FALL 2018 EMORY LIBRARIES NEW TECHNOLOGY OPENS DOOR TO ACCESSIBILITY AND INNOVATION VIRTUAL REALITY | ORAL HISTORIES | WIKIPEDIA RECLAIMED librariesMAGFall 112018.indd 3 11/21/18 8:26 AM MAKEMORY SPACES INCUBATE DIFFERENT FORMS OF LEARNING, P. 16 4 EMORY LIBRARIES librariesMAGFall 112018.indd 4 11/21/18 8:26 AM CONTENTS 4 Cover Story Robot creates opportunities for new interactions with users 6 19 Oral history project captures voices Open access helps faculty with digital h_Ûklm&`^g^kZmbhg>fhkrlmn]^gml publishing 10 21 Archives collaboration inspires Pkbmbg``khnifho^leb[kZkbZgl creativity and builds community research into print 13 22 @kZgmlniihkmlPbdbi^]bZl Emory Libraries: Getting to know us higher education goals 24 14 New staff add skills, expertise VIRTUAL REALITY Advancing South Asian Studies RESEARCH REIMAGINES 27 HOW WE TEACH 18 Friends, supporters, and alumni AND LEARN, P. 20 Librarians partner to improve information literacy skills librariesMAGFall 112018.indd 5 11/21/18 8:26 AM FALL 2018 Robert W. Woodruff Library Emory University 540 Asbury Circle Atlanta, GA 30322 TO SUBSCRIBE Email: [email protected] FOR MORE INFORMATION libraries.emory.edu EDITORIAL CREDITS Editor: Holly Crenshaw Contributing writers: Amy Allison, Ellen Ambrosone, Gabrielle M. Dudley, Amelia Frances, Maureen McGavin, Sarah E. McKee, Wade Moricle, Jenn Sutcliffe Art Director: Evelyn Amaya Ortega Photography: Emory Photo/Video, Wade Moricle ON THE COVER Double Robotics unit will create new library service opportunities INSIDE BACK COVER Oxford College student at a Discovery seminar ON THIS PAGE Equipment in our student production studio 6 EMORY LIBRARIES librariesMAGFall 112018.indd 6 11/21/18 8:26 AM FROM OUR UNIVERSITY LIBRARIAN nnovation is more than an aspiration at the Emory Libraries. It’s a force that moves us to Istretch our imaginations, create new opportunities, and embrace the unexpected. It is also a foundational pillar in the university’s strategic framework. Emory has pledged its determination to harness intellectual imagination and discovery to address 21st-century challenges. The goal — one that we strongly embrace — is to Innovation isn’t always tied drive societal change for the common good. to technology. It simply needs Throughout this issue, we highlight how the Emory Libraries infuse innovative thinking into our the right environment to thrive. daily lives. Many of these articles focus on projects that sprang directly from our recently launched Innovation Grant and Mini Grant programs. our website so users will find it easier to discover — Open to all our staff, these grants encourage and to benefit from — all that we offer. experimentation and risk-taking in an effort to Our workplace culture includes employee create new tools, services, and programs that enrich forums where we set aside time to learn about and our contributions to the campus. Other projects celebrate each other’s accomplishments. We are also grew out of a potent mix of individual curiosity, preparing for the future with an extensive Libraries teamwork, and forward-thinking managers who Leadership Development Program, described more encourage employee initiative. fully inside this issue. While some stories highlight digital As you read this magazine, I hope you will scholarship, microcomputers, video recordings, sense how inspired I am by our gifted staff. Every virtual reality, and yes, even robots, others remind day, they raise their hands, step forward, and us that innovation isn’t always tied to technology. It pursue big ideas — convinced that it’s always worth simply needs the right environment to thrive. wondering if there’s a better way. Behind the scenes, our commitment to coura- With your support, we will continue to explore geous inquiry includes ongoing efforts to make our new ways of learning, both for ourselves and for rich resources more readily available. We have made others. We hope you will join us on that journey. exciting progress on our digital library program, a multiyear initiative that will provide long-term YOLANDA COOPER preservation and access to Emory’s outstanding UNIVERSITY LIBRARIAN digital assets and collections. We are also revising FALL 2018 3 librariesMAGFall 112018.indd 3 11/21/18 8:26 AM COVER STORY 4 EMORY LIBRARIES librariesMAGFall 112018.indd 4 11/21/18 8:26 AM Emory Libraries enters the age of robots to improve user accessibility By Wade Moricle establishing a reservation process for those interested in using it for a class, an robots give patrons meeting, or exhibition, which could in- greater access to the volve an orientation and training session. Emory Libraries? By “We are excited about seeing the purchasing one this fall, ways the Emory Libraries’ staff can the Libraries are ready to incorporate this robot from an acces- Cexplore how a robot could open doors to sibility standpoint,” says Allison Butler, fresh possibilities. director of Emory’s Office of Accessibility The recently acquired Double