Digital Scholarship at Schaffer Library
Services
Our services include providing instruction on digital tools and methods; consulting and collaborating on digital projects; advising on open access and open education; and managing long-term digital curation and preservation. Whenever possible, we strive for our projects to be openly accessible and advocate for sustainable models.
Tools
The DSi team can help explore the best tools for your work. Some of our most popular tools include:
3D: Sketchfab
The Library subscribes to Sketchfab to support 3D modeling.
Data Management: DMPTool
The DSi team has experience with DMPTool and has crafted language to help guide your grant application for backups and preservation.
Data Visualization: Voyant, Vistorian, and more
The DSi team continues to explore visualization tools depending on methodology and output needed. We have worked with Voyant, Vistorian, various JavaScript libraries, and other graph-based visualization tools.
Digital Publishing: Arches, Manifold, Omeka
Digital publishing is a cornerstone of the work we do. Building, using, and repurposing our rich collections, whether from our library or produced via research and teaching, is our expertise. Our tools include Arches, Manifold, and Omeka.
Process
The DSi group, as part of Schaffer Library, wants to empower users to explore research in a variety of ways. As a small group, however, we are always concerned about sustainability. Our intake process will ask many questions in order to best set up projects for success. We believe strongly in digital project life cycles, including thinking about projects as experimental at first and may evolve over time. We want to support research at all levels but we are a small team. To that end, we will ask users for a Memorandum of Understanding to understand better how we can support and sustain their project.
Values
DSi is committed to the following values throughout our projects:
We welcome digital projects that support critique and engagement; that advance economic, environmental, and social justice; and that give voice to underrepresented groups.
We ensure that all involved labor is recognized, compensated, and credited fairly.
We promote the use of free and open-source software, espouse Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) principles, and encourage open-access publication as much as possible.
We promote critical thinking about digital media and tools, advocate for research that is data driven and projects that value insight over style, and promote the use of digital tools as means of facilitating critical engagement.
We protect privacy rights and eschew technology that violates privacy, such as by collecting user data.
We support digital projects that are planned and built for long-term access.