‘Curating the Campus’ speaker series kicks off Wednesday

The University Libraries have teamed up with Research Computing and the CU Museum of Natural History to present Curating the Campus, a three-part speaker series exploring how digital cultural heritage collections can contribute to the campus’ research and teaching mission and the community at large. 

Each talk features nationally renowned experts in the fields of library and information science, museum science and computer science. 

“Our speaker series will provide a look at some of the best of these ideas from our peers and experts in the field,” said Robert H. McDonald, Dean of the University Libraries and Senior Vice Provost of Online Education. 

This speaker series stems from long-standing partnerships between the University Libraries, Research Computing and the CU Natural History Museum and a shared understanding of the informatic needs and digital infrastructures necessary for cultural heritage institutions to continue to reach the world through their unique collections.  

Part One: “DAMmed if You Don’t,” featuring Larry Gall, head of Computer Systems Office & Collections Manager Entomology at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History

Digital discovery is now an integral part of a university’s mission, and collaborations among museums, libraries and research IT are central to circumventing intellectual siloing. One of the primary questions stakeholders face is how to promote and encourage these collaborations given the wide diversity and history of each unit. 

Various developments in the last decade at Yale, including the adoption of an Open Access Policy in 2010, have sparked a renaissance in cross-campus collaborations. This will be explored first from the perspective of digital initiatives at the Peabody Museum of Natural History, and then more broadly.

Wednesday, Feb. 24, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. Registration required.

Part Two: “Leveraging Digital Library Infrastructure for Enabling Access to Unique Collections,” featuring Mark Phillips, associate dean for Digital Libraries at the University of North Texas Libraries 

Digital libraries, digital archives, institutional repositories and digital collections have evolved from experiments and research projects to stable and expected platforms in university libraries today. In the past year we have seen the unprecedented shift to online and remote access to our collections. Platforms and infrastructure we use for describing, preserving, and providing access to collections have been thoroughly tested and there are many things we can learn from this experience. 

This presentation will discuss the challenges and opportunities in making our unique collections available online.  

Wednesday, March 31, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. Registration required. 

Part Three: “Everything is data except when it's not: AI, the library, and digital research practices,” featuring Catherine Nicole Coleman, digital research architect and research director, Humanities + Design, Stanford Libraries

Even if your own research is not data-driven, the move on behalf of both libraries and researchers to think of collections as data opens up new possibilities and requires new critical practices. 

In this talk, Coleman will share some examples from the Stanford Libraries and from the larger AI4LAM community of what it means to think of collections as data and the implications for future research.

Wednesday, April 28, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. Registration required.