Author: Kristina Bisbee

On August 25, 2022, the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued a memorandum outlining new requirements for federally funded research to be “freely available without delay.”  The updated guidelines— ‘Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research’ — eliminate the optional 12-month embargo period and require all resulting publications and scientific data to be made publicly available without embargo. Institutions have three years to address these changes. Over 50% of all Vanderbilt research will be impacted, including initiatives funded by the National Institute of Health and the National Science Foundation. Heard Libraries is playing a leading role in preparing campus for these changes and supporting faculty as they adapt.

In December, University Librarian Jon Shaw addressed the Faculty Senate’s Academic Planning Committee with an update on the libraries’ plan for supporting open access faculty research. According to OSTP requirements, changes can be expected to go into effect by December 31, 2025. New or groundbreaking data management practices are unlikely. However, previously “closed” publications and repositories will be expected to adapt open access publishing models.  Shaw noted, “Libraries have historically been ahead of the curve in adopting open access policies. We are well prepared with an exceptional staff and collection of resources to navigate faculty through these new and exciting changes. “Each federal agency will implement plans specific to their funding requirements. As these announcements are made, the libraries will be key communicators of those changes to campus stakeholders. Heard Libraries is already providing information on these changes through online resources that are regularly updated. Initiatives such as the deployment of an institutional repository, the pursuit of transformative licensing agreements, and the development of faculty workshops speak to the dynamic and multifaceted response of Heard Libraries to support Vanderbilt faculty.

Vanderbilt has significantly expanded its portfolio of transformative licensing agreements. These new agreements cover the cost of publishing research in prestigious, reputable journals using an open access licensing agreement without the burden of additional costs to departments or individual faculty.  Transformative agreements are not only a cost-saving measure for the university, but also a means of support for faculty who frequently publish.

Locally, Vanderbilt University’s Institutional Repository (VUIR) is a digital repository providing open access to scholarly research at Vanderbilt University. Any Vanderbilt faculty, student or staff member may contribute materials. Over 17,000 unique items have been deposited, and faculty retain copyright. Director of Digital Scholarship Andrew Wesolek noted, “Research is a public good. When Vanderbilt’s research and research data is systematically opened, either through policy or platforms, it produces a new pipeline for scholarship to emerge.”

Vanderbilt librarians and informationists are also diligently building out a program of support for faculty in their disciplines to provide information on open access research methods and resources for pursuing a research agenda aligning with the new OSTP guidelines. This spring, library experts in the sciences and biomedical fields are hosting introductory workshops on the Open Science Framework (OSF).  These workshops are designed for grant-seeking faculty and students with funding requirements for managing research data based on open access principles. These workshops are available to all faculty and will continue to be adapted as OSTP rules are applied.

Music faculty and library staff are partnering to define Vanderbilt as a hub in the field of research on composer Florence B. Price. Most recently, a new thematic catalog capturing Price’s work draws upon dozens of scores recently acquired by Heard Libraries in collaboration with Associate Professor of Musicology, Douglas Schadle. Shadle has emerged as a leading expert on the music of fellow Little Rock, Arkansas native Florence B. Price (1888-1953), the first African American woman composer and pianist to achieve international recognition. Working together, faculty and library staff are setting the standard for scholarship and discovery in this area, and pairing these collections with an engaged and curious user community at Vanderbilt. These scores, in conjunction with the new thematic catalog, are intended to inspire and captivate students and faculty in their research, learning, and ultimately performance.

A thematic catalog contains an individual entry for each work by a composer, with each entry including the opening notes of the work. While this type of reference work was traditionally issued in print, Shadle is embracing digital humanities technologies to design an online catalog for Price. Shadle has collaborated with Music Librarian for Cataloging, Jacob Schaub, to use Music Encoding Initiative to generate the musical incipits for Price’s thematic catalog. Schaub’s expertise with MEI has been an invaluable asset to this project, and when asked about the work, Schaub said “As a music cataloging librarian, my daily work often revolves around consulting authoritative editions and thematic indexes of musical works. MEI is becoming a game-changer in many ways, not least since it can enable access to the most up-to-date scholarship in a form that easily exceeds the capabilities of the thick and expensive physical volumes that typically reside in the reference sections of music libraries. I anticipate Dr. Shadle’s work on the music of Florence Price is only among the first of a wave of such efforts that will transform the field.”

