This document discusses support for graduate thesis and dissertation work through digital scholarship centers. It provides examples of centers at universities like Brown, UCLA, and Calgary that offer specialized services and expertise to facilitate digital humanities projects. These centers provide fellowships, workshops, and consultations to help students develop skills in areas like project management, databases, and digital preservation for interactive digital projects. Challenges include promoting these new types of scholarly activities and gaining acceptance from academic departments.

1. Support for Graduate Thesis and Dissertation Work
Joan K. Lippincott, Coalition for Networked Information
ETD 2011, Cape Town, South Africa

2. Coali&on for Networked
Informa&on (CNI)
 Joint program of ARL and EDUCAUSE
 Founded in 1990 to bridge library and IT communities
in the Internet environment
 Focus on scholarship, teaching & learning
 Program areas:
 Content
 Individuals, Professions, Teaching & Learning
 Technology
 www.cni.org

3. Digital Scholarship Centers
 Relatively new area of focus for libraries
 Specialized services and spaces for faculty and
graduate students
 High‐end hardware and software
 Staff expertise for consultation
 Emphasis on humanities and social sciences

4. Recently featured at CNI mee&ngs
Brown U. & U. Nebraska UCLA

5. Recently featured at CNI mee&ngs
U. Calgary Columbia U.

6. Why digital humani&es?
Major projects Rome Reborn – B. Frischer
http://www.romereborn.virginia.edu
 Use of large data sets
 Institutionally affiliated and
curated
 Geo‐location and 3‐D
visualization
 Implications for research and
teaching & learning

7. Why digital humani&es?
Digging into Data Mapping Republic of Letters
 Funding agencies from
several countries
 Collaborative projects
 Very large data sets
 New types of research
questions
 New modes of scholarly
communication
 http://
www.diggingintodata.org

8. Why digital humani&es?
Net Gen Students McMaster U. Library
 Oriented to visual projects
 Attracted to interactive
information products
 Engaged in active learning
 Develop skills that can
translate into job offers

9. My current work
 Intersection of interests
 Graduate students
 ETDs
 Digital humanities
 Learning spaces
 Understand current models of digital scholarship
centers services
 Identify good practice
 Initial interviews – faculty and librarians

10. How do Digital Scholarship Centers
support graduate work?
Offer a range of services U. Va. Scholars’ Lab
 Fellowships
 Cohort of students
 Daily interaction with staff
 Workshops, courses,
certificate programs
 One‐on‐one consultation
 Online tutorials
 Create a community
http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/scholarslab/

11. What skills do students need?
UCLA Laboratory for Digital
A variety of views Cultural Heritage
 Ability to ask new types of
questions and link to
technologies
 Project management skills
 Understand how computer
systems work
 Database structure
 A range of literacies
 [Digital preservation]
 [Intellectual property issues]
http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/researchlibrary/13603.cfm

12. What are the challenges?
 Articulating and  Acceptance of new
promoting the goals and forms of scholarship by
services of centers academic departments
 Developing scalable and disciplinary
projects and services societies
 Sustainability  Engaging in genuine
collaboration (faculty,
student, information
professional)

13. Next steps in my work
 Interview additional
faculty and librarians
 Interview students
 Visit centers
 Clarify key issues
 Identify good practice
 Identify gaps (needs vs.
what is available)
U. Chicago Library Special Collections

14. Thank you!
Contact:
Joan Lippincott
joan@cni.org
http://www.cni.org/
about‐cni/staff/
joan‐k‐lippincott/
Photos are my own
Joan at the Duke U. “The Link”