Rebecca GoldmanRebecca Goldman

Drexel University ArchivesDrexel University Archives

August 14, 2010August 14, 2010

Our HIST285 project

Research a technology at Drexel Develop a thesis, and find supporting

material in the Archives Create a digital exhibition of findings on

the Archives website

A HIST285 exhibit

Why collaborate with an undergraduate class? opportunity for outreach learn new things about our collections support Library's mission students are future alumni stress test for our procedures

HIST285 by the numbers, Fall 2009 90+ student

researchers 9 group projects 10-week quarter

And…2 full-time Archives staff

Challenges in Fall 2009

tracking team research progress scheduling researchers, interns and

student workers tracking offsite storage requests tracking scan requests

Managing the hordes:Solutions for Spring 2010

JIRA Bug-tracking software customized for

tracking reference questions

You can assign and schedule reference questions…

…add attachments and comments…

…track progress on a question…

…and search the whole database.

Google Calendar

Track researcher appointments, student and intern schedules, and archives closures on the same calendar

Google Spreadsheets

Track requests from off-site storage (on a small scale)

Paper files

Folder for each groupSign-in sheet to track when groups come,

which members come, and what Archives staff need to do before the next visit

Scan request form Paper materials generated during research

(research notes, photocopies of materials, printouts of search results)

Looking to the future

Future plans for HIST285

More instruction on exhibition design Have students blog about their

experiences Find ways to involve interns in the

process

Thinking about working with an undergraduate class? Recommend good research topics Maintain contact with students Set multiple deadlines Group projects suck Manage expectations of the Archives Manage your own expectations of students Participate in creating assignments and

grading Be a partner in the research process

What do students think? Some survey responses All said archives research was at least

“sort of fun.” All said research took as much time or

less time than they expected Most common favorite part: seeing old

documents and photographs Used to keyword searching, and would

have preferred to have more content available online

“I'm a nerd and felt like Batman when I was doing it.”

Contact info

Rebecca Goldman

Digital Archives Technician,

Drexel University Archives

RebeccaGoldman@drexel.edu

http://www.library.drexel.edu/archives

Thanks

Photo credit: Drexel University Archives Drexel University Libraries Dr. Erik Rau Laurie Rizzo Rob Sieczkiewicz