Acclaimed artists who will perform include noted musicologist-pianist Samantha Ege; author, activist and performance artist Caroline Randall Williams; acclaimed countertenor, Patrick Dailey; flutist Valerie Coleman; Nokuthula Ngwenyama, viola; and Hannah Lash, harp.

These performances will grace multiple venues, including the National Museum of African American Music, Tennessee State University, the state’s largest Historically Black University, and the W.O. Smith School, a community music school offering high-quality, affordable music lessons to more than 650 low-income students from the area.

In partnership with the Anne Potter Music Library at the Blair School of Music, Shadle has also been a key collaborator between the Vanderbilt music community and the National Museum of African American Music. He was the faculty sponsor in 2021 for the first collection approved for purchase with the Academic Archives Purchasing Fund.  Highlights from this collection: The John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie Collection, include Gillespie’s personal scrapbooks from his State Department-sponsored tour as the first “Jazz Ambassador” to the Middle East, thousands of photographs and recordings. This acquisition engaged students in experiential learning last spring through the Buchanan Library Fellowship, Archives and Storytelling: Exploring the Life of Dizzy Gillespie through Photographs. This semester, Lecturer Robbie Fry’s Global Jazz class is using the scrapbooks for a story-mapping project with support from Librarian for Geospatial Data and Systems, Stacy Curry-Johnson, Music Librarian for Education and Outreach, Sara Manus, and Jacob Schaub.

Douglas Shadle came to Vanderbilt in 2014. He currently sits on the Boards of Directors of the American Musicological Society and the International Florence Price Festival. In addition to creating a thematic catalog for Price’s work, Shadle is co-authoring a new biography of Price for Oxford University Press’s signature Master Musicians series with noted concert pianist and Anniversary Fellow at the University of Southampton, Samantha Ege.

In 2016, the Wond’ry was established to support creative innovation at Vanderbilt. Since that time, the Wond’ry has matured into a robust entrepreneurial playground for designers, builders, and aspiring start-ups, where students connect their academic studies with passions for product development and undergraduates gain immersive experience. Since the 2016 launch of the Wond’ry, Vanderbilt’s Innovation Center, the libraries have provided programming, mentorship, and guidance for research.

The Wond’ry Sullivan Family programs have an increasing number of participants that are geographically dispersed throughout the Southeast and, otherwise, do not have a current Vanderbilt affiliation.  Participants in the Ideator Program spend 3 weeks learning tools and resources to evaluate an idea, while those in the Builder program gain support for launching a viable early-stage idea into a new venture.   This means the research expertise of the university libraries has been able to reach a larger audience. It has also created challenges: How can the Wond’ry engage participants who don’t have access to Vanderbilt’s paywalled resources? What does support look like for these innovator cohorts? How do library services for the Wond’ry differ from traditional university research projects?

To meet the research needs of Wond’ry participants, Lead Regional Instructor, Shannon Ware, had an idea, on-demand virtual support and stand-alone videos are the key to effective engagement with regional participants. Associate Director of the Management Library Kelly LaVoice was excited to meet this need. LaVoice developed and recorded a version of the Management Library’s popular workshop on market research. Unlike the Owen Graduate School version of the workshop, the Wond’ry video highlights public and open access resources available to entrepreneurs no matter their Vanderbilt affiliation. According to LaVoice, “A primary goal of the video is to open the eyes of participants to the wealth of quality, sometimes hidden information, regardless of access to Vanderbilt’s world-class licensed resources and global collections.” Ware incorporated the workshop into the Wond’ry online learning module, and the research questions began to pour in. To meet the growing need for one-on-one research consultations with innovators, the Management Library established an on-demand referral program for Wond’ry participants.

Business librarians meet with Vanderbilt affiliated and nonaffiliated-Wond’ry teams to work through their unique information needs. For those participants without access to Vanderbilt’s premium content, databases and research tools, librarians creatively formulate searches through other means, such as government agencies, thought leaders, trade associations, local libraries, and the open internet. According to Director of Management Library Hilary Craiglow, “Wond’ry participants are motivated researchers who are passionate about their projects. Good, quality information increases the likelihood of bringing innovation to market and enhances business proposals and investment pitches.” The Wond’ry  has a strong record of successful growth. In Ware’s view, the libraries are a practical partner in this work and recognize the value that librarians bring to an entrepreneur: “Libraries are fundamental to market research, market sizing, business plans and patent research. They are preparing an entrepreneur to launch a new venture. Students rely on library services and expertise to bring their ideas to fruition.”

