Building an archaeological data repository: a digital library and digital humanities collaboration at the University of South Florida

Abstract

Digital Humanities projects have shown to be projects of collaboration and interdisciplinary cooperation. As digital humanities researchers are creating and discovering new methods of collaboration, libraries have been reflecting on how they can best support and nurture such collaborations. This paper aims to demonstrate a practical case of what the University of South Florida Digital Collections has done to support the accessibility and discoverability of a new archaeological dataset in collaboration with a Digital Humanities research facility on campus. This paper is a case study to showcase the process employed by the University of South Florida Libraries in its partnership with an on campus digital humanities institute in the creation of a new digital collection. The partnership resulted in a prototype archaeological data repository named the Andean Archaeological Data Project, and a digital collection that was successfully housed in the existing digital library platform, through which public access to the material is natively enabled through the library web pages. The authors have come to the conclusion that with the proper infrastructure and the appropriate skill sets, a digital library can be a long-term platform for dynamic digital humanities research data.