Abstract
How can libraries and archives prepare for emerging scholarly fields that have not yet emerged? How do we know when such a “discipline” is emerging, and how might we support it?
An archivist at Special Collections and the history/social science librarian at the Virginia Tech Libraries saw signs of research interest about veterans on their campus and elsewhere. With an interest in supporting what might be considered an emerging field, both were aware of the risks of investing in materials that do not attract users. This presentation will examine their process of evaluating those risks while assessing evidence of a growing need. After a review of existing holdings, they began to survey the research landscape for indications of the subjects, disciplines, methods, and constituencies that might consolidate as a discrete field of veterans studies. Further, given the absence of indicators that mark established fields—regular conferences, journals, academic programs—they turned towards a strategy of actively “seeding the need” by engaging in interdisciplinary conversations on the matter of veterans studies and gauging reaction and participation. As a consequence of this work, both librarian and archivist have become active in projects that are creating the very indicators that suggest veterans studies may emerge as a field of academic inquiry requiring library support. At this session, this process and its results to date will be discussed, along with the project's implications for special and circulating collections and, more broadly, the library's scholarly communications initiatives.
Is the Library Ready for an Emerging Field? The Case of Veterans Studies
How can libraries and archives prepare for emerging scholarly fields that have not yet emerged? How do we know when such a “discipline” is emerging, and how might we support it?
An archivist at Special Collections and the history/social science librarian at the Virginia Tech Libraries saw signs of research interest about veterans on their campus and elsewhere. With an interest in supporting what might be considered an emerging field, both were aware of the risks of investing in materials that do not attract users. This presentation will examine their process of evaluating those risks while assessing evidence of a growing need. After a review of existing holdings, they began to survey the research landscape for indications of the subjects, disciplines, methods, and constituencies that might consolidate as a discrete field of veterans studies. Further, given the absence of indicators that mark established fields—regular conferences, journals, academic programs—they turned towards a strategy of actively “seeding the need” by engaging in interdisciplinary conversations on the matter of veterans studies and gauging reaction and participation. As a consequence of this work, both librarian and archivist have become active in projects that are creating the very indicators that suggest veterans studies may emerge as a field of academic inquiry requiring library support. At this session, this process and its results to date will be discussed, along with the project's implications for special and circulating collections and, more broadly, the library's scholarly communications initiatives.