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Assignment 2
Virtual Collection Analysis Field Trip
For this assignment, I, Summer Luster, chose the virtual library Documenting the
American South Collection from the University of North Carolina found at
http://docsouth.unc.edu/browse/collections.html. For further examination, I selected the specific
collection called First Person Narratives of the American South. I selected this collection for
several reasons. First, I wanted to select a different library than where I took my first field trip
because I wanted to explore other libraries, as I am familiar with the Oklahoma State University
libraries. However, I wanted to select a collection that was still in the history field so that I could
better compare and contrast the virtual collection with a somewhat similar print collection.
Again, I felt that my degree in History and my knowledge of the subject matter would be
beneficial when examining the collection. I selected the First Person Narratives of the American
South because I have always been particularly interested in primary sources and thought I would
enjoy reading the first person accounts for this virtual field trip collection analysis.
Collection Audience
The University of North Carolina Documenting the American South collection is fairly
comprehensive, including primary and secondary sources, texts, journals, letters, pictures, and
audio. The First Person Narratives of the American South collection contained over 150 items,
mostly consisting of text, photos, and illustrated materials. The collections can be accessed by
anyone with an internet connection and based on the Google analytics provided on the
Documenting the American South websites, averages over 2000 visits a day. The items in the
First Person Narratives of the American South collection are written by lesser-known individuals
from the antebellum south and later. The items in the collection are interesting and unique
because they allow us to hear the voice of an average woman, or a freed slave, or noncombatant
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laborer, which have tended to be ignored in history. The study of everyday life and everyday
people in history, or social history, is still fairly new and many physical collections do not
contain these kinds of items. Further the emphasis on the use of primary sources in education at
all levels is becoming stronger, especially with the introduction of the new curriculum called
Common Core. Therefore, I believe that the audience for the First Person Narratives of the
American South collection and the University of North Carolina Documenting the American
South in general is very broad and includes many different types of people. Based on the items
available in the collection, I would assume that the primary audience for the First Person
Narratives of the American South collection would be professional historians, history students at
the post secondary and secondary level, professors and teachers, genealogists and hobby
historians.
The website is especially geared toward education. Since the virtual collection is funded
through the University of North Carolina, it is reasonable to assume that the collection would be
used by University of North Carolina students and professors, however many other educators
may use the site as well. There is a special section included on the website on classroom
resources and designing lesson plans using Documenting the American South. Teachers or
professors may select items or have students search the site or a specific collection for items.
The types of materials available in the First Person Narratives of the American South collection
are perfect for the analytical non-fiction emphasis of the Common Core curriculum adopted by
many states. Further university students or secondary students would likely use the collections
as primary source material for research papers.
Additional users of the collection would also likely include hobby historians and
genealogists. There are many Civil War enthusiasts, including re-enactors that would be
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interested in the details of everyday life in the Civil War South. The First Person Narratives of
the American South collection is an excellent resource for historical details. The ease of
accessibility would make this particular collection especially attractive for hobby historians and
genealogist not associated with an educational institution. The ability to find this information
from home without travelling or getting guest permission to check out materials would be a
major benefit for this audience.
Current vs. Classic
The First Person Narrative of the American South collection is focused on older items
that are unique, but have not necessarily garnished a lot of attention in the past. My examination
of the items in the collection showed few items from the twentieth century and no items after the
1950s. This is interesting because the name of the collection does not include a timeframe and
there is certainly a lot of history worthy of study after 1950. Thus I would conclude that the
focus of the collection is on the best of the unique primary sources available in the pre-Civil
War, Civil War, and post-Civil War periods.
Adequacy of Collection
The collection seems like it would fulfill the needs of educational and recreational users
nicely. It is easy to navigate and includes varying length sources that could be used by a broad
range of people. Users can browse the collection alphabetically by item or by subject index.
This allows users to locate specific items or browse by an assigned topic, personal interest, or
curriculum need. Conducting a needs assessment of the virtual collection is a little more difficult
than in a physical library since there is less contact with the user and less knowledge about users
in general. However, librarians could use tools like Google analytics to determine web traffic
and repeat versus new users. Virtual collection librarians should also work closely with those
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responsible for similar physical holdings so that the collections work together. The virtual
collection librarian should also discuss the collection with the university History department
professors, sociology department professors, or other pertinent university departments to
determine if more or different resources would better benefit them. Additionally, a short survey
could be added to the website asking if the users’ needs were met and what their purpose was in
visiting the collection.
My Opinion of the Collection
In my opinion, this collection is an excellent and extremely useful educational tool. The
problem is that many people may not know that it exists. If the University of North Carolina
held regional outreach and professional/continuing education meetings for secondary school
teachers and university faculty this might increase the usage of the collection. Providing
classroom resources is a step in the right direction, but further advertising of the resources with
professional organizations and educators associations would be smart. Once users get to the
website, it could be made easier to use by adding a search feature to the collection rather than
just allowing browsing by item title and author or subject index. Though the indexing seems
comprehensive, making the items compatible with in-text searching that searches the entirety of
the text in all the items would be very helpful to users. This would allow users to find more
specific information to suit their needs more quickly.
This collection is definitely best suited as a digital collection. Primary sources can be
intimidating to the casual user or student and walking up to a shelf full of them is especially so.
A virtual collection allows users to more easily access the items and filter through the items that
they need. Additionally, primary sources such as letters, journals, and other handwritten items
can be difficult to read, so the ability to enlarge, lighten, or otherwise enhance the uploaded
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image of a primary source is beneficial to the user. Finally, as a digital collection the items are
accessible to a broader range of users. If the materials were just in print, it is unlikely that people
unassociated with the University of North Carolina would be able to make use of the collection.