Building Collaborative Partnerships: Digital Research in the Humanities

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Building Collaborative Partnerships Digital
Research in the Humanities

• Katherine L. Walter, University of
  Nebraska-Lincoln

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The University of Nebraska-Lincolns Center for
Digital Research in the Humanities

• The Center for Digital Research in the
  Humanities (CDRH) is a collaborative initiative
  of the University Libraries and the College of
  Arts and Sciences. CDRH advances
  interdisciplinary research in the humanities by
  creating unique digital content, developing text
  analysis and visualization tools, and advancing
  knowledge of international standards and their
  implications for humanities computing.

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Background

• UNL Libraries and College of Arts and Sciences
  formed the Electronic Text Center in the
  Libraries in 1998, on the recommendation of the
  Text Studies Steering Committee
• Today, the Electronic Text Center and the Center
  for Digital Research in the Humanities share
  newly-renovated space in UNLs Love Library.

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Forming a Center

• Center status at the University of Nebraska
  involves approval from the following entities, in
  the order required
• Deans (Dean of Libraries and Dean of Arts
  Sciences)
• UNL Senates Academic Planning Committee
• UNL Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
  office
• UNL Office of the Chancellor
• Chief Academic Officers of the four campuses of
  the University
• University of Nebraska central Administration
• University of Nebraska Board of Regents
• State of Nebraska Coordinating Commission for
  Post-secondary Education

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Funding for the CDRH

• Programs of Excellence Funding received January
  2004-June 2008, 1.1 million, plus
• Reallocated positions and operations, totaling
  500,000/year in permanent state funding
• Grants and donations for specific projects
• Endowment for the Walt Whitman Archive

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Faculty and staff

• Permanent staffing 8 FTE faculty and staff are
  dedicated to the Center for Digital Research in
  the Humanities, with others in the Libraries
  assisting with information technology, metadata
  creation, and programming.
• Graduate research assistants 6
• Undergraduate researchers supported by grants 7
  

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Partnerships on Campus

• University of Nebraska Press
• Center for Great Plains Studies
• Plains Humanities Alliance (member, National
  Consortium of Regional Humanities Centers)
• 19th C Studies
• University of Nebraska State Museum

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State-Wide Partnerships

• Nebraska State Historical Society (currently,
  Gilded Age Plains City and Cathers Journalism
  projects)
• Nebraska Library Commission (Nebraska Memories
  workshops, and Westward through
  Nebraska--affiliated with the Western Trails
  project)

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Selected Other Affiliations

• Stéphane Mallarmés LAprès-Midi DUn Faun
  University of Rouen
• The Latin Works of John Wyclif Georgetown
  University, Dept. of Medieval Studies
• Quilt Index Matrix at Michigan State University
• Walt Whitman Archive Integrated Guide to
  Dispersed Poetry Manuscripts IATH at the
  University of Virginia, the New York Public
  Library, the University of Texas at Austin, and
  Duke University
• Western Waters Digital Library Greater Western
  Library Alliance (GWLA)

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Current Projects

• Among the twenty-eight active projects are ones
  such as
• 19th Century French Studies
• The Good Person selections from Yoruba Proverbs
• The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
  Online
• The Walt Whitman Archive
• The Willa Cather Archive

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Selected New Projects

• Interoperability of Metadata (IMLS-funded,
  partnering with IATH and Brown University)
• Text analysis and visualization tool development
  (tokenX)
• A Calendar of the Letters of Willa Cather
  (expanded digital edition)
• Railroads and the Making of Modern America

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Conclusion

• For more information, see http//cdrh.unl.edu, or
  
• contact co-directors Katherine Walter
  (kwalter1_at_unl.edu) or Kenneth Price
  (kprice2_at_unl.edu)