Having a vested interest in my alma mater and their ability to help students get the information they need, I chose to create a screencast to introduce students to the Special Collections at the university that often goes unnoticed, due to library services being focused elsewhere. Aware that most library services are introduced in a required freshman course known as UNI, this screencast provides a scenario that could be familiar to many students. To keep the content focused, the topic focuses on an integral part of Marshall Univeristy history that every son and daughter of Marshall has been introduced to since 1970.
Below you will find the screencast and the transcript:
Marshall University Special Collections
Hello, I’m Kate, a proud daughter of Marshall, and today I’m going to show you Marshall University’s Special Collections website which you can get to by going to marshall.edu/special-collections. Marshall’s Special Collections is home to the university’s archives and numerous West Virginia specific materials that students across campus have access to. To help you connect a little better with what you might use this website for, I’m going to walk us through a scenario of how the site could be used to show you some of the key features Special Collections provides you
So, say you are in your UNI class and the professor is introducing you to the library services offered at the university. It’s closing in on November, so to help you connect with the present day and our community’s history, an assignment is provided where you are asked to find a primary source about Marshall in in the 1970s. All you really know about this time period is the movie that had Matthew McConaughey in it, but you have heard about the upcoming fountain ceremony and think it’d be interesting to maybe learn a little more about the actual event.
On the website, we see a list of popular links down the left hand side and promoted information by Special Collections in the center of the page. By clicking on Search Our Collections, we are given a few options, including access to the online database, a list of university archives, and a link to digitized photos and images. While the university archives could be promising, they are not digital, but if you want to check out the library, our Special Collections staff would love to help you.
We reach our best online option by clicking on the database link. From the movie, you remember the name Red Dawson, so you start there. This search gives a photo, and clicking on this provides information down the right hand side. If Red isn’t the end result that you’re looking for, you can always use the search terms underneath the photo for related links. If you were to click on the Marshall University plane crash link, for example, results would appear related to that integral part of Marshall History that you could browse, fulfilling the assignment and teaching you about the community’s history.
Marshall University, Special Collections, and numerous sons and daughters of Marshall help maintain these materials as a way to keep memories like our beloved 75 alive.
Raven K 