The Digital Humanities Center in Butler, a part of the Humanities and History Division, is one of three divisional or subject-oriented “info commons” at Columbia Libraries.
- The DHC brings together and extend the Electronic Text Service and the digital video editing services of the Butler Media Center to serve Columbia students, faculty, and staff working in the humanities and history. Users can come, individually or in groups, to identify, learn, and use the latest digital resources and technologies, often in combination with resources they create themselves or with resources and technologies acquired from other sites. The services, tools, and collections of the ETS and BMC are key elements of this new unit.
- The DHC aims to provide at least basic support for all digital formats of relevance to a given user (and in the case of the video collection, analog formats as well), full support for those materials collected by H&H, and referrals to other library or campus departments for training on or more expert assistance with specific tools. It will also strives for compatibility with the basic CUIT lab facilities in Butler, so that the two may increasingly function together as a broader Butler Information Commons.
- The DHC serves as a space in which H&H librarians can provide their digitally-based reference, consultative, and instructional services in conjunction with print collections. The DHC aims to integrate its work closely with that of the general public service efforts of the Humanities and History Division. It increasingly functions as an integrated H&H reference, research, and technology center.
- It is also a site for formalized close collaboration and interaction among the players on the University’s information team—especially the Libraries' Digital Program, the Library Systems Office, CCNMTL, CUIT, EPIC, and DKV—as well as other departmental computing units on campus. The DHC will act as a point of first contact with the Columbia information system, drawing upon the respective expertise of each of those groups or providing referrals to them, and providing a venue for the demonstration, implementation, and evaluation of their digital products as well as a space in which staff of those groups can also work as needed. Two of these groups in particular, CCNMTL and CUIT, will be important new partners in crafting the program and supporting the operations of the DHC.
- Overall, the DHC serves as a point of interchange among:
- students, faculty, and library services
- allied components of Columbia University’s information services
- all three of the divisional library centers
- formats of material
- traditional library services and experimental initiatives
- library digital collections and individually owned and/or created assets
- basic and specialized digital services
- face-to-face interaction and web services
- individual and group work
- parties bonded in ways not predicted by course, department, or rank