TCDL 2026

Hosting the Digital Humanities: A Project-Based Approach
By: Bryan Tarpley & Kayley Hart

The field of the Digital Humanities (DH) is a big tent that encompasses several disciplines that can be supported by a variety of functions and personnel from within the Library. This presentation explores a digital project-based approach to “doing DH,” one that focuses on walking faculty and graduate students through the process of creating public-facing engagements with their scholarship from start to finish by leveraging a small team and minimal budget. Drawing from case studies of projects developed at Texas A&M University (TAMU) over the past decade, the presenters will share how TAMU’s DH model addresses questions of infrastructure, sustainability, project management, and community building; laying out pitfalls and potential best practices along the way. At the heart of this model is a commitment by library personnel to shoulder much of the burden of writing code, designing graphics, and web hosting (particularly in the early stages) with the long-term goal of engendering the skillsets in stakeholders to take on the “technical debt” of their project. This approach structures library staff and the faculty/graduate students they support as collaborators, fostering a sense of shared ownership of the work and creating a tight-knit, welcoming community of plucky “DH’ers” willing to take on new challenges together.

Shared Curiosity and Cross-collaboration: Key to expanding Digital Scholarship
By: Karina Sanchez, Kiana Fekette & Yi Shan

Building a strong digital scholarship community requires more than tools and technology. It requires passionate and collaborative information providers. When the Perry-Castañeda Library Scholars Lab, a digital scholarship center, opened at the University of Texas at Austin, we recognized that its success depended on bringing together distinct expertise spread across the library. To foster a space where researchers could explore digital methods, we formed a working group that included subject specialists, digital scholarship librarians, and, importantly, digital stewardship experts. The cross-departmental team created the Scan Tech Studio. This group’s goal is to support responsible practices, research innovation, and creativity.

Over the past three years, these diverse experts have worked together to connect researchers with digitization, OCR, data management, and digital archiving workflows. The working group has created a space for themselves to learn new digital tools, create projects, and support campus researchers by providing small group consultations, in-class instruction, and skill-building programming. The team’s playful passion for their subject and their motivation to engage in outreach have led to imaginative collaborations and projects that extend across campus.

This presentation will highlight how our collaborative model, driven by shared curiosity, manifold expertise, and a common interest in outreach, has fostered meaningful partnerships and supported innovative research. Attendees will learn strategies for building sustainable, cross‑functional working groups, workflows, and programming that spark connection, encourage experimentation, and turn individual strengths into united impact.