photo: Nancy G. Johnson
research: THE CYCLE OF SCHOL ARSHIP
Last year I had the opportunity to participate in the University’s Great Conversations series, a program that brings together someone from within the University and a notable individual from outside for a public conversation. I shared the stage with Henry Petroski, a Duke University engineer and historian of science. Those who have read Petroski’s many books (including The Pencil, The Book on the Bookshelf, and Small Things Considered) will be familiar with his fascinating technique of researching objects and chronicling the explorations, experimentation, and discoveries that fuel new developments in design and engineering. In his works, he describes vividly the cumulating aspect of research. His intriguing case studies reveal the interplay of documentation and discovery, the process by which new insights build upon the record of the past. Recorded knowledge forms the raw material of new knowledge; past scholarship begets new scholarship. This ongoing cycle of knowledge creation and dissemination is, of course, a fundamental activity within the academy. Universities are rich environments for exploration, experimentation, and discovery and libraries have been a critical player in that process for ages. Libraries are, by definition, the organizations that capture and preserve the products of scholarship as fuel for future study. This issue of continuum explores the library’s role in the research process. Dean Steven Rosenstone describes the centrality of libraries within the liberal arts, yet he also notes the transformations that technology has brought to scholarly endeavor and to the library.
U n ique ly Mi nne s ota The University of Minnesota Libraries’ archives and special collections provide a particularly fruitful context for research. Scholars travel from around the globe (or call… or email…) to tap these unique resources. Something quite extraordinary happens when a researcher can hold a rare volume and gain insights into the context of its creation. The experience of examining original literary manuscripts – complete with the author’s edits and marginalia – or comparing versions of original illustrations is an incomparable opportunity for humanists. These resources are singularly Minnesota and stimulate new creative works.
T h e Ubiqui tous Li br a ry Most of us are all too familiar with the rapid growth of the Internet and the flood of information sources now available online, some of questionable origin or value. Publishing has experienced significant transformation and new genres have emerged that allow wholly new research methods. University researchers are able to analyze
language in text, study features of art, and manipulate large bodies of data—capabilities unheard of only a decade ago. What is the library’s role in an era of ubiquitous access to digital information? A planning grant, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, is helping the Libraries explore the changing methodologies in humanities and social science research. Our goal is to better understand the diversity of content, tools, technologies, and facilities that support research and determine where improvements can be made. While the project is in an early stage, we are hopeful the broad consultation and assessment will help us design new services to respond to the research community’s needs.
TRAILBLAZING WITH TECHNOLO GY Transformational change in technology has dramatically altered the research landscape. Growing interdisciplinary inquiry has heightened demand for electronic services that can mine information resources from multiple disciplines, bridging different vocabularies and research methods. At the same time, publishing has “morphed” beyond the traditional journal to incorporate large databases, interactive features, and new media. We see our future in the library increasingly focused on customized services that bring together relevant publications, data, and tools – new virtual libraries that can fuel technology-dependent research. The dual challenge is to manage the new content and tools and to deliver these new resources in ways that meet the needs of specific research communities. Over 60 years ago, physicist and engineer Vannevar Bush (then Director of the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development) forecast an era of robust computational devices that could store hundreds of documents (on microfilm) and employ techniques to index, find, and make associative links between sources. Interestingly, Bush also forecast a new profession of trail blazers, “those who find delight in the task of establishing useful trails through the enormous mass of the common record.” Librarians and partner technologists now serve that function, creating systems of content and tools that make associative links and enable unprecedented analysis of the research literature. Vast amounts of information resources and data can be retrieved and analyzed with speed not yet imagined in Bush’s day.
Research, K nowled ge, U nderstan di ng Exploration, experimentation, and discovery are fundamental activities of the university. The cycle of drawing on the scholarly record and creating new scholarship – whether documenting a genome or giving voice to a poem – is a continuous process that advances science and enriches our culture. In his later years, Vannevar Bush captured the ultimate goal of research: “Knowledge for the sake of understanding, not merely to prevail, that is the essence of our being.” The Libraries play an enduring role to preserve the knowledge of the past, while pursuing our trail-blazing work for
Wendy Pradt Lougee
university librarian and mcknight presidential professor
www.lib.umn.edu
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