Presented at GaCOMO12 (as part of the GLA Academic Papers session) by Stewart Varner.

1. Stewart Varner
Digital Scholarship Coordinator
Emory University’s Research
Commons:
Connecting scholars with technology, expertise and each
other

2. The Rise of Digital Scholarship

3. The Rise of Digital Scholarship
Twenty four panels
devoted to digital
projects at this year’s
meeting of the
American Historical
Association.
This year’s meeting of
the Modern Language
Association hosted 57
digital humanities
sessions (up from last
year’s 47).

4. The Rise of Digital Scholarship

5. The Challenge for Scholars
Who can help?
Where can I work?
Is anybody else doing this?

6. The Challenge for Libraries
• How do we move from a collection-
centered mission to an engagement-
centered mission?
• How do we support digital scholarship in
a sustainable way?

7. The Challenge for Libraries

8. The Solution

9. Historical Context

10. The Learning Commons

11. The Learning Commons

12. The Research Commons

13. The Research Commons

14. The Research Commons

15. The Research Commons

16. Event Space

17. Event Space

18. The Digital Scholarship Commons (DiSC)

19. The Digital Scholarship Commons (DiSC)
Goals:
• Start a Digital Scholarship Center at Emory which:
• Encourage collaborative work/Creates a community
• Involves librarians in new and meaningful ways
• Produces 4 projects per year
• Exposes library collections
• Create a model for other institutions to follow

20. DiSC: People
Digital DiSC Digital
Scholarship Scholarship
Coordinator Solutions
Analyst
Digital
Humanities Graduate
Strategist Fellows
Undergrad Faculty Associated
Staff Partners Library Staff

21. DiSC: Events
• Workshops
• DiSCussions
• Speakers
• Advisory Board Meeting
• Grand Opening
• Digital Technology and Disabilities Studies Symposium

22. DiSC Projects: Two Tier System
Tier 1: simple projects, consultation
• At the Tier 1 level, we aim to empower scholars to do the work
themselves.
• Some home-grown projects. Example: disc.library.emory.edu/ows

23. DiSC Projects: Two Tier System
Tier 2: complex projects, receive support
• Four Tier 2 projects/year
• Developer Time
• A small amount of money which can be used for travel, student
work, translation services, web development …

24. Challenges
• Funding

25. Challenges
• Funding
• Preservation

26. Challenges
• Funding
• Preservation
• Attracting and Retaining Talent

27. Challenges
• Funding
• Preservation
• Attracting and Retaining Talent
• Becoming Truly Interdisciplinary

28. Challenges
• Funding
• Preservation
• Attracting and Retaining Talent
• Becoming Truly Interdisciplinary
• Establishing True Partnerships

29. Questions?