CU Library continues to be central to the humanities, with an electronic edge

By Franklin Crawford

Steven Pond is among a growing number of Cornell faculty members who have discovered that computers and other electronic media can greatly enhance instruction in the liberal arts and humanities.

H. Thomas Hickerson, associate university librarian for information technology and special collections, makes opening remarks at the Ctheory Multimedia inaugural workshop, April 20, in Kroch Library. Nicola Kountoupes/University Photography

"It's not about embracing technology so much as using technology to help solve problems in teaching," said Pond, associate professor of musicology who has taught several music survey courses using high-tech media. "I'm always trying to hit students with information from a lot of different angles so their chances of learning are increased."

Pond readily concedes he is no computer guru. Like other liberal arts faculty who are banking steeply up the learning curve of new technology, he is supported not only through specialized computing services on campus, but from the hallowed hub of the humanities itself, the library.

For instance: while teaching a freshman music survey course on jazz, Pond used the Uris Library CreationStation. One of six on campus, the CreationStation offers students and instructors access to an up-to-date suite of desktop and portable computing equipment, sophisticated design and multimedia composition software and communication and collaboration tools.

Such digital technologies aid Pond while "leveling the playing field for people who are visually or technically literate, but may lack a music background" or more traditional learning skills, he said.

It's one example of how the library, central to the arts and humanities in traditional ways, is increasingly so in new ways, said H. Thomas Hickerson, associate university librarian.

From building global databases of diverse digital images and documents for multiple users to collaborating directly with faculty in the creation of scholarly web sites and multimedia presentations, the library is one place to witness some new directions in the humanities. New information technology is reshaping how students learn and how students, faculty and other users not only conduct research but also create new forms of scholarly communication, research and writing.

"Part of what makes it powerful and attractive for humanities faculty," said Hickerson, "is that it allows them to not only teach in different ways but to explore their own thoughts, maybe in a richer way than an 8-by-10 monograph format."

Sarah E. Thomas, Carl E. Kroch University Librarian, expanded on that idea, saying Cornell faculty come to the library with ideas and cutting edge projects that "offer a glimpse of the way students will learn in the future." In this way the library has become a "fellow traveler on the path to the discovery of new knowledge," she said.

"We're able to mine our collections for supporting materials, use our information retrieval expertise to identify other valuable resources and apply our experience in digital library development to help faculty achieve their vision," Thomas said. "Many of the projects we've worked on have functioned like design teams, with innovative concepts coming from all participants and much collaborative problem-solving."

One driving force behind the changes is the students themselves: Weaned on MTV and hand-held computer games, many techno-savvy students arrive with unprecedented fluency in electronic media. They reasonably expect access to state-of-the-art research tools and equipment. In the humanities, the task is to meet that demand while keeping to the job of delivering quality liberal arts education. More than ever, the library is assisting in that task.

The traditional role of Cornell Library is alive and well -- people still take out books, study in the stacks, sit with headphones studying scores in the music library -- although this music is now delivered digitally. Cornell's 19 different libraries house and preserve enormous holdings, some 6 million books and 80 million manuscripts altogether. The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, while a separate unit of the university, collaborates closely with the library in several areas. The creation of high-resolution digital copies of more than 15,000 -- over half -- of the museum's artworks was a joint project of the museum, the Cornell Institute for Digital Collections (CIDC) and University Photography. Based on the results of this project, which also include the cataloging of each image, CIDC staff created and maintain databases that both support the museum's management of their collections and also provide campuswide networked access to the images and cataloging for classroom and research use.

With the advent of digital technologies, the Cornell libraries have seen a 62 percent increase in the use of network resources and a 9 percent decrease in the traditional use of hard copy materials since 1998. Hickerson says that 62 percent increase is not based on the number of electronic hits -- but verified use where a resource was called up and browsed. Network resources comprise about 5,000 electronic sources -- principally scholarly journals, many of them scientific in nature, but many humanities-related texts as well. Overall, Hickerson said, there is a 5.5 percent increase in the use of library resources during this same period.

"Some people are using the library who traditionally didn't use it, partly because they can now access resources from their desk top," said Hickerson, speculating that "some of those users might seldom visit the library, except during finals."

And if they did, they might not be able to get to the reserve book they wanted until someone else finished with it. With more materials online, some students can access study and course materials any time of the day without having to brave the elements. Faculty find a combination of the traditional and the digital goes a long way.

Kathleen Long is an associate professor of Romance studies who specializes in Renaissance France. In her courses, Long uses traditional sources in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. But she also is enthusiastic about a library web project called the "The Fantastic in Art and Fiction." Created by John Anzalone, a visiting scholar working in collaboration with staff of the CIDC, the site's arcane and intriguing images are drawn from the library's rare book collection. CIDC staff develop shared digital collections of visual and textual resources drawn from across the campus, as well as enhancing those resources for classroom instruction. CIDC staff provide a unique combination of curatorial, instructional, research, and managerial assistance.

"The Fantastic in Art and Fiction" web site is a good example of how students access and learn from representations of primary resources on the web, Long said.

"Students can focus their research before they even enter the library, thus better planning their own work and using the texts and images that are available in the library to the best advantage," said Long. "I think the web sites are, in fact, drawing students to these resources and enabling them to do more original research than they have done previously. It is, often, encouraging them to become scholars in a way that has not been tried before."

Students work on creating a multimedia web page called "Jazz at Cornell" at the CreationStation Lab in Uris Library last spring for Professor Steven Pond's "What is Jazz" Knight Writing Program seminar. The students are, from left, juniors Lou Chugranis, Ted Claghorn and Alex Mathews. Tony Cosgrave

The web sites do not replace artifacts -- but in many cases, the virtual items inspire further investigations. "I am repeatedly struck by the awe students express when faced with real objects (books and art works mostly) from the past," said Long. "The web sites do not provide these real objects, but provide the opportunity and incentive to access them in different ways. I really do think that the sites are drawing students in. For one thing, many students have previously been unaware of Cornell's enormous resources; these sites are providing them with knowledge they would not otherwise have gained."

Thomas says that today's library provides for group interaction as well as solitary contemplation. A trip to one of the library's six CreationStations illustrates a more social aspect of the new library. "By working in groups to produce multimedia presentations, students have learned to work collaboratively while learning to use high-end equipment and applications," said Tony Cosgrave, reference librarian and instruction coordinator. "We have worked with faculty in nine different classes and the estimated total number of uses of the Uris Library CreationStation lab is 1,000 -- that's since its inception in spring 2000."

The CreationStation is a prototype for future learning environments provided through Cornell Library, the Human-Computer Interaction Group in the department of communication, with consultation by the Academic Technology Center at Cornell Information Technologies. The number Cosgrave quotes represents total use by students in the nine classes as well as uses by faculty, students and staff not affiliated with the classes. This figure does not apply to the smaller CreationStation facilities in Mann Library and Engineering Library.

"Libraries are constantly evolving," said Thomas. "Even in the midst of the digital revolution, we find that the library as place remains vital. While we still acquire and preserve print publications, we consider the experimental projects humanists are designing as a new form of publication which is dynamic and uses multiple types of media for expression. The library has an expanded role to play in the changing world of scholarly communications and e-publishing. In addition, we are serving an ever-expanding universe of information seekers as a result of distance-learning endeavors."