Libraries Add Previously Digitized Special Collections Materials to Digital Collection

Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries

Women's dormitory residents pose for a photo in front of Carnall Hall, ca. 1913.

Digital scans previously requested by Special Collections patrons have been added to one convenient location: the Selections from Special Collections and Archives digital collection. Additional scans will be added to the collection as they are requested. 

"This digital collection is unique in that it exclusively contains user-requested materials," said Melanie Griffin, director of Special Collections services. "We are excited to make these crowd sourced selections available for everyone to see and use." 

The idea for the collection came from Martha Anderson, head of Digital Services. An article she wrote describing the workflow and process, titled The One-Time Request Digital Gallery, was published in the March/April 2020 issue of Archival Outlook, a publication of the Society of American Archivists. 

It takes a village to create and publish a digital collection. Libraries personnel in the working group for this project include Anderson, Geoffrey Stark and Catherine Wallack. Dylan Hurd and Melanie Griffin consulted on the project. Items were digitized by the Libraries' Digital Services department, including Samuel Collins, Dexter Fairweather, Ross Kerr, Cassidy McManus, Wendy McLean, Megan York, Laura Montgomery, Shelby Osbourne, Christina Rhoades, Dharma Shepard, Fred Shumbusho and Kennedy Simes. Metadata, which makes the collection searchable, was added by Deborah Kulczak and Alyssa Willis.

"While working on this digital exhibit, I discovered Arkansans who would later become U.S. cultural and political icons," said Willis, a cataloging librarian. "The materials in the exhibit span several decades and locations around the state."

Items in the Selections from Special Collections and Archives digital collection are free of use restrictions and are not included in any of the Libraries' other digital collections.