Case Study presentation given at "Evolving Identities: Collaboration to Enhance Student Success" National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching & Learning in Higher Education, Dundalk IT, 23 May 2019. What is the barrier to researching in Special Collections? Is the process akin to going on a bear hunt? Can you go through it? If you learn how to do this then the achievements and opportunities for student success can be immense. Student success can be gauged in terms of internal departmental or university awards, or external awards and funding. Equally student success can be gauged by public engagement outputs, the reach and impact of such outputs and the skills learned. This presentation examines a number of different interactions with Special Collections borne out of conversations 2013-2019.

1. Let’s Go on a Bear Hunt:
Special Collections in the Wild
Elaine Harrington | Special Collections Librarian
University College Cork
National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching & Learning in
Higher Education: Evolving Identities: Collaboration to Enhance
Student Success | 23 May 2019

2. We can’t go over it. We can’t go under it.
Uh no! We gotta go through it!
Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gyI6ykDwds
Rosen, Michael. We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. Illust. Helen Oxenbury.
London: Walker, 1989. https://www.jointhebearhunt.com/

3. Credit: Van Keulen, Gerard. De Rivier van Kingsale. c.1740, UCC Library.
Credit: Allestree, Richard. The
Causes of the Decay of Christian
Piety: or, An Impartial Survey of
the Ruines of Christian Religion,
Undermin'd by Unchristian
Practice. London: Printed by R.
Norton for Robert Pawlett, at the
sign of the Bible in Fleetstreet,
1675. UCC Library.

4. Special Collections – Not Just a ‘Lab for
the Humanities’
Credit: William Beauford’s 1801 Map of Cork, UCC Library.

5. What Did I Value Most
Which learning outcome is the one thing that students would
retain from this course after leaving?
Could I honestly say that I spent the most amount of time in
the course teaching to the goal I valued most?
Bass, Randy. “The Scholarship of Teaching: What’s the Problem?” Creative Thinking About Learning & Teaching February 1999 1.1

6. Changing a Learner’s World
Credit: https://twitter.com/lianzaoffice/status/684483979366535168

7. Widening the Lens
• Special Collections – welcome to everyone.
• Growing body of research on undergraduates using Special
Collections.

8. Special
Collections
Information
Literacy
Object
Awareness
When Special Collections Meets
Information Literacy
Object-based learning particularly well suited for different kinds of learners.

9. Skills & Challenges
Finding a way to connect with users. Noise & competition of social media.
Within Special Collections:
• Material for consultation only
• Timing – Access
• Material in non-Dewey classification schemes
• Multiple formats: books, microfilm, pamphlets
• A mostly print-dominated environment
• Reading & deciphering handwriting
• Different rules – ink, liquids, food
• Handling.
Credit: U.19: An early example of cryptography in Sir
George Macartney’s official correspondence during his
embassy to St Petersburg, 1765-1766.

10. Overview of 2013-2019
Institutions: UCC and CIT
Academics: 50
Colleges in UCC:
• College of Arts, Celtic Studies & Social Sciences
• College of Science, Engineering & Food Science
Departments in UCC: 15
Departments Academics Classes Class
Minutes
Students
2013/2014 8 21 27 1965 356
2018/2019 17 29 46 3325 550
% Increase +113% +38% +70% +69% +55%

11. A Collaborative Community
Dr James
O’Sullivan,
(Digital Arts &
Humanities)
Prof. Pádraig
Ó Macháin
(Modern Irish)
Dr Malgorzata
Krasnodebska -
D'Aughton
(History)
Dr Jillian
Rogers
(Music)
John Hough
(Music)

12. UCC’s Connected Curriculum
https://www.ucc.ie/en/registrar/theconnecteduniversity/academicstrategy/curriculum

13. BEES: Transition Year Programme
https://libguides.ucc.ie/speccollsubjectsupport/bees

14. Digital Humanities Research Colloquium
Credit: Anna Petrus Janus
head pewter vase by Svenskt
Tenn 1993
https://www.flickr.com/photos/1
30765784@N06/42969676311/

15. Students: 2nd – 3rd year undergraduates
• Hands-on approach to manuscript research
• Trace the work of a scribe through manuscripts and bibliographies
• Trace copies of manuscripts in libraries through catalogues.
Irish Language Manuscripts

16. GA3024: Tionscnamh Taighde
The prestigious Mansion House Fund Scholarship in Irish was awarded to
Máiréad Carey on the basis of results achieved in her third year summer
examinations in 2015.
Credit: “Agallaimh Oisín is Phádraig,” Áireain a bhfhuil d’Aistribh sa.
scribhinn seo. Ls. 200, UCC Library.
Máiréad Carey with then President of UCC,
Michael Murphy & Prof. Pádraig Ó Macháin, Dept of
Modern Irish.

