With the emergence of Digital Scholarship, most South African institutions aren't geared for the required change to deal with this new form of scholarly output and discovery. Are you hitting all the marks? Are South African libraries ready to facilitate these activities?

1. Digital Scholarship -
Don’t get left behind
4 March 2018

2. Agenda
 What is Digital Scholarship?
 Definition.
 Association of Research Libraries study.
 Why the Library?
 Examples of Digital Scholarship.
 Types of Digital Scholarship Centres.
 Planning for Digital Scholarship
 Organisational Awareness.
 Identifying existing services.
 Alignment with Digital Scholarship activities.
 Grouping of services.
 Staffing for Digital Scholarship.
 Next Steps
 What you should do.
 What you should not do.
Digital Scholarship – Don’t get left behind | April 4th 2018

3. What is Digital Scholarship?
Digital Scholarship – Don’t get left behind | April 4th 2018

4. Definition
 Digital scholarship is the use of digital evidence, methods of inquiry, research, publication
and preservation to achieve scholarly and research goals. Digital scholarship can
encompass both scholarly communication using digital media and research
on digital media.[1]
 “Digital Scholarship” is defined as any scholarly activity that makes extensive use of one or
more of the new possibilities for teaching and research opened up by the unique
affordances of digital media. These include, but are not limited to, new forms of
collaboration, new forms of publication, and new methods for visualizing and analyzing
data.[2]
Digital Scholarship – Don’t get left behind | April 4th 2018

5. Association of Research Libraries
Report – Supporting Digital
Scholarship
 ARL – 124 Universities
 74 Universities Responded (1 month deadline)
 19 categories of digital scholarship activities
 All of the survey respondents reported that
librarians support all DS activities
 Data suggests a trend toward complementing
the work of dedicated DS/H Centre's with
distributed support from special units
Digital Scholarship – Don’t get left behind | April 4th 2018

6. Digital Scholarship Activities
19 Digital
Scholarship
Activities
Digital
preservation
GIS & Digital
mapping
Digital exhibits Project planning
Digital
publishing
Project
management
Database
development
Digitisation Data curation
Computational
text analysis
Technical
upkeep
Developing DS
software
3-D modeling
and printing
Digital
collections
Metadata
creation
Statistical
analysis support
Visualization
Interface design
and usability
Encoding
content
Digital Scholarship – Don’t get left behind | April 4th 2018

7. Researchers Look to the Library for...
84% of
activities
expected from
Libraries
Digital
preservation
GIS & Digital
mapping
Digital exhibits Project planning
Digital
publishing
Project
management
Database
development
Digitisation Data curation
Computational
text analysis
Technical
upkeep
Developing DS
software
3-D modeling
and printing
Digital
collections
Metadata
creation
Visualization
Interface design
and usability
Encoding
content
Digital Scholarship – Don’t get left behind | April 4th 2018

8. Examples of Digital Scholarship
Digital Scholarship – Don’t get left behind | April 4th 2018
Data Visualisation
Data Visualisation
Digital Exhibits
Digitisation
3D Modeling
Digital Mapping Metadata Creation
Project Planning

9. The University Library as Incubator for Digital
Scholarship[3]
 “Libraries have always been in the business of knowledge creation and transfer, and the digital
scholarship incubator within the library can serve as a natural extension of this essential
function.”
 “This brings me to libraries, the shared spaces on each of our campuses that are ripe for
transformation into incubators for digital scholarship. I propose that the 21st century academic
library, perhaps more than any other unit on campus, is poised to support and promote that digital
scholarship originating from multiple departments on campus, bringing them together in a
central location.”
 “In all of these ways, libraries can be seen as digital scholarship makerspaces.”
 “Indeed, the question many of us face is not, "Where will the new funding and talent come from?"
but rather, "How can we retool and reallocate our existing personnel and resources to
create a 21st century digital scholarship and media center?”
Digital Scholarship – Don’t get left behind | April 4th 2018

10. Physical Centres
• Provides access to hardware and software to perform digital scholarly activities such as:
– Simulated cluster computing for training, experimentation and simulation purposes
– Digitisation of media from analogue to digital
– Data visualization (eg. visualisation booth)
– GIS Mapping
– Data Cleaning
– High-end Computing
• Provides access to:
– Expert Consultation (Internal or external)
– Group and Individual Training
– Workshops

11. Virtual Centres
• Acts as connector/gateway to:
– Existing services that support or enable digital scholarship activities (eg. Open-Scholarship, Library training)
– Self based online learning on digital scholarship activities (open-content)
– Communication channels for consultation and guidance
– Service request handler
– Links to overall library services portfolio for seamless service delivery
– Physical DSC
• Provides access to:
– Digital Object Repository
– Online Training Material (Library generated content)
– Digital Scholarship Tools
SERVICES

12. Planning for Digital Scholarship
Digital Scholarship – Don’t get left behind | April 4th 2018

13. Digital Scholarship – Don’t get left behind | April 4th 2018
Organisational Awareness
• Poll internal library staff as well as external clients on Digital Scholarship
activities. Can be done with interviews and surveys.
• Use data to gauge the level of knowledge, exposure and expertise
surrounding DS.
• Focus on areas that require attention, more information and or training.
• Benefit from existing knowledge and expertise.
• Awareness should extend beyond the walls of the Library.