The Sullivan Family Ideator Program at the Wond’ry helps aspiring university-affiliate innovators (students, staff, faculty, and alumni) evaluate and develop their ideas by teaching an evidence-based approach to idea evaluation and offering expert mentorship and access to resources. Participants can receive microgrants if they demonstrate a strong commitment to their idea and its merit. Completing the program and demonstrating product-solution fit can lead to further opportunities, such as eligibility for the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps Program and the Wond’ry’s Builder Program. The Builder Program at the Wond’ry helps university-affiliated innovators with a validated early-stage idea. Builder is the perfect next step for graduates of the Sullivan Family Ideator Program and those wanting to learn how to launch a venture or pursue a licensing deal.

Regarding the ongoing partnership of Heard Libraries and the Wond’ry, University Librarian Jon Shaw noted, “The Wond’ry is an exemplary model for campus-wide engagement that expands opportunities for faculty, students, and staff to design, make and create to solve problems. The Wond’ry’s partnership with the Library enhances Vanderbilt’s reputation as a leader in entrepreneurial education and regional development.”

Vanderbilt Libraries is partnering with the National Museum of African American Music to teach young readers about the civil rights movement through literature and music. “Social Justice and the Black Music Experience” was conceived by Peabody Library Director, Tiffeni Fontno, during her first visit to the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM). Fontno recalled being inspired by the exhibits and their ability to tell a story, “I wanted to combine my love for children’s literature with music to create relevant experiences for students in the classroom.” Fontno brought together administrators, faculty and library leaders to transform this idea into reality. She connected with Emily Pendergrass, associate professor of Practice of Literacy Education, Holling Borne-Smith, director of the Anne Potter Wilson Music Library, Alice Randall, writer-in-residence, African American & Diaspora Studies, and children’s author Carole Boston Weatherford. A conversation with the NMAAM’s education department helped narrow the focus of this project to using Black music and musical artists.

For Randall, an education on this topic begins with spirituals, an early form of Black protest song. “We don’t know when the first enslaved African married words of protest to a melody,” noted Randall, “But we do know spirituals were well established in the 19^th century and we know that in the 21^st century Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” played a significant role in sustaining people protesting the murder of George Floyd and asserting the significance of Black lives.”

Randall also noted the longstanding relationship between music and civil rights, along with the richly participatory character of protest as a genre.

“Songs commonly activate individual agency in ways that other protest literatures often don’t,” notes Randall. “In the civil rights movements, everyone is invited to sing, to lead the song, to strengthen the chorus with their presence, with their sound. The person who can’t carry a tune in a bucket on the street—their voice is as significant as Mahalia Jackson’s. The song becomes a flag. If the person carrying it falls, the person next to them carries it. They are embodied, essential, and elemental protest.”

Vanderbilt and the National Museum of African American Music have worked closely together on collections, exhibitions and special events since its opening in 2021. In order to engage more directly with Vanderbilt students, the libraries are hosting a Buchanan Library Fellowship. Buchanan mentors and faculty will share their knowledge of music history, education and children’s literature and together, students will provide teaching materials for use in the K-12 classroom. With a particular focus on Black music, musical artists and social justice movements, fellows will critically examine children’s literature and social justice resources from Peabody Library’s Curriculum Materials Collection and Nashville Public Library.

Pendergrass holds an aspirational view of what students can gain from this experience and apply in their own lives as engaged members of a community. “I hope that Vanderbilt students learn that difficult topics are approachable with young children. By creating text sets and lesson ideas for teachers, I hope that the students also learn how they can support K-12 education as future musicians, political scientists, and writers.”

The Buchanan Library Fellowship will give students the opportunity to work directly with Carole Boston-Weatherford, a children’s author who deals with complex topics of social justice and civil rights. Fellows will learn to evaluate children’s literature using critical thinking, information literacy and equity frameworks. By centering the experiences of authors who research, document and narrate the Black music experience, students gain an understanding of how children’s literature can bridge discussions of hard histories and truth. For fellows who plan to teach K-12 education, this fellowship will provide a valuable set of tools for working with young folks as they come of age and develop their own identity and worldview. Boston-Weatherford has published over twelve award-winning children’s books, including The Sound the Jazz Makes and Becoming Billie Holiday. Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre won the 2022 Coretta Scott King Author award. Boston-Weatherford’s books serve as affirmations of Black history and culture.

