La Beaud, Brannock Present at Archivist Conference

Mon, 09/27/2021 - 01:43pm | By: David Tisdale

Elizabeth La Beaud (left), and Jennifer Brannock

Elizabeth La Beaud, digital lab manager and Jennifer Brannock, professor and curator of Rare Books & Mississippiana in The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) University Libraries, recently participated on a panel at the Society of American Archivists annual conference, held online this year. Their presentation, “Where Do I Start? Curating Digital Images for Student Researchers,” focused on the project Brannock developed during the COVID pandemic to help students draw connections between archival materials for their research projects.

The Digital Research Topics (https://www.digitalcollections.usm.edu/research-topics) include a curated selection of digital images by topic that give student researchers a starting point when conducting research using the collections.

La Beaud and Brannock presented on a panel titled Creating Digital Access Initiatives During COVID-19 with librarians and archivists from Princeton University, The Museum of Modern Art, and Ohio State University.

“We discussed the significance of the Digital Research Topics, how they helped reinforce subjects discussed in library instruction, and the popularity of the project,” Brannock said. “The Digital Research Topics landing page is the second most visited page in Digital Collections, after less than a year of being live.”  

For information about University Libraries at USM, visit lib.usm.edu.