17. MA in Medieval History –
Skills for Medieval Historians
Design an online exhibition based on resources available in UCC’s Special
Collections and present it as a series of blog posts on The River-side.
Expand transferable skills gained through a practical work experience
including writing about public history, editing, dealing with copyright issues,
working to deadlines, marketing and publicity of their work.
Reflect on the value and use of historical knowledge for wider audiences.
Learn to present said historical knowledge in an informative, imaginative
and accessible manner to non-specialists.
The River-side @theriversideUCC
http://blogs.ucc.ie/wordpress/theriverside/

18. HI 6091: Skills for
Medieval Historians
http://blogs.ucc.ie/wordpress/theriverside/2019/01/18/the-luttrell-psalter-
knighthood-hospitality-and-piety-the-office-of-the-dead/

19. Guest display curated by Natasha Dukelow, graduate of HI 6091.
https://libguides.ucc.ie/nocils/history

20. MU 6031: Sound Studies & Musicology
Consider the ways in which history, geography, and culture shape sound, its
perception, and understandings and inscriptions of sound.
Develop skills in sound collection, analysis, contextualization, and
interpretation through a group sound mapping project.
Familiarity with theoretical perspectives within sound studies, as well as the
potential political implications of studying sound and its effects in history and
the contemporary world.
Familiarity with archival research methods, and questions surrounding the
applicability of different research methods and sources to the study of sound.
Students will improve and expand writing, argumentation, presentation, and
digital media skills through the creation of a paper or podcast demonstrating
the development of a term-long research project involving detailed, well-
researched arguments.

21. MU6031:
Sound
Studies &
Musicology

22. Sonic Histories of Cork City (SHOCC) Project
@SHOCCProjectUCC
https://shoccproject.wordpress.com/

23. Wilkie's Cork City Directory, 1872.
A City’s Sonic Fingerprint
Tram Ride in Cork City 1902, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ0MGDyofb4
From MacCurtain St to St Patrick’s Bridge, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69f7e5YX8l4

24. https://shoccproject.wordpress.com/soundscapes/
Soundscapes

25. Beyond the Walls: SoundCatcher
https://shoccproject.wordpress.com/soundcatcher/
https://shoccproject.wordpress.com/mapping-soundcatcher/

26. Sound Research Interacting With Daily Life

27. A SHOCC Project for All Seasons
Credit: Aquatint ‘Cork from the Mardyke Walk’ in Carr’s
The Stranger in Ireland (1805), UCC Library.
https://shoccproject.wordpress.com/ mapping-soundcatcher/

28. From UCC Library’s VR Lab to a
Museum of the City
https://www.thejournal.ie/cork-skyscraper-3842899-Feb2018/

29. https://www.teachingandlearning.ie/wp-
content/uploads/NF_Strategy_2019-21_AW-Web.pdf
National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning
in Higher Education Strategy Statement 2019-2021
Rosen, Michael. We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. Illust. Helen
Oxenbury. London: Walker, 1989. https://www.jointhebearhunt.com/

30. Acknowledgements
Dr Malgorzata Krasnodebska-D'Aughton,
Lecturer in History
Prof. Pádraig Ó Macháin,
Head of Modern Irish
The Sonic Histories of Cork City (SHOCC) Project,
John Hough, Senior Technical Officer
Dr Jillian Rogers, Lecturer in Musicology
Dr James O’Sullivan,
Lecturer in Digital Arts & Humanities

31. Contact
Elaine Harrington,
Special Collections Librarian
UCC Library
University College Cork
Cork
e.harrington@ucc.ie | @walkerabroad
https://www.slideshare.net/nzwalker
The River-side @theriversideUCC
http://blogs.ucc.ie/wordpress/theriverside/
The Sonic Histories of Cork City (SHOCC) Project
https://shoccproject.wordpress.com/
@SHOCCProjectUCC