This project is funded by Vanderbilt’s Arts, Discovery, and Innovation Fund, a fund administered by the Vice Provost Office of Arts and Libraries. The fund is a component of Discovery Vanderbilt, a campus initiative designed to serve as a catalyst for supporting new ideas and cutting-edge research.

A team of researchers at Vanderbilt University is creating web-based software called NetsBlox to make programming easier and more accessible for students from a wide range of backgrounds to learn. By allowing students to program by connecting ‘blocks’ to form composable stacks of computation, NetsBlox encourages experimentation, play and open-ended discovery. At the same time, NetsBlox opens up the internet and its vast resources to student programs making it possible to create more engaging projects and to teach more advanced concepts. The Vanderbilt University Libraries is supporting these activities by creating a massive open online course (MOOC) to teach introductory computer science with NetsBlox.

NetsBlox is a free, open source, visual programming environment for teaching and learning computer science. At Vanderbilt, NetsBlox has been used to introduce students to the fundamentals of computer science at the School of Engineering as well as to teach computing to students from the humanities in the College of Arts and Science. Akos Ledeczi, professor of Computer Science and professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the School of Engineering at Vanderbilt University, uses NetsBlox in CS 1103: Introductory Programming for Engineers and Scientists to teach core concepts of computing during the first two weeks of the course. As Professor Ledeczi comments, “NetsBlox makes it possible to provide a gentle introduction to programming for novices while also highlighting the power of computer science with really cool projects they create the very first week.”

NetsBlox builds on previous block-based programming tools such as MIT’s Scratch and the University of California Berkeley’s Snap! languages but adds two key features: remote procedure calls (RPCs) and peer-to-peer networking. The first allows users to integrate data and services from many sources, including Google Maps, IMDB, the New York Times, and Twitter. Brian Broll, research and development scientist at the Institute for Software Integrated Systems at Vanderbilt and lead developer of NetsBlox, remarks on the distinctive features of NetsBlox: “NetsBlox has turned into an entire ecosystem of tools. Students can access the sensors on their smartphones, remote control educational robots, collaborate and compete in a 3D virtual robot simulator and even create Alexa skills.”

Clifford Anderson, chief digital strategist at Vanderbilt University Libraries, is collaborating with Ledeczi and Broll to develop a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) about NetsBlox. Designed for release on Coursera, the MOOC is titled “Programming for a Networked World.” As its name suggests, the MOOC will introduce students to the basics of programming by drawing on RPCs and teaching peer-to-peer programming techniques. “Our goal is to teach the fundamentals of computer science with contemporary data services and sources, exposing students to cutting-edge topics like peer-to-peer networking and natural language processing at the beginning of their programing journey.” Anderson hopes that the course will foster computational thinking in disciplines beyond computer science, including among the humanities and social sciences.

Look for the “Programming for a Networked World” to be released this summer on the Coursera platform. Early releases of select videos from the course are already available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@cliffordanderson.

Audrey Bowden, Dorothy J. Wingfield Phillips Chancellor’s Faculty Fellow and associate professor of biomedical and electrical engineering, wanted a better way to manage the work of students in her research lab. Each year, as a new cohort of students joined her lab, information held by graduating students would sometimes get lost or become outdated as technology changed. Motivated to create a better lab experience for her students and better output for her lab, Bowden sought help from campus partners to improve the management of sensitive data in the Bowden Optics Lab.

After meeting with the Stevenson Science and Engineering Library Director Honora Eskridge, the two developed a custom plan to design a system of information organization, storage, access and use that fit the specific needs of Bowden’s lab. Eskridge recalled, “Scientists and engineers do not always think of librarians as having expertise in research data.  But data is information, and librarians are experts at creating systems for the organization and retrieval of information. So, data management is very much in our wheelhouse. And Josh Borycz, with a PhD in chemistry as well as a library science degree, is the most data-savvy librarian on our team. I knew it would be a perfect fit.”

One of a team of three STEM research librarians at the library, Josh Borycz’s own research interests focus on information science and data management. Upon initial introductions, Bowden and Borycz built out a data management program utilizing library expertise and skill sets in a collaborative partnership for the next two years. In comparing the lab environment to walking into a classroom, Borycz noted,

“Labs are focused on producing quality research. This often means that students are intensely focused on their particular projects and become isolated from the broader context of the research process and needs of their lab mates. The nature of research also means that each lab has a unique set of workflows for gathering, sharing, and publishing data that need to be accounted for before suggesting changes. This means that librarians need to put a great deal of effort into fostering discussion and listening to the needs and goals of lab members.”