14. Digital Scholarship – Don’t get left behind | April 4th 2018
Working with the data

15. Digital Scholarship – Don’t get left behind | April 4th 2018
Let’s talk about the activities
Digital
preservation
GIS & Digital
mapping
Digital exhibits Project planning
Digital
publishing
Project
management
Database
development
Digitization Data curation
Computational
text analysis
Technical
upkeep
Developing DS
software
3-D modeling
and printing
Digital
collections
Metadata
creation
Statistical
analysis support
Visualization
Interface design
and usability
Encoding
content

16. Digital Scholarship – Don’t get left behind | April 4th 2018
Alignment with existing services - Example
Existing Services
- Bindery
- Borrowing
- Copyright
- Interlending
- MakerSpace
- Plagarism
- Referencing
- Research Support
- Training
- RDM
- Institutional
Repositories
- Computer Access
- Digitisation
DS Activities
- Digital Preservation
- Digitisation on
Demand
- Data Curation
- Digital Collections
- Metadata Creation
- Visualisation
- 3D Modeling
External to Library
- Statistical analysis support
- GIS & Digital mapping
- Computational Text Analysis
No Infrastructure or expertise
- Developing DS software
- Digital publishing
- Interface design and usability
LocusofControl
Internal Control External

17. Digital Scholarship – Don’t get left behind | April 4th 2018
Grouping of Activities
Digital
Preservation
(longterm)
RDM
Making
Data
Collections
Data
Curation
Management
Metadata
Creation
Digitisation
on Demand
3D
Modelling &
Design
Data
Visualisation
GIS and
Digital
Mapping
Digital
Exhibits
Project
Management
Statistical
Analysis and
Support
Encoding of
Content
Computational
Text Analysis
and Support
Database
Development
Software &
Data
Carpentry
Data Management Digital Services
Research Support

18. Digital Scholarship – Don’t get left behind | April 4th 2018
Staffing for Digital Scholarship
• Identify staff from the internal survey.
• Focus on staff availability from existing services eg. RDM.
• Identify training requirements for staff.
• Setup boundary-staff pools for different groups.
• Identify external stakeholders to form part of boundary-staff pool.

19. Digital
Preservation
(longterm)
RDM
Making Data
Collections
Data Curation
Management
Metadata
Creation
Digitisation on
Demand
3D Modelling
& Design
Data
Visualisation
GIS and Digital
Mapping
Digital Exhibits
Project
Management
Statistical
Analysis and
Support
Encoding of
Content
Computational
Text Analysis
and Support
Database
Development
Software &
Data
Carpentry
Boundary Staff
Boundary Staffing for DS
Digital Scholarship Activities
Digital Scholarship – Don’t get left behind | April 4th 2018

20. Next Steps
Digital Scholarship – Don’t get left behind | April 4th 2018

21. Next Steps
What you should do
 Appoint a DS lead (responsible for coordinating)
 Conduct surveys and interviews with library staff and researchers.
 Investigate existing services and resources.
 Human Resources
 Financial Resources
 Infrastructure (Hardware & Software)
 Facilities
 Based on survey data and available resources decide on what can be done now, in 6 months, in 1
and 10 years.
 If required provide training on activities.
 Package activities and services based on what can be done.
 Awareness - Awareness – Awareness !!!!!
Digital Scholarship – Don’t get left behind | April 4th 2018

22. Next Steps
What you should not do
 Ignore Digital Scholarship!
 It’s how research is being done.
 To ensure that libraries stay relevant.
 The way we provide access to, and create, information is changing.
 It’s not a units role, DS should be infused into how libraries work and function.
 Do not assume staff will progress into this next phase, training is essential. (Think library carpentry)
 Do not assume staff have no need for DS activities, many of them are already using some form of
DS.
 Don’t take on all 19 activities immediately, evolve and grow DS for your organisation.
 Do not confuse DS with Digital Humanities. Digital Humanities slots into DS.
Digital Scholarship – Don’t get left behind | April 4th 2018

23. Thank You