Transcript Merryman_NCSU_SNCA2012

2012 SNCA Annual Meeting
Tractor Building and Tobacco Curing: Exposing
Agricultural Collections
Kristen Merryman
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS RESEARCH CENTER
BACKGROUND
Cultivating a Revolution Digital Project
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2 year LSTA funded project
Digitizing agricultural innovation research at NCSU materials from
1950s-1970s
Outputs:
20,000-25,000 individual page scans from 15 archival collections
114 16mm films (14.5 hours) reformatted
K-12 Teacher Resources (Related Topic Essays and Lesson
Plans)
Online access at the folder level
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Materials are accessible at http://go.ncsu.edu/cultivatingarevolution
BACKGROUND
Cultivating a Revolution Digital Project
BACKGROUND
Cultivating a Revolution Digital Project
BACKGROUND
Cultivating a Revolution Digital Project
BACKGROUND
Goals of Outreach Efforts
Outreach not a primary grant goal – BUT!
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promote knowledge and use of project
materials
if people don't know the project and
accessible materials exist - what's the
point of digitizing them?
Conversations with potential users
influence how we provide access and
what is included in the grant - flexible plan
for material inclusion
Strong effort to get word out in Year 1, so
materials are already being used by Year
2 and before the end of the project
Challenges
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Materials being digitized aren't easily
understood - scientific/research data heavy
o We need to think differently about our
resources and how they can be used how can students use them beyond
paper writing
Appealing to "non-traditional" users
o Non-traditional = not a historian (esp.
not a social/political/economic
historian)
o tend to be less invested because it is
harder for them to see use cases more effort on our part to get them to
talk to us, nevermind discuss uses
OPPORTUNITY
Despite Challenges - Big Opportunities
NCSU is an Ag School, First and Foremost
METHOD
Potential Users
• Sociologists
• Agriculture people (faculty,
students, Alpha Zeta, student
groups)
• Horticulturists
• Weed Scientists
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Scientific Organization
Historians
History of science and
technology
Environmental Scientists and
Students
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Internal and External Outreach
• Academic departments/faculty
we have a relationship with
already
• Special academic programs
(Jefferson Scholars, Honors
Program)
• Student Groups
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Department colleagues
Library/Institution colleagues
Student employees
METHOD
Capturing Interest
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drop-ins are your friend!
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casual conversations work better than formal presentations
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have ready examples for how students and faculty can use your
materials - either through projects or as research topics
be able to bring up specific examples of materials to grab their
interest
bring along technology to show it off!
THE END
Conclusions
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Utilize people you already know (both
internally at your institution and externally)
Take advantage of programs that combine
humanities and sciences
Have casual conversations to create
working relationships that will last
Kristen Merryman
Digital Project Librarian for Cultivating a Revolution
(919) 513-3359 [email protected]