Announcing the call for Digital Seed Grant Awards

The Digital Seed Grant competition for 2019-2020 is now open. Walker Library Digital Scholarship Initiatives invites proposals for seed grants to support individual or collaborative digital scholarship projects in research, teaching, or public outreach from any discipline or area at MTSU.

The call for proposals (CFP) is open to MTSU faculty, staff, researchers and graduate students pursing digital scholarship projects (from the arts to sciences and everything in between). See the call for proposals at https://dsi.mtsu.edu/dsgrant. Examples of digital projects, past winners, and application guidelines are available at that website. Applications for the 2019-2020 cycle are due April 15, 2018. Projects run from July 1 to June 30.

Seed Grants (up to $2,000)

The number of grants available each year will vary, with each at a maximum of $2,000. Applications for 2019 are now open. A list of the awarded projects are available by year: 2018-2019 and 2017-2018. The 2019 cycle will open April 1-15.

During summer 2019, the Journal for Economic Educators (JFEE) migrated publishing platforms. It's new online home is the journal hosting service provided at MTSU Walker Library, which uses the Open Journal Systems (OJS) open access platform.

Visit JFEE at https://libjournals.mtsu.edu/index.php/jfee.

Vol 19 No 1 (2019)  is now available online, as well as its full issue backlog. The journal is edited by Dr. Michael Roach (Middle Tennessee State University) and is published twice annually. Read more about the journal's scope, focus, and policies here.

Walker Library offers free journal hosting services to members of the Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) community. All of the journals we service are digital and open access (free to read online). Walker Library established this journal hosting program to meet the needs and support the mission, values and vision of the university. See more journals published at MTSU here. 

Historic Clothing Collection

Since the inception of the Historic Clothing Collection, the primary method of locating or researching items has been a physical search utilizing hard copy descriptions of items, in three ring binders.  The 2017-2018 Digital Seed Grant (and library expertise) enabled the collection’s digital development through photography, garment metadata, digital inventory and a permanent website for the collection’s continued growth. This effort allows visual identification and study of the collection by the current MTSU community, community partners, and the public at large.

The Historic Clothing Collection (1790-1990) provides tremendous growth in learning opportunities for anyone studying historic clothing and accessories.  Several TXMD student assistants also worked on this project, which adds to their own digital learning. Additonally advantageous is the project’s contribution to the long-term preservation of the items in the MTSU collection, since garments can now be previewed before being removed from storage.

Collection available at http://dsi.mtsu.edu/clothing

Read more about the collection via the MTSU News article published October 2, 2018, the MTSU Sidelines news article publishing December 2018, or the one-page collection summary (PDF) available here.

Features

Features include photo zoom, viewing size (fits to browser, window or width), rotate, and download options. Enhanced features include the Side-by-Side View, linked metadata fields, and collection indexing for discoverabilty through search engines and databases.

Collection Staff

Grant Primary Investigator: Dr. Teresa King, TXMD Director, Dept. of Human Sciences, Middle Tennessee State University

Photographer: Rachael Krasnow, TXMD

Digital Curator (database, web design): Digital Scholarship Initaitives, Walker Library

During MT Engage Week, be sure to visit the library on Wednesday, September 26th to play LibGO! Snacks and prizes are available to the first 100 participants that play LibGO in room LIB 264A from 10:30am to 1:30pm on Wednesday!

A Quick and Fun Introduction to Walker Library with LibGO!

Co-sponored by MT Engage and Walker Library

Wednesday, September 26

10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Walker Library, Room 264A

Students who want a quick, interactive library game orientation (LibGO) experience will participate in an online *educational* challenge which will take them on a tour of the building and its resources. Students will learn how the library can help with academic success. Snacks and prizes will be available. The first 100 participants to play LibGO receive a grab bag of prizes: drawstring bag, water bottle, Frisbee, stress ball, carabineer, pen, and more! (must be present to win).

Still not sure you want to play?

You decide what paths to take and earn or lose points along the way. There are characters for all: undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and community members. Staff can benefit too by playing faculty or community characters! You can even play characters you don’t identify with and learn even more about how the library can help you succeed. Will you get a high score? Try it out by playing LibGO in the library on Wednesday, Sept. 26! 

LibGO (PDF)

The Spring 2019 Digital Workshops Series schedule is now available. Mark your calendar for the following topics.

*All workshops are in LIB 264A or LIB 272. Register to get a reminder email before the workshop and to help with program planning*

Workshop Schedules below:

• Scholarly Publishing Workshop Part 1: Intro to the Open Access Movement, Monday, February 18, 2019, 11:30am-12:30pm, Update 2/14/19: CANCELLED

• Scholarly Publishing Workshop Part 2: Jump Start Your Scholarly Writing, Wednesday, February 27, 2019, 11:30am-12:30pm, Update 2/14/19: CANCELLED

• Exploring Wikipedia Workshop, Tuesday, April 2, 2019, 11:30am-12:30pm, Room LIB 272
  • More information at http://dsi.mtsu.edu/wikipediaSP2019

For a PDF copy of the spring 2019 schedule (with class descriptions), click here.

