This document summarizes Elaine Harrington's presentation on next generation special collections at UCC Library. It discusses the library's efforts to upgrade learning spaces and showcase innovative teaching practices. It also describes findings from the NMC Horizon Report on emerging technologies in higher education. Additionally, it provides several case studies of how special collections have been used in innovative ways with technologies like iPads, GIS mapping, 3D printing, microscopes, and document cameras to enhance learning. The presentation emphasizes how special collections can shape research outcomes and the benefits of reflecting on technology use.

1. Space, The Final Frontier:
Next Generation Special Collections
Elaine Harrington | Special Collections Librarian
UCC Library
HEAnet National Conference: Digital Transformation for
Education & Research | 9 November 2017

2. Next Generation Learning Spaces at UCC
October 2016: Office of the Vice President for Teaching and Learning (OVPTL)
Call for applications to develop Next Generation Learning Spaces at UCC with launch
half-day seminar.
October 2017: half-day seminar showcase examples of teaching and learning spaces
within UCC that have been upgraded within the last year, as well as highlighting
examples of best and innovative practice internationally.

3. NMC Horizon Reports
NMC Horizon Report > 2017 Higher Education Edition is a collaborative effort between
the NMC and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI).
Describes annual findings of the NMC Horizon Project, an ongoing research project
designed to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have an impact on
learning, teaching, and creative inquiry in education.
Six key trends, six significant challenges, and six important developments in educational
technology are placed directly in the context of their likely impact on the core missions of
universities and colleges.

4. Special Collections
“Unique and distinctive” collections of rare books, and many other media, including born-
digital and digitised documents (Cullingford)
“Elements of distinction that serve to differentiate an academic or research library from its
peers” (Dooley & Luce)
Formats:
• Early Printed Books
• Books from Presses
• Collections from individuals
• Newspapers
• Maps
• Pamphlets
• Literary Manuscripts
• Digital Files

5. Special Collections’ Storage Environment

6. Special Collections’ Users’
Environment: Rare Books
Reading Room

7. Learning to Learn
Mitchell, Eleanor, Peggy Seiden, and Suzy
Taraba, eds. Past or Portal?: Enhancing
Undergraduate Learning through Special
Collections and Archives. Chicago: ACRL,
2012.
Bahde, Anne, Heather Smedberg, and Mattie
Taormina, eds. Using Primary Sources: Hands-
on Instructional Exercises. Santa Barbara,
California: ABC-CLIO, [2014].
Thomas, Lynne and Beth Whittaker, eds.
New Directions for Special Collections: An
Anthology of Practice. Santa Barbara,
California: ABC-CLIO, 2017.

8. Case Studies
I: iPads with Artefacts
II: GIS with Reference Sources
III: 3D Printing
IV: Digital Hand-held Microscope
V: Document Camera

9. Case Study I: iPads with Artefacts – Origin

10. Case Study I: iPads with Artefacts – Preservation
Henebry O’Neill Wax Cylinder Collection:
http://epu.ucc.ie/henebry/

11. Case Study I: iPads with Artefacts – Use
Henebry Wax Cylinder
https://ucchenebrywaxcylin.wixsite.com/waxcylinders
https://twitter.com/HWaxCylinders
MU1003: Studying Music at University

12. Case Study II: GIS with Reference Sources
MU 3061: Sound Studies & Musicology

13. Slide Credit: 1890s Guy’s South of Ireland Pictorial Map
Slide Credit: 1921 Purcell’s Almanac

14. Case Study II: GIS with Reference Sources –
Field Recording and Sound Editing Tools

15. Case Study II: GIS with
Reference Sources –
Output: Burning of Cork
Slide Credit: Who Burnt Cork City?

16. Case Study II: GIS with
Reference Sources – Output:
Birds of Cork 1750 – 1852
Slide Credit: “Common Crane.” Buffon, Georges. Histoire
naturelle des oiseaux.

17. Case Study: 3D Printing – Exhibitions
HI 6091: Skills for Medieval Historians
Jessica Lacher-Feldman: “we exhibit because we can, and because our holdings make
for great exhibits. Sharing our treasures with a broader audience is a natural outcome of
the work that we do. Finding opportunities to take the materials out of the stacks and
placing them in context in an exhibition is exhilarating, challenging, and beneficial. What
better way is there to share what we have in our shops and what we do in the profession
than to feature our talents and treasures?”
(Exhibits in Archives & Special Collections Libraries. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2013. p.7)

18. Case Study: 3D Printing – Exhibition Example
Slide Credit: Bruni, Leonardo. Historia del Popolo Fiorentino.
[Vinegia (Venice): Iacomo de Rossi, 1476]. Slide Credit: Burgonet./ https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:24141

19. Case Study: 3D Printing – Copyright
Head of a Cleric from a Tomb Effigy (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Slide Credit: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:279374

20. Case Study IV: Digital Hand-held Microscope

21. Case Study IV: Digital Hand-held
Microscope - Images
Slide Credit: Torna Ms 43, Special Collections, UCC Library.

22. Case Study IV: Digital Hand-held Microscope – Outreach

23. For a full account: Semple, Edel. “Culture Night: Shakespeare’s Sources & the Boole Library’s Resources.”
http://blogs.ucc.ie/wordpress/theriverside/2016/10/05/culture-night-shakespeares-sources-boole-librarys-resources/
Case Study V: Document Camera
X
X

24. Case Study V: Document Camera – The Road to Success…

25. Case Study V: Document Camera – …Is Never Smooth!

26. Case Study V: Document Camera –
Last Try!

27. Let’s Pause…
Slide Credit: https://twitter.com/DavidGeurin/status/701943345933852672 via @@DavidGeurin

28. Stock-Taking of Technologies
Special Collections shapes research & results.
At the beginning of a module or technology:
• Imagining benefits & challenges
• How to manage challenges
• Knowledge, skills and further projects that
emerge.
What we learn that we (and others)
can take for the future?
Slide Credit: http://approachanxiety.com/2011/11/what-success-looks-like/

29. Off the Map?
Slide Credit: William Beauford 1801 Map of Cork.
Dr Melanie Marshall,
Dept. of Music
Dr Jillian Rogers,
Dept. of Music
Dr Malgorzata
D'Aughton, School
of History
Dr Edel Semple,
School of English
Prof. Pádraig. Ó Macháin

30. Contact Details
Elaine Harrington, Special Collections Librarian | UCC Library
e.harrington@ucc.ie | @walkerabroad
The Riverside: @theriversideUCC
http://blogs.ucc.ie/wordpress/theriverside/
http://libguides.ucc.ie/specialcollections
Darwin, Charles. “Tree of Life.”