Author Archives: kgmatheny

Not your average christmas carols

Posted on December 17, 2012 by kgmatheny | Posted in: Sheet music | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

There’s so much music written and published just for the Christmas season, but I bet you haven’t seen any of these pieces before. Here’s some pretty normal fare, from 1887. Notice Santa using his glasses to check his list. (Click … Continue reading →

“Go Local” — and work together!

Posted on December 14, 2012 by kgmatheny | Posted in: Outreach | Leave a comment

This semester, I’ve been collaborating with a librarian from Gorgas Information Services and an instructor in the English Department to create a composition course built around some of our most interesting digital collections. We’re pretty excited about it! The instructor … Continue reading →

Keeping your digital works alive!

Posted on December 6, 2012 by kgmatheny | Posted in: Digital Preservation | Tagged | Leave a comment

How much of today’s important information is going to be accessible in 10 years or so? Before the world went digital, we could count on publishers capturing the information of value for research, teaching, and cultural history documentation. But that … Continue reading →

ETDs 2012: Math and Science

Posted on December 6, 2012 by kgmatheny | Posted in: Research, UA History | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Check out these dissertations and theses from UA students, published in 2012! Kinesiology: Can cooling a pitcher’s arm between innings help him stay in the game longer? This image is from the Woodward Family photo collection Geography: Can remote sensing … Continue reading →

ETDs 2012: Contemporary Culture and Technology

Posted on December 5, 2012 by kgmatheny | Posted in: Research, UA History | Tagged , | Leave a comment

More great research from UA students: Dissertations and Theses on timely topics… Finance: Is searching for real estate using the internet really easier? This image is from the Woodward Family Papers Geography: How accessible is campus for cyclists and pedestrians? … Continue reading →

ETDs 2012: History, Culture, and Art

Posted on December 4, 2012 by kgmatheny | Posted in: Research, UA History | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

More scholarship from graduate students at UA. These questions all represent research published in dissertations and theses during 2012. * Anthropology: Can we learn anything about the 20th c. Great Migration of African Americans by looking at cemeteries? This image … Continue reading →

Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) 2012: People

Posted on December 3, 2012 by kgmatheny | Posted in: Cool Collections, Research, UA History | Tagged | Leave a comment

When I was writing my doctoral dissertation, I always wondered, “Will what I do seem interesting to anyone else?” After a survey of theses and dissertations published at the University of Alabama over the past year, I feel a lot … Continue reading →

A Day in the Life: November 28

Posted on November 28, 2012 by kgmatheny | Posted in: Civil War, Photographs, Scrapbooks, Sports, World War II | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

On this date, through the years… * 1860. Alabama. Hugh Davis laments the political tumult of his day, which in hindsight we recognize as the prelude to Civil War. Davis writes: “Revolution. Fire. Precipitation. Slaughter. How rapidly, how fearfully the … Continue reading →

Native American Heritage Month

Posted on November 20, 2012 by kgmatheny | Posted in: Cool Collections, Foreign Language, Small Collections | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Did you know November is Native American Heritage Month? The W. S. Hoole Special Collections Library houses some really interesting collections pertaining to the Choctaw Indians living in Mississippi and Louisiana at the turn of the twentieth century. The Choctaw … Continue reading →

What do researchers need?

Posted on November 16, 2012 by kgmatheny | Posted in: Delivery Methodology, Usability | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Since we’re in the business of providing online access to primary source (unpublished!) materials, it only makes sense to wonder how effectively researchers can use our content. However, since most digital library interfaces share many commonalities — search, browse, results … Continue reading →