DH 2026

Daejeon, July 27–31

Poster

Building Engagement and Connection through Library-Led Digital Humanities Initiatives

Lily De La Fuente
University of Miami, United States of America · lilydelafuente99@gmail.com

Digital Humanities (DH) thrives on collaboration across disciplines, technologies, and communities. Academic libraries are uniquely positioned to serve as connectors in this landscape by facilitating learning. At the University of Miami, the library has redefined its engagement with DH by curating new digital resources, revitalizing research support, and co‑developing a teaching series with the Digital Humanities Interdisciplinary Research Group (DHIRG). This poster presents the outcomes and reflections from these library‑led initiatives, focusing on how librarians can meaningfully engage with DH scholars and students as co‑creators rather than solely service providers.

Over the past year, the library has launched several interconnected efforts to strengthen the visibility of DH resources and expand campus engagement. These efforts include a curated digital collection of DH books highlighting foundational and emerging scholarship. In addition, an updated Digital Humanities Library Resources research guide incorporates key DH journals, library databases and primary-source collections suitable for computational analysis, and maps the campus DH ecosystem by featuring the Digital Research Toolkit, departmental courses, and ongoing DH projects.

In collaboration with DHIRG, a workshop series was developed to introduce participants to DH concepts and practices through a library lens. The sessions were designed to build progressively, covering foundational DH library resources, digital collections, text mining with Voyant, and managing citations, data, and user experience in DH research. Each session combined hands‑on exploration with critical discussion, encouraging participants to connect DH tools and theory to their own disciplines.

These initiatives have increased engagement between library staff, faculty, and graduate students, while also raising the visibility and usage of library collections and services. Participant feedback indicates stronger confidence in DH methods and resource discovery, and new partnerships have emerged through requests for customized DH instruction. The DHIRG collaboration has positioned the library as an integral part of the university’s DH network. This poster visualizes the library’s DH engagement efforts and invites attendees to reflect on their own DH–library collaborations.

References
  1. Hartsell-Gundy, Arianne, et al., editors. Digital Humanities in the Library. 2nd ed., Association of College and Research Libraries, 2024.
  2. Posner, Miriam. “What’s Next: The Radical, Unrealized Potential of Digital Humanities.” Debates in the Digital Humanities 2016, edited by Lauren F. Klein and Matthew K. Gold, University of Minnesota Press, 2016, pp. 32–41.
  3. Yao, Wuyan, and Peng Xiao. “What Contributes to a Qualified Digital Humanities Librarian and Ideal Digital Humanities Pedagogy? An Exploratory Qualitative Study.” The Journal of Academic Librarianship, vol. 48, no. 6, 2022, article 102524.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2022.102524.