Robot- Services. “It appears to be an innovative ics unit is a small, two-wheeled vehicle way to create more of a human connec- with an iPad mounted to its upright post tion with remote access.” that can be controlled remotely, giving Library operations and access the driver “face-to-face” access. Users can manager Terence Jefferson, who is speak to, listen to, and be seen on screen recuperating from an injury, says, “I’ve by anyone the robot encounters. By creat- had difficulty getting to the building. I ing a telepresence for its user, the robot can see opportunities of interacting with enables more human interaction than others with the robot. Just calling in via a what a cell phone or video conference teleconference doesn’t make me feel like call can achieve. The unit costs about the a part of the meeting. I need to be able to same as a typical desktop computer. move around the building to do my job.” “Robotics is an emerging trend in And students immediately sensed the higher education,” says Campus and robot’s potential benefits. “I think there’s Community Relations director Leslie a lot of value in being face-to-face with Wingate, who coordinated the initiative. your classmates if you can’t physically be “We are excited about its potential uses.” there. I’m curious about it. I would defi- The robot has a small footprint and nitely talk to the person on the screen,” is easy to maneuver, with three different says Anya Kone, class of 2018. Adds Brian cameras showing all aspects of its sur- Medilien, class of 2019, “At first, people roundings. Its height can be raised or low- will be surprised, but if I saw it coming I ered remotely to match that of the person would engage with it right away because I the driver is talking to. It even has its own love technology. I think it’s a cool idea.” charging station where it can recharge Adds Wingate, “The Emory without assistance. Libraries are known for our leading- The goal is to increase accessibility edge technology. We view this robot and services, promote library programs, as an investment in improving library and perhaps learn more about patrons accessibility.” through poll-taking and other interac- tions. The unit will reside in the library, Wade Moricle is a writer for Emory and staff members are gathering feedback Libraries. on how it can best be used. Ideas include FALL 2018 5 librariesMAGFall 112018.indd 5 11/21/18 8:26 AM Creating an oral history archive at Emory “I wanted to make ince immigrating to the The Emory Oral History Proj- Bronx at age five from ect, started in fall 2017, preserves an oral history video Ghana with her family, the stories of students at Emory because it’s important SAkua Serwaa-Sefa has University who are the first in their lived a low-income life, one that families to attend college. In spring to have the low-income has taught her to be resource- 2018, the project expanded its ful and resilient. Now an Emory focus to three chapters: first-gener- and black perspective University senior majoring in ation, black, and Latinx students. religion/sociology and psychology, The project received an Emory at Emory. I wanted this first-generation college student Libraries Innovation Grant in to bring others in has recorded an interview for the 2017, and additional funding and Emory Oral History Project that guidance from Emory University to make sure those documents her journey. historian Gary Hauk. “I wanted to make this oral In the project’s first two semes- students’ voices were history video because it’s impor- ters, more than 40 undergraduate represented in the tant to have the low-income and and graduate students recorded black perspective at Emory,” says videos, which were placed in the videos.” Serwaa-Sefa, who also worked University Archives at the Stuart as an assistant on the project. “I A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and :DN:L>KP::&L>?:%BGM>KOB>P>> wanted to bring others in to make Rare Book Library. For scholars AND ORAL HISTORY PROJECT sure those students’ voices were and researchers, the growing ar- ASSISTANT represented in the videos.” chive will provide a revealing nar- rative of life as a low-income and non-white student at Emory and in the city of Atlanta, and how Emory supports those students. Jonathan Coulis, a PhD candidate in Latin American his- tory, started the project as part of his Woodruff Library fellowship with the help of former sociology librarian Nidia Bañuelos, initially working with the 1915 Scholars program to find the stories of first-generation students. The in- novation grant provided funds to hire three undergraduate students, providing a great training experi- ence for them. The students learned how to develop questions and 6 EMORY LIBRARIES librariesMAGFall 112018.indd 6 11/21/18 8:26 AM FALL 2018 7 librariesMAGFall 112018.indd 7 11/21/18 8:26 AM “If we can grow this archive interview people, as well as operate the camera, lighting and audio of experiences around Atlanta, recording equipment.