Bowden and Borycz met weekly to discuss the needs of the Bowden Lab and outline a data management program. Over the next several months, Borycz embedded himself in the Bowden Lab to understand their research, workflows, and data. Through an iterative process they built out a roadmap to match Bowden’s vision. From here, Borycz built out documentation, instructed students and provided the team with guidance on everything from cleaning code to file-naming conventions. Dr. Bowden’s noted that document retention has improved,

“The work Josh has done in our lab has improved every process that interacts with the life cycle of personnel in the group – from on-boarding to off-boarding. Importantly, Josh worked to help craft a process that integrated with the things we were already doing well, so as to reduce the overhead in learning new workflows.”

Bowden’s lab now has procedures in place to ease the transfer of research between group members, including checklists and documentation templates for onboarding and off-boarding. On a day-to-day-basis, the lab keeps strict rules about file names and file locations, to simplify the process of finding information. In addition, the lab has developed new code standards and expectations for clean code and is working toward implementing a code review process using Git, a piece of software designed to track changes in
code and manage projects. Before results are shared with other scientists, data is now rigorously cleaned, and code is triple checked. This kind of attention to detail makes a significant difference when submitting a manuscript for publication. The students feel comfortable asking Josh for assistance with their data and research issues, which is helping to make sure the process is sustainable.

Borycz’s work has created useful opportunities for the Science & Engineering Library to scale its support for faculty research. While creating data management practices that met the specific needs of the Bowden Lab, the Science & Engineering Library was able to formalize recommendations that will be useful to other research groups on campus. Eskridge noted,

“Libraries are incredibly effective about thinking in terms of scale. A single partnership can result in new areas of support that meet faculty at their point-of-need. It is how we flourish as an organization.”

Regarding the librarian’s unique role, University Librarian Jon Shaw noted it as being a matter of knowledge and commitment: “As information professionals, we are keen to foster substantive partnerships with faculty in research labs. By integrating our librarians upstream, we can streamline work processes that lead to better overall lab efficacy. We are committed to aiding our faculty in propelling their research in the Vanderbilt Way.”

Vanderbilt is participating in the national FRAME (Federated Repositories of Accessible Learning Materials) Project, designed to fill the gap in higher education materials by building a widely accessible repository of remediated educational texts for students with print disabilities in higher education. The project, sponsored by the University of Virginia, is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation with two grants of over $2,000,000. Designed as a multi-year project, FRAME is nearing completion of its two major phases:

• • Phase I (2019-2021) built a secure repository named EMMA (Educational Materials Made Available) for higher-ed institutions to share remediated educational materials and address the copyright issues associated with sharing these materials.
  • Phase II (April 2021-March 2023) will add more searching and submission functions to EMMA and expand the program beyond the Mellon grant. Vanderbilt, as one of the original seven member institutions, is participating in both phases and has contributed hundreds of mediated course texts to growing the EMMA repository.

FRAME brings close collaboration between the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries and the Office of Student Access Services. Students Access Services is responsible for providing the remediated texts that were requested by Vanderbilt students with disabilities and the libraries adds the required metadata descriptions, packages, and submits both the texts and metadata files to EMMA. The libraries’ Director of Metadata Services Dajin Sun and Student Access Services Educational Consultant Bill Burgess have together led Vanderbilt’s participation in the FRAME/EMMA project. The opportunity and outcome of this project has not only enhanced the university’s services in support of the special learning of those students with print and/or other disabilities by leveraging more accessible resources of higher educational materials, but it has also advanced nationwide services for students with the same needs in other higher education institutions. Since participating in the FRAME/EMMA project, Student Access Services can tap the available remediated texts provided through EMMA and fulfill requests from more students on campus, especially benefiting from the EMMA unified searching functions to find requested materials through its educational texts’ partners. To date the FRAME/EMMA project has been successful by accomplishing its primary goal of establishing a fully functional EMMA repository for all students with disabilities in higher education. In addition, this project functions as a model of support for a graduate level educational program in information services for special-needs students that will facilitate the training of future information professionals. Although FRAME/EMMA is nearing its completion of the Mellon grants, the program plans to grow continually, and Vanderbilt Libraries, with its gained valuable experience, can continue its collaborative endeavor to further advance the national services for more students with disabilities across higher educational institutions.

