The following presentation concerns the
implementation
of
digital
humanities
services in Loyola Marymount University’s
William H. Hannon Library.
Melanie Hubbard
April 18, 2014
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES
LIBRARIES & DIGITAL HUMANITIES
“Digital humanities most clearly represents the spirit that animated the
ancient foundations at Alexandria, Pergamum, and Memphis, the great
monastic libraries of the Middle Ages, and even the first research libraries
of
the
German
Enlightenment. It
is
obsessed
with
varieties
of
representation, the organization of knowledge, the technology of
communication and dissemination, and the production of useful tools for
scholarly inquiry.”
(Ramsay, 2010)
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | What is DH?
DIGITAL HUMANITIES IS…
humanities
scholarship
+
{
computing
synthesis
presentation
analysis
research
pedagogy
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | What is DH?
DIGITAL HUMANITIES IS…
{
inherentl
y
location
scope
interdisciplinary &
methodological
{
{
conducted by
single
transcontinental
international
facilitated by
large
{
individual
group
{
academic department
digital humanities center
library
small
varying complexity
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | What is DH?
ASPECTS OF DIGITAL HUMANITIES
topic modeling
{identifying thematic structures}
text mining
{analysis of data in natural language}
data visualization
{data abstracted into a visual representation}
geographical information systems
{captures, alters, manages and displays geographic data}
collaboration
{shared projects in digital environments}
presentation
{articulating and displaying DH scholarship}
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | What is DH?
TOOL EXAMPLE: GIS
TimeMapper
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | What is DH?
TOOL EXAMPLE: TEXTUAL ANALYSIS
Voyant
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | What is DH?
PROJECT EXAMPLE: TEXTUAL ANALYSIS
benfry.com/traces
(Fry, 2009)
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | What is DH?
THE DH/LIBRARY INTERSECTION
managing and curating digital assets
designing digital resources
preserving digital assets and resources
analyzing and visualizing data
creating digital project best practices
digital preservation
using and promoting the use of social media
performing digital resource instruction
digitizing media
planning digital projects
teaching use and evaluation of digital resources
developing and managing websites
promoting access to and use of primary sources
designing metadata schemas
incorporating and teaching emerging technologies
focusing on usability, findability and searchability
disseminating digital scholarly content
encoding metadata
working with rights management
classifying and organizing data
(Galina Russell, 2011 ) (Shower, 2012) (Vandegrift, 2012)
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | Why Libraries?
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Landscape
A FEW BASIC OBSERVATIONS
approximately 35 DH academic programs in the US and numerous DH
courses peppered throughout curricula
discussion concerning the digital humanities landscape often focuses on
DH centers
DH is most often associated with larger universities and research libraries
liberal arts colleges with DH centers include Hamilton College, Occidental
College and Whittier College
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Landscape
FRAMEWORK OF SERVICES
digital humanities centers {supports various DH needs on a larger
scale, i.e. programing and TEI encoding; may or may not be linked
with libraries}
suite of services {a predetermined set of services}
ad hoc {services that come about as needed}
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Landscape
DH IN LIBERAL ARTS UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES
Misgivings:
liberal arts colleges have less funding, less support and less infrastructure
Advantages:
shallower administrative hierarchies,
relatively rapidly and at lower cost
less
institutional
inertia,
innovate
more collegiality across disciplines and divisions, and between faculty and
staff members, easier to build coalitions and to organize project teams
plays a greater pedagogical role by engaging students in interdisciplinary
studies and active and collaborative learning
(Alexander & Frost Davis, 2012) (Pannapacker, 2013)
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Landscape
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Services @ LMU
RELATIONSHIP TO THE HANNON LIBRARY’S
2013-2020 STRATEGIC PLAN
DH facilitation in the library would offer “distinctive services that enable[s]
learners to feed their curiosity” through unique digital means, “develop their
ideas” through the use of digital analysis and presentation tools, and,
through the presence of various DH online projects, “inspire others” on the
LMU campus and beyond.
Providing DH services and facilitating DH endeavors would “[foster]
intellectual and cultural collaborations throughout LMU and the broader
scholarly community, and among library peers.”
Learning DH skills contributes to a student’s ability to “identify, locate,
evaluate, and effectively and responsibly use and share information,” thus
DH contributes to the Hannon Library’s efforts to “increase students’
information literacy proficiencies.”
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Services
RELATIONSHIP TO THE HANNON LIBRARY’S
2013-2020 STRATEGIC PLAN (con’t)
Facilitating and participating in digital humanities practices is a form of
stewardship of “digital collections in support of academic excellence.”
Moreover, because digitized Archives and Special Collection materials will no
doubt be incorporated in LMU DH projects, DH services will “increase access to
archival and other local collections through digitization and metadata.”