Scholarly Publishing Workshop Part 1: Intro to the Open Access Movement

Monday, February 18, 2019, 11:30am-12:30pm

This session will provide an overview of the scholarly publishing model with an emphasis on its evolution to the open access movement. Discussion will emphasize the pros and cons of the open access movement as it pertains to authors of scholarly content. A hands-on activity will help participants discern between the different types of publisher agreements available to authors, and will give tips as to selecting preferable conditions for publication.

Audience: Most interesting for graduate students, early-career faculty, and those interested in scholarly publishing. Part 2 will be presented later on Feb. 27.

Prerequisites: Familiarity with one’s research interests/agenda

Presenter: Walker Library’s Education Librarian, Dr. Karen Reed

Location: Walker Library, LIB 264A (Instruction Classroom)

REGISTRATION RECOMMENDED

Scholarly Publishing Workshop Part 2: Jump Start Your Scholarly Writing

Wednesday, February 27, 2019, 11:30am-12:30pm

Building on the concepts introduced in Part 1, the Part 2 session will help graduate students and early-career faculty produce an individualized, multistep action plan for turning one’s research into a submitted article. Participants will review library resources they can consult in locating possible journals for publication. The session will highlight organizational strategies for productive writing, and concepts such as author identifiers and author metrics data will be discussed.

Prerequisites: Familiarity with one’s research interests/agenda

Presenter: Walker Library’s Education Librarian, Dr. Karen Reed

Location: Walker Library, LIB 264A (Instruction Classroom)

REGISTRATION RECOMMENDED

Exploring Wikipedia Workshop • Tuesday, April 2, 2019, 11:30am-12:30pm

Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia is part of the fabric of our digital life. It is used worldwide, by millions of people daily. Join this workshop to learn more about it, as well as, how to use your knowledge and research skills to make it better. The instructor will share what she learned after taking a 9 week Wikipedia course, as well as, her experience working with a faculty member on a Wikipedia classroom assignment.

This workshop is for anyone who wants to add to their knowledge of Wikipedia.

Session topics:

• Overview of Wikipedia and how it really works
• Learn the ways you can contribute to Wikipedia
• See examples of how it is being used to teach digital literacy
• Explore the Library Wikipedia Research Guide for more in depth information

Prerequisites: None

Presenter:  Librarian, Jean Reese

Location: Walker Library, LIB 272 (Instruction Classroom)

REGISTRATION RECOMMENDED

Project Update: The scholarly digital research collection, Trials, Triumphs, and Transformations, was awarded Honorable Mention for the Garfinkel Prize in Digital Humanities at the American Studies Association Conference in November 2018.

Collection available at dsi.mtsu.edu/trials

This project was produced by the James E. Walker Library, in partnership with the Center for Historic Preservation and funded, in part, by the Tennessee Board of Regents Office of Academic Affairs and the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area, a unit of the National Park Service. A topical summary of the research collection and its unqiue content is below:

Trials, Triumphs, and Transformations: Tennesseans’ Search for Citizenship, Community, and Opportunity

Tennessee’s history between the end of the American Civil War (1865) and the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Rights Act often gets ignored. This historic period offers insights into the transformations that took place, including challenges and achievements, as Tennesseans searched for citizenship, community and opportunity. Citizenship—what that has meant and how that has changed—is at the heart of this digital exploration into Tennessee history and culture. This digital collection’s objects, songs, photographs, paintings, and documents often reveal the challenges faced by Tennesseans as they pursued the rights and benefits of citizenship.

Unique Content
A curated collection of rare, hidden, and unique items uncovered from collaborative partnerships including universities, public libraries, state and local archives, museums, and historical societies across the state. The collection includes interpretive layers such as scholarly essays, lesson plans, interactive visualizations and metadata records.

A visual copy (PDF) of the collection introduction is available for download here.

Trials, Triumphs, and Transformations: Tennesseans’ Search for Citizenship, Community, and Opportunity

Tennessee’s history between the end of the American Civil War (1865) and the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Rights Act often gets ignored. This historic period offers insights into the transformations that took place, including challenges and achievements, as Tennesseans searched for citizenship, community and opportunity. Citizenship—what that has meant and how that has changed—is at the heart of this digital exploration into Tennessee history and culture. This digital collection’s objects, songs, photographs, paintings, and documents often reveal the challenges faced by Tennesseans as they pursued the rights and benefits of citizenship.

Collection available at dsi.mtsu.edu/trials

Unique Content
A curated collection of rare, hidden, and unique items uncovered from collaborative partnerships including universities, public libraries, state and local archives, museums, and historical societies across the state. The collection includes interpretive layers such as scholarly essays, lesson plans, interactive visualizations and metadata records.

Produced by the James E. Walker Library, in partnership with the Center for Historic Preservation and funded, in part, by the Tennessee Board of Regents Office of Academic Affairs and the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area, a unit of the National Park Service.

Project Update: This scholarly digital research collection was awarded Honorable Mention for the Garfinkel Prize in Digital Humanities at the American Studies Association Conference in November 2018.

A visual copy (PDF) of the collection introduction is available for download here.