The fellowship DC 3D Imaging: From Your Imagination to [Augmented] Reality came to mind for Digital Commons Interim Director Cazembe Kennedy while thinking of ways to expand the virtual/augmented reality learning community at Vanderbilt. Given the wealth of resources and expertise in the digital imaging lab, 3D imaging was a natural fit for responding to student and faculty interest. 

Mentors Cazembe Kennedy, Zach Johnson, and Connor Gilmore shared their expertise in guiding students through this collaborative knowledge-building process. “One of the best things about this fellowship,” noted Kennedy, “was getting to hear the students’ ideation process for using 3D scanning and image augmentation and giving the students a chance to work together as a cohort. They bounced ideas off each other, shared resources and made suggestions to creatively problem solve.” Fellows created 3D image scans using image augmentation technologies. Some of the students focused on creating animations from scratch while others focused on creating image files using found objects. Both approaches enabled fellows to make the experience their own.  

Final projects served as a proof of concept for how to teach emerging technologies in a nontraditional classroom setting. Students infused limitless imagination and individual personalities into each finished object, showcasing their growth as creators and technologists. One fellow transformed a galaxy of stars into a sombrero-shaped animation sitting atop the “head” of an astronaut, an image built from the three-dimensional scan of a real-life figurine. This display was superimposed on a visual representation of a moon. With each layer, the fellow showed a sophistication in thinking through imaging design and how it functions in augmented reality.  

This fellowship sparked creativity in students with technical backgrounds and provided a conduit for exploring those interests in depth. As the Digital Commons plans out future curriculum offerings, Kennedy noted these efforts are ripe for collaboration through partnerships with other innovation centers on campus and in support of the research and teaching efforts of the departments of Computer Science, Engineering and Visual Arts/Graphics.

Flush with the spirit of techno-optimism, the internet promised liberation by eliminating barriers to information and enabling its spread instantaneously and globally. Events in recent memory, however, make it clear that misinformation spreads just as rapidly, generating profound social repercussions. Bolstered by mid-term elections, fellowship applicants felt a strong personal connection to the topic. In response, three library staff mentors led fellows on a journey in search of credibility in this information wilderness. To better understand the current moment, fellows interviewed misinformation experts and produced podcasts featuring their conversations, resulting in We the Lonely and Slap Hoax.  

Fellows met weekly in a seminar course format and discussed a series of readings related to the topic. Fellows selected a related current event each week and socially annotated it with the open-source software Hypothis.is, providing opportunities to extend their learning outside of the library classroom. Students used the software to annotate news articles, highlight relevant sections, ask questions, or otherwise draw connections to the readings. This asynchronous annotation created a foundation on which mentors and fellows could develop in-person dialogue at each meeting, increasing student engagement with scholarship on misinformation and allowing them to contribute their own voices to a wider conversation. 

Several of the fellows had previous podcasting experience while others learned how to use Audacity, an open-source audio software. Fellows learned how to identify the copyright status of media and make ethical choices about when and how to use audio materials found online for educational projects. 

The choice to use podcasting as a teaching object was intentional. Mentors Melissa Mallon and Andy Wesolek have written extensively on the librarian’s role in creating diverse and open learning environments using fellowships and non-traditional engagement opportunities. By giving students something (podcasts) both personally familiar and academically foreign, fellows engaged in peer-to-peer learning outside the classroom and their work took on a transdisciplinary approach.  

“While I typically and almost exclusively work with graduate students, the Buchanan fellowships afford an invaluable opportunity to connect with the undergraduate immersion experience and to leverage my own research and writing in digital scholarship and information literacy,” Divinity Library Director Bobby Smiley said about his experience as mentor. 

This fellowship is one of a series exploring the impact of social media on society. Previous Buchanan fellowships in this series focused on information ethics, privacy, surveillance, and intellectual freedom. Fellows produced podcasts as their final projects. By encouraging fellows from a wide variety of academic disciplines, this fellowship affords the opportunity to explore phenomena from ontologically distinct perspectives and learning from one another in the process. 

You can learn more about this fellows initiative and listen to these podcast episodes here at Vanderbilt Libraries Buchanan Fellows Media & Society  research guide which documents the fellowship series on media and society focus of the Buchanan Library Fellows.