Supporting DH endeavors within and outside of the Hannon Library “promote[s]
the research and creative output of LMU students and faculty in innovative,
creative ways.”
Finally, as a result of the library’s participation in digital humanities practices,
“the library will act as a cultural and intellectual hub that [will connect] LMU
with communities off campus.”
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Services
SERVICES TO BE OFFERED
assisting faculty with the DH pedagogical needs, i.e. design of DH
course elements
providing digital humanities reference consultations
digital humanities collection development
DH classroom instruction, i.e. teaching out of the box tools, i.e.
Timemapper, Voyager, MALLET, Wordpress
maintaining of DH tools/software on library computers
student & faculty DH project consultation, i.e. data management,
tool recommendations, best practices, metadata schema design
building and maintaining Explore DH website, including the
creation of DH tool tutorials
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Services
Explore Digital Humanities website
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Services
SERVICES SCALABILITY
4
Large Scale Bring in outside
Project Facilitation: assistance, i.e. programmers;
Unique primarily customized projects that likely Facilitate relationships with other academic institutions
involve the hiring of new staff; typically grant
funded
3
Advanced DH Services & Work with faculty and/or academic departments in the
Project Facilitation: design process; facilitate partnerships between, i.e. ITS
Custom-designed user interfaces, custom and faculty
metadata assistance, data management
assistance
2
1
Standard DH Services: Provide digital humanities
Institutional repository, data analysis tools,
copyright consultation, more in depth website
creation and web exhibit software (i.e. Omeka or
Biblioboard)
software and tools instruction
Basic Academic & Consult with professors about course related projects;
Administrative Tools Support: Provide reference for digital humanities projects and
LMS, wikis, blogs, scanning services, template research
based website platforms, file storage
Technological
Interpersonal
(Vinopal & McCormick, 2013)
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Services
USER NEEDS ASSESSMENT
LIBRARY:
Expressed interest on the part of librarians and staff members
FACULTY:
Dermot Ryan (English), Kirstin Noreen (Art History), Jane Brucker (Fine
Arts), Molly Youngkin (English), Stephen Shepherd (English), Courtney
Spikes (History), Annemarie Pérez (Chicano Studies)
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Services
GOALS OF THE SERVICE
To support faculty digital humanities needs be it for teaching or for their
own scholarship
To support students in their digital humanities scholarship
To facilitate innovative and creative forms of scholarship
To create a stronger partnership between the various humanities
departments and the library
To elevate the library’s own digital scholarship, i.e. an increased awareness
of the digital library and the scholarship put toward the digital library
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Assessment
OUTCOMES OF THE SERVICE
Faculty who incorporate DH in their teaching will see the library as a
resource for their DH pedagogical needs.
Faculty will consistently use the library for the DH aspects of their scholarship.
Students will be able to demonstrate DH skills and knowledge in their
humanities studies.
Students will know how to use the library to gain DH skills and for accessing
DH tools.
The library’s offering of DH services will elevate its own digital presence, i.e.
digital library collections.
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Assessment
PRIMARY SERVICE USERS
Faculty: pedagogy, individual projects and information resources, as
models for their own digital humanities projects
Undergraduate & Graduate Students: class projects, information
resources, existing projects as models for their own DH work
Outside Researchers: information resources, to learn about scholarship
at LMU, existing projects as models for their own DH work
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Services
PRIMARY SERVICE PROVIDERS
Digital Humanities Librarian:
primary responsibility is DH services, facilitation and operations
has a strong grasp of trends both in the humanities and digital humanities,
significant experience in humanities research and has an aptitude for
technology
will provide instruction, reference and some technical support to DH
scholars
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Services
PRIMARY SERVICE PROVIDERS (con’t)
Reference Librarians: may lead library instruction concerning the use of
certain DH related tools
Archives and Special Collections Librarians: A&SC librarians may teach the
history of the book classes, provide reference assistance to DH scholars,
and supply scans of primary source materials
Digital Librarian: provide expertise concerning the management of digital
assets
Metadata Librarian: will assist in the creation of metadata best practices
and metadata schemas
Information Technology Services: may be called upon for technical
assistance support and to assist in the implementation of new technologies
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Services
KEY STAKEHOLDERS
Internal Stakeholders: librarians, library staff, and library embedded ITS
personnel
External Stakeholders: faculty, undergraduate and graduate students,
University Staff, in particular ITS department as a whole and the Web,
New Media and Design department, outside of LMU researchers, and
the digital humanities community
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Services
SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS:
state-of-the-art instruction rooms
archives and special collections materials
established digital library program
numerous digitized objects in the digital library
a new strategic plan with goals and objectives that align with DH
a core group of library oriented faculty members
a university community that encourages interdisciplinary and
interdepartmental partnerships
WEAKNESSES:
no single library staff member to lead this effort
compete with other library instruction time
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Services
