2016-2017 Digital Partners Grants Promote Collaboration and Build a Community of Scholars

During the 2016-2017 academic year, University Libraries launched the Digital Partners Grant in an effort to maintain and preserve the research of UNCG's faculty. Recipients can receive up to $22,500 in resources from the Electronic Resources and Information Technologies (ERIT) department, which provides appropriate existing hardware and software at no cost. Additionally, University Libraries commits to maintaining the scholarly product and making it broadly available for the long term. The 2016-2017 Digital Partners Grant recipients are listed below. 

• Dr. Chris Hodgkins, Department of English, UNCG and Dr. Robert Whalen, Department of English, Northern Michigan University
• The University Libraries worked with Hodgkins to acquire, archive and maintain a local copy of the George Herbert: The Digital Temple web application, while also working with him and Whalen on the longer-term design and development of The Complete Works of George Herbert. In addition, University Libraries worked with Hodgkins to update, expand and diversify the web presence of the George Herbert Society.

• Dr. Bruce Kirchoff, Department of Biology, UNCG
• The University Libraries worked with Kirchoff and Rebecca Dellinger-Johnson, a graduate student at UNCG, to provide functionality and design updates to a visual online guide, Oaks of the Southeastern United States: Visual Identification Key, that covers 42 oaks native or naturalized to the Southeast United States. The key is designed to help identify oaks using pictures of living oak leaves. The project began as Dellinger-Johnson's research to use as a tool for science education. University Libraries will provide for the continued improvement of the key while giving it the maximum possible exposure on plants.usda.org. 

• Sheryl Oring, Department of Art, UNCG
• The University Libraries worked with Oring to create a searchable web-based archive of her ongoing public art project, I Wish to Say, consisting of dictated postcards to the United States President. ERIT digitized more than 3,000 postcards and supplemental photographs created during her performances across the United States.  

• Dr. Stephen Sills, Center for Housing and Community Studies, UNCG and Mr. Todd Drake, MFA, UNCG
• University Libraries worked with Sills and Drake to create an interactive map and searchable database that provided information to the general public about housing insecurity in North Carolina, particularly in rural areas. The project emphasizes the rich history of the mobile home as an affordable housing option and chronicles how that role in society has changed over time. Additionally, the project will look at the mobile home as a continued solution to low-income housing needs and current new developments, such as tiny houses. 

• Dr. Benjamin Filene, Department of History, UNCG
• University Libraries worked with Filene to create an interactive mapping application to document the life of Charles Aycock, as well as his legacy at UNCG. The project also included providing in-class training to students. The project has grown to include other buildings and their namesakes at UNCG.