The Role of Special Collections Departments in Humanities Undergraduate and Graduate Teaching: A Case Study

Schmiesing, Ann; Hollis, Deborah R.

doi:10.1353/pla.2002.0065

Cited by 33 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Anasi et al (2013) noted the use of cultural heritage in research and learning as instrumental in protecting rights, and serving as instruments of public accountability. Despite this affirmative, Schmiesing and Hollis (2002) had observed the use of special collections for teaching was a rarely researched topic in the library literature. Their argument that faculty and librarians overlooked the ''pedagogical advantages of using rare materials and book history to further students' understanding of subjects within a variety of disciplines'' (p. 466) can be further extended to the use of cultural heritage items.…”

Section: Special Collections As Cultural Heritage Within the Research Librarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Born fi dead? Special collections and born digital heritage, Jamaica

Smart

2015

IFLA Journal

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Cultural heritage print items in special collections hold distinct positions in libraries. Yet their potential for pedagogy and learning may often be under-explored due to issues related to preservation management. These challenges underpin their exclusivity, a perception which may impact donor relations and unconsciously impede research access. Conversely, electronic publishing has enhanced access to born digital cultural heritage products of scholars and creative expressionists. Without the hassle of intermediaries, these born digital producers represent a ''new world order'' for libraries charged with dual responsibility for access and posterity. Some challenges are infrastructural, such as Internet penetration, others are human related arising from the need for capacity building in areas such as publishing and effective preservation strategies. These skills are essential to fully conceptualize potential for loss of cultural heritage products and the need for viable mechanisms to manage content; anything less would suggest cultural heritage products are literally ''born fi dead''.

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Section: Special Collections As Cultural Heritage Within the Research Librarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Born fi dead? Special collections and born digital heritage, Jamaica

Smart

2015

IFLA Journal

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“…4 English professor Carol A. Senf describes bringing her undergraduate Victorian studies class to the Special Collections Department as a means to encourage students move beyond their tendency to use "already digested" secondary sources that were often chosen without much thought. 5 Senf also notes that archival sources can dramatically reduce plagiarism, since their individual nature means that secondary sources defining and analyzing a particular document are less likely to exist.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Manuscript as Question: Teaching Primary Sources in the Archives—The China Missions Project

McCoy

2010

CRL

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The collaborative effort between two Special Collections librarians and a history professor at DePaul University led to a quarter-long undergraduate project in the archives using China Missions Correspondence. In a reversal of traditional methods that assumes archival use to answer a question, this project looks at the document as the source of the questions. A qualitative analysis of student responses from these class sessions between 2002 and 2008 reveals the impact that direct experience has on primary source education and how outreach and user instruction in the archives can transform research, education, and the place of special collections within the institution. As a case study, this paper examines planning, administration, identification, instruction, and assessment of the project from the librarians' perspective.rchival collections provide tangible links to elements of history and society. These collections are unique clusters of letters, diaries, photos, memos, pamphlets, and many other documents that offer first-hand accounts of persons, groups, places, and/or events. Whether it is a word that is blacked out by a censor, a flourished cursive hand, doodles in the margins, or type that bears the soft purplish halos of an early mimeographed copy, the mere physicality of these documents exudes clues about the writer, the receiver, and the time period or the context. To interact with archival sources is an intimate experience; a sensation not captured through well-intentioned excerpts transcribed in textbooks. These materials in their original form have been long prized by history professors and archivists as the ultimate primary source due to their enormous potential for teaching students how to evaluate and interpret evidence.

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“…The activities led by special collections and archives professionals to engage different audience groups, such as faculty, students or the general public have been further investigated by various studies (e.g. see Harris & Weller, 2012;Mason, 2014;Schmiesing & Hollis, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring the impact of special collections and archives in the digital age: opportunities and challenges

Kamposiori¹

2020

LIBER Quarterly

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This paper is based on the outcome of a Research Libraries UK (RLUK) project that aimed to explore and understand the approaches employed by RLUK members for capturing and measuring the impact of activities based on special collections and archives. In today's constantly evolving information and scholarly environment, educational and cultural institutions, such as research libraries, are faced with a pressing demand to assess the value of their services and evidence their impact. As part of our goal to develop a better understanding of how research libraries respond to this demand, we collected and analysed case-study and survey data from across the RLUK membership that show the practices and methods of research libraries for increasing and assessing the impact of their collections and related services. As our results showed, research libraries increasingly employ audiencefocused strategies and take advantage of the new possibilities offered by the digital age to enhance access to collections, reach a range of audience groups and achieve greater impact. However, a number of issues, such as the lack of structured methodologies to capture and evaluate the full reach of digital collections and resources or the long-term impact of collections, can make the process of measuring and evidencing value a challenging task for institutions. In this paper, we will present some of the key findings showing the pathways to impact followed by special collection and archive professionals in the UK and Ireland and reflect on the opportunities and challenges that the digital era presents for increasing and measuring this impact.

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The Role of Special Collections Departments in Humanities Undergraduate and Graduate Teaching: A Case Study

Cited by 33 publications

References 7 publications

Born fi dead? Special collections and born digital heritage, Jamaica

Born fi dead? Special collections and born digital heritage, Jamaica

The Manuscript as Question: Teaching Primary Sources in the Archives—The China Missions Project

Measuring the impact of special collections and archives in the digital age: opportunities and challenges

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