SWOT ANALYSIS
OPPORTUNITIES:
librarians learn new skills
library and academic department collaborations
foster interdisciplinary relationships on campus
present LMU scholarship to a global community
new ways to encourage and teach information literacy
THREATS:
lack of interest on the part of faculty
inability to sustain
infrastructure proves to be inadequate
cannot institute quickly enough to keep interest
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Services
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Marketing
RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE DH FIELD
MICAH VANDEGRIFT AND STEWART VARNER:
“By understanding the kinds of work scholars on your campus are doing
and being familiar with the work being done at the cutting edge of
digital humanities you will be well positioned to make your library an
integral part of the intellectual lives of your users.” (2013)
THEY SUGGEST:
do not wait for their users to come to them
get out in the community
attend events put on by the departments with whom the library will
conduct or potentially conduct DH projects
speak to faculty in person and join department listservs (2013)
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Marketing
MARKETING METHODS
LMU.edu website: announcements on the LMU homepage
internal listserv: DH listserv for LMU faculty and students
external listserv: communicate with external listsers about LMU DH activities,
i.e. DH+Lib listserv
demonstrations: demonstrations of current DH related tools, concepts and
resources
workshops: host workshops that instruct faculty on how to use DH related
tools
library subject liaison outreach: relay DH related information to subject
liaisons respective humanities departments
posters: posters with Quick Response Code that links to the Explore Digital
Humanities website will be displayed around campus
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Marketing
poster
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Marketing
library website
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Marketing
social media
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Marketing
bookmarks
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Marketing
buttons
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Marketing
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Assessment
RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE DH FIELD
JENNIFER VINOPAL AND MONICA MCCORMICK:
“[determine] success criteria, [evaluate] client satisfaction, identifying what
did and did not work, [calculate] staff hours spent on development and
support activities, [estimate] costs and possible efficiencies, and [consider]
next steps.” (2013)
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Assessment
ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION
APPLY THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES’
INFORMATION LITERACY VALUE RUBRIC WHICH:
gauges a students ability to determine the information needed,
analyze that information and use that information effectively and
ethically.
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Assessment
IMPACT RUBRIC
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | DH Assessment
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | Here and Now?
THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND
Offering digital humanities services will not make Loyola Marymount
University a major DH institution. It will, however, put LMU on a long
overdue academic and intellectual path.
There are many ways to do DH. It is up to every institution to
develop their own DH approach and to define their own DH brand
(Alexander & Frost Davis, 2012).
Faculty and librarians alike already conduct scholarship and
research that falls within (or nearly falls within) the realm of digital
humanities.
Digital humanities studies and scholarship provide another career
path for humanities students both in and outside of academia.
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | Here and Now?
WHY DIGITAL HUMANITIES @
THE WILLIAM H. HANNON LIBRARY?
Digital humanities is here to stay.
Libraries are leaders in the digital humanities field.
The William H. Hannon library strives to foster cultural
and intellectual university endeavors.
The library is the most capable and qualified to lead,
advance and sustain LMU’s digital humanities
mission.
Because it is entirely possible.
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES | Here and Now?
REFERENCES
Alexander, B. & Frost Davis, R. (2013). Should liberal arts campuses do digital humanities? Process and
products in the small college world. In Debates in the Digital Humanities.
Association of American Colleges and Universities. (n.d.). Information literacy VALUE rubric.
Frost Davis, R. (2012, August 16). Digital humanities and liberal education. National Institute for Technology
in Liberal Education. Retrieved from http://blogs.nitle.org/2011/03/02/digital-humanities-and-liberaleducation
Fry, B. (2009). On the origin of species: the preservation of favoured traces. Retrieved April 16, 2014, from
http://benfry.com/traces
Galina Russell, I. (2011). The role of libraries in digital humanities. IFLA. Retrieved from http://conference.
ifla.org/ifla77
Pannapacker, W. (2013, February 18). Advice. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://
chronicle.com/article/Stop-Calling-It-Digital/137325
Ramsay, S. (2010, October 8). Care four the soul [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://stephenramsay.us/
text/2010/10/08/care-of-the-soul
Showers, B. (2012, February 13). Does the library have a role to play in the digital humanities? JISC.
Retrieved from http://infteam.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2012 /02/23/ does-the-library-have-a- role-to-playin-the-digital-humanities
Vandegrift, M. & Varner, S. (2013). Evolving in common: Creating mutually supportive relationships
between libraries and the digital humanities. Journal of Library Administration, 53(1), 67-78. doi:
10.1080/01930826.2013.756699
Vinopal, J. & McCormick, M. (2013). Supporting digital scholarship in research libraries: Scalability and
sustainability. Journal of Library Administration, 53(1), 27-42. doi: 10.1080/01930826.2013.756689
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES
EXPLORE DIGITAL HUMANITIES