Digital Initiatives at the Taylor Institution Library
Creators: name: Huber, Emma Kathryn
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: digitisation
digital humanities
teaching
libraries
information skills

description: The Taylor Institution has created a number of innovative Digital Humanities teaching initiatives over the past year, aimed primarily at graduate students and early career researchers, in order to lower barriers to engaging in digital methods.  These initiatives include a popular Digital Editions course (running for the last three terms at full capacity), a Humanities Coding Club, and an Introduction to Digital Humanities course (see https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/taylor/about/courses-and-training - the last two will run for the first time from April 2019). These courses give students the skills they need to use Digital Humanities tools for their own research without requiring a research grant.

The courses are written, planned and run by Subject Librarians at the Taylor Institution Library, one of the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford, and the largest library dedicated to Modern Foreign Languages in the UK. Librarians are ideally placed to teach Digital Humanities, as they combine subject knowledge, expert information management skills and a wide knowledge of other support services.  There is currently a gap in the market for introductory level courses for students with an interest in DH, but who have not yet decided to pursue a DH-specific course.  Many existing training opportunities are for people who have already secured funding for DH projects, or are showcasing cutting-edge projects, which can be intimidating for beginners. Our interest is in providing students without research grants the opportunity to use digital methods, for free, to enhance their existing studies, and to inspire them to pursue further study in Digital Humanities.

In the Digital Editions course, librarians offer introductory training on text selection, imaging, transcription, xml encoding using TEI (two sessions), quality assurance, preservation and delivery. The aim is to give participants an overview of the main elements of a digitisation project, raising awareness of the issues to be considered (and budgeted for) in funded digitisation projects, and where to seek advice. “Library” skills such as research data management, open access, use of information databases and preservation are taught alongside Digital Humanities skills.  The Humanities Coding Club is a weekly peer-support group for anyone teaching themselves to code, as well as anyone with expertise to share. Library staff offer their support and guidance, and may go on to provide further structured courses in specific areas if there is a clear demand. The Introduction to Digital Humanities course teaches basic principles of data modelling, with practical hands-on activities leading to the creation of databases, visualisations based on statistical analysis, network graphs and geographic visualisations, as well as an introduction to linked data, using SPARQL and wikidata.

The students participating in these courses are the funded researchers of the future, and we feel that by building strong relationships at this early stage, and by teaching library priorities such as the use of standards and preservation, we are creating a strong foundation for future partnerships.