin American authors, a significant collection of science fiction pulp magazines and dime novels, and a digital archive of the SFRA Review.

Europe's largest catalogued collection of SF material, including the Science Fiction Foundation Collection and a wealth of literary archives. There are over 35,000 books and 2,500 critical works from the earliest speculative fiction to present day, as well as over 2,500 periodical titles - one of the most extensive collections of critical journals, fanzines & fiction magazines in the world. The collections also contain extensive archival material: the papers and manuscripts of some of the most important writers in the genre, including John Wyndham, Olaf Stapledon, John Brunner, Eric Frank Russell and Brian Aldiss.

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Collection at Cushing Library is one of the largest of its kind in the world. It holds thousands upon thousands of books and monographs ranging from 17th-century works of proto-science fiction to the most recent titles of significance; serials, including over 90% of the SF and other genre American pulp magazines published in the 20th-century; a growing number of archival collections from authors and other creators; and fanworks such as fanzines, fanvids and folksong.

The UT Libraries Science Fiction collection has been built intentionally since the 1970s, when Harold W. Billings, the director of the Libraries from 1972-2003, personally curated and donated science fiction novels for the Perry-Castañeda Library. The UT Libraries has a sizeable collection of science fiction materials, both for leisure reading and research inquiry.