SPEC Kit 341: Digital Collections Assessment and Outreach · 63
etc. is itself usually regarded as the focus of engagement, as opposed to plans for the resources created as a result. (The
results though are never seen as disposable and projects always aim at creating sustainable and valuable resources.)
Teachers, students, and all academic users are looking for digital content to supplement their research. Assessment and
outreach methodologies are required to make digital collections evident to these groups and to encourage their use and
integration in research and teaching.
The division of Digital Initiatives and Open Access has keen interest in all of the initiatives and services mentioned in this
question, but we have had few resources to dedicate to the active pursuit of integrating them with locally curated digital
collections. We certainly create our collections with all of these in mind, and continue to plan for work when our staffing
increases.
The Libraries and the College of Arts &Sciences have a joint Center for Digital Research in the Humanities or CDRH
(called E-text 1998–2004 officially designated a Center in 2005) that is considered a university-wide Program of
Excellence with special funding and a growing number of faculty lines in three colleges. Most of its 50+ projects involve
digital scholarship and digital publication of special collections materials. These materials may be from our own Archives
&Special Collections or from special collections held by other libraries, depending upon the area of research. Digital
collections developed in the Libraries and in CDRH often are integrated into teaching in either the digital humanities
minor or the interdisciplinary graduate certificate in digital humanities. Some have been selected by EDSITEment.
Archives &Special Collections within the Libraries (part of the same department as CDRH) has a very active program in
digitization of photographic collections as public collections in CONTENTdm, Omeka, and History Pin. Digital resources
demonstrate ways in which to incorporate archival research and digital scholarship into history assignments. Data
curation has been managed by a committee in the Libraries, and CDRH has a representative on this committee. The
library is in the process of hiring a data curation librarian who will take on a leadership role on the committee.
The library is looking to further our partnerships with Digital Humanities and digital scholarships initiatives on campus,
and position our locally curated digital collections and their infrastructure to support that effort. We at present leverage
the university infrastructure for digital scholarship to support open access publishing from faculty and researchers on our
campus.
The locally curated digital collections have not as of yet been integrated into other potential digital initiatives. The
Libraries is developing an institutional repository and there is interest in digital humanities projects on campus.
The new digital initiatives referenced above have definitely highlighted the need for more outreach, assessment, and
integration with research and teaching. We are conducting user interviews, focus groups, and surveys to identify how
research and teaching practices are changing, and how library services can evolve to meet our users’ emerging needs.
Many of these new initiatives require increased IT support and new staff positions, and careful assessment helps us
make the case for these needs. New trends like library digital publishing are inviting us to redefine the boundaries
of our services. Our institution’s new open access policy has given rise to a revamped outreach strategy surrounding
digital collections. Basically, it feels like everything is changing in research libraries in general, and in our own library
specifically, and the more quantifiable assessment, active outreach, and close integration with research and teaching
that we can do, the more secure, sustainable, and vital the library will be in the university landscape in the decades to
come.
The programs are structurally separated within the organization and the interactions are limited.
The Scholars’ Commons (launching Fall 2014) will serve as collaborative space dedicated to technologies and services
that support in-depth scholarship and scholarly community. The Office of Scholarly Publishing formed in 2012 to align
publishing activities happening across campus including the university press and the Libraries, and extend publishing
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