Digital Scholarship

Abstract

Digital Scholarship Anna E. Kijas (bio) It has been twenty-three years since a set of essays exploring the changes of the music librarianship profession were published in the March 2000 issue of Notes, and during this period of time, technology in libraries and more broadly has continued to evolve and change considerably.1 H. Stephen Wright contributed the "Technology" essay to this special issue, in which he examined the changes of the prior twenty years and the impact of technology on libraries and librarians.2 Wright's essay focused on the limitations of library catalogs (OPACs) in terms of access, (lack of) interoperability, poor search interface design and user experience, as well as shortcomings and potential pitfalls of moving to electronic collections. He rightly argued that there is and will continue to be a need for collections and bibliographic data to connect across other collections, federated searching, seamless content delivery, and interoperability between platforms. There was no mention of collaboration between library workers and faculty or academic technology units to support the technological or research needs across disciplinary areas, mainly due to the siloed nature of the work occurring in these campus units. And, the contributions of library workers to the creation of library catalogs, databases, metadata, digitization efforts, and more were generally done behind-the-scenes, and thus invisible labor. But this essay is about digital scholarship, which has grown out of and benefited from the advancements of technology that occurred and are still developing since the time of Wright's essay. In addition, digital scholarship has provided opportunities for libraries to challenge the status quo of the prior decades and work to make visible the labor and contributions of library workers.3 Soon after the year 2000, Wikipedia was born, the [End Page 40] Internet Archive launched the Wayback Machine (2001 to the public), the Google Books Project began (2004) leading to the development of the HathiTrust Library, digital collection and metadata aggregator projects were released including the Digital Public Library of America and Europeana, there was an explosion of user-generated content due to the abundance of user-friendly blogging and website platforms, as well as social media and networking platforms (e.g., Friendster, Facebook, Twitter). This list only scratches the surface of the technological advancements, mainly as they relate to the world wide web, free and open knowledge platforms, interoperable infrastructures, as well as frameworks and standards that aim to generate and use machine readable data. So what exactly is digital scholarship? While there are many variant definitions, this one from the Digital Scholarship Working Group at the Library of Congress resonates quite well and applies to many digital scholarship units in US based academic or specialized libraries and that is: "research that encompasses digital publishing, data visualization, the digital humanities, data science, and data analysis—all of which utilize digital collections, tools, and methods. Digital scholarship, broadly defined, uses digital content and tools to pursue research and interpretation with the goal of furthering knowledge."4 One point that should also be made is that digital scholarship activities, projects, and services vary across institutions and are generally tailored to the specific needs or interests of scholars and students. These activities generally reflect the available expertise of library and technology staff. And, for digital scholarship activities to succeed, a campus-wide community of practitioners, library and technology experts, and scholars is key. In this essay, I will provide a brief overview of the development during the past two decades and current state of digital scholarship in US academic institutions, explore ways in which libraries and library workers participate in digital scholarship activities, and consider ways in which digital scholarship may continue to still evolve. I also include a bibliography of suggested readings and resources published from the early 2000s to the present in order to offer additional context and explore [End Page 41] issues beyond what is possible to delve into in this short essay. I acknowledge that I am writing this essay from a privileged perspective as a white, cisgender woman employed at a private US academic institution in the northeastern United States. During the 1990s, while few individuals had access to a desktop computer...