Building Collaborative Partnerships: Digital Research in the Humanities

1. Building Collaborative Partnerships: Digital Research in the Humanities Katherine L. Walter, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

2. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’sCenter for Digital Research in the Humanities The Center for Digital Research in the Humanities (CDRH) is a collaborative initiative of the University Libraries and the College of Arts and Sciences. CDRH advances interdisciplinary research in the humanities by creating unique digital content, developing text analysis and visualization tools, and advancing knowledge of international standards and their implications for humanities computing.

3. Background • UNL Libraries and College of Arts and Sciences formed the Electronic Text Center in the Libraries in 1998, on the recommendation of the Text Studies Steering Committee • Today, the Electronic Text Center and the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities share newly-renovated space in UNL’s Love Library.

4. Forming a Center Center status at the University of Nebraska involves approval from the following entities, in the order required: • Deans (Dean of Libraries and Dean of Arts & Sciences) • UNL Senate’s Academic Planning Committee • UNL Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs office • UNL Office of the Chancellor • Chief Academic Officers of the four campuses of the University • University of Nebraska central Administration • University of Nebraska Board of Regents • State of Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Post-secondary Education

5. Funding for the CDRH • Programs of Excellence Funding received January 2004-June 2008, $1.1 million, plus • Reallocated positions and operations, totaling $500,000/year in permanent state funding • Grants and donations for specific projects • Endowment for the Walt Whitman Archive

6. Faculty and staff • Permanent staffing: 8 FTE faculty and staff are dedicated to the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, with others in the Libraries assisting with information technology, metadata creation, and programming. • Graduate research assistants: 6 • Undergraduate researchers supported by grants: 7

7. Partnerships on Campus • University of Nebraska Press • Center for Great Plains Studies • Plains Humanities Alliance (member, National Consortium of Regional Humanities Centers) • 19th C Studies • University of Nebraska State Museum

8. State-Wide Partnerships • Nebraska State Historical Society (currently, Gilded Age Plains City and Cather’s Journalism projects) • Nebraska Library Commission (Nebraska Memories workshops, and Westward through Nebraska--affiliated with the Western Trails project)

9. Selected Other Affiliations • Stéphane Mallarmé’s L’Après-Midi D’Un Faun: University of Rouen • The Latin Works of John Wyclif: Georgetown University, Dept. of Medieval Studies • Quilt Index: Matrix at Michigan State University • Walt Whitman Archive Integrated Guide to Dispersed Poetry Manuscripts: IATH at the University of Virginia, the New York Public Library, the University of Texas at Austin, and Duke University • Western Waters Digital Library: Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA)

10. Current Projects Among the twenty-eight active projects are ones such as: 19th Century French Studies The Good Person: selections from Yoruba Proverbs The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition Online The Walt Whitman Archive The Willa Cather Archive

11. Selected New Projects • Interoperability of Metadata (IMLS-funded, partnering with IATH and Brown University) • Text analysis and visualization tool development (tokenX) • A Calendar of the Letters of Willa Cather (expanded digital edition) • Railroads and the Making of Modern America

12. Conclusion • For more information, see http://cdrh.unl.edu, or • contact co-directors Katherine Walter (kwalter1@unl.edu) or Kenneth Price (kprice2@unl.edu)