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About MINDS@UW-River Falls
In fall 2002, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Libraries and the Hewlett-Packard Company launched DSpace™, an open source digital repository software system. Designed to capture, store, index, preserve and redistribute scholarly research material in digital formats, DSpace™ and institutional repositories have revolutionized how scholars and researchers think about publication and scholarship. Institutional repositories have also sparked a debate as to the production, distribution and interchange of scholarly communication in a digital age. In response to these discussions, in 2003, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries and the Division of Information Technology (DoIT) in conjunction with participants drawn from the campus community began a project to evaluate the need for a digital institutional repository service. The result of this project was the creation of MINDS@UW, a DSpace™ collection for the colleges and universities in the University of Wisconsin system.
In 2005, Chalmer Davee Library took the first steps towards creating a place for the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in the MINDS@UW project. By August 2005, the Library had posted its first collection to the community called MINDS@UW-River Falls. Here is a brief history of what the Library has been adding to the repository.
- Working in collaboration with the UWRF Office of Grants and Research, the first collection consisted of undergraduate student and faculty posters from the University’s 2005 Research, Scholarly and Creative Activity Day (RSCA Day). Since the creation of that first collection, the RSCA Day collection has grown to include posters from several RSCA events.
- In September 2006, a second collection was added to the UWRF Office of Grants and Research sub-community. This second collection includes the articles published in Endeavor, the electronic journal of undergraduate RSCA (Research, Scholarly and Creative Activities) that is published by the Office of Grants and Research.
- In August 2007, the MINDS@UW-River Falls community expanded with the addition of the UWRF Geology sub-community. Working in collaboration with Professor Bill Cordua of the UWRF Geology department, the William S. Cordua, Ph.D collection includes 54 short popular science articles written on mineralogical and geological subjects. These articles first appeared in the Leaverite News newsletter of the St. Croix Rockhounds in Stillwater, MN.
- In September 2007, the library added a sub-community for the UWRF Office of Outreach and Graduate Studies. The Office of Outreach and Graduate Studies sub-community contains 2 collections that consist of electronic copies of the Plan A (Graduate Theses) and Plan B (Graduate Research Papers) required for graduate studies. By May 2008, the first Plan B papers were added to the collection. In September 2008, the library was honored to digitize and display the Master's Thesis of Dr. John Anthony Turcheneske, Jr. that dealt with the Ku Klux Klan in northwestern Wisconsin.
- Additionally, in September 2007, the St. Croix Institute for Sustainable Community Development sub-community was created. This collection contains articles and presentations that provide information on the Institute. In 2007 and again in 2008, the library was proud to include in the collection two audio files on sustainability and the Institute that were broadcast on Mary Jo Wagner's radio program, The West Side on WHWC, Eau Claire.
- In January 2008, the UWRF English Department sub-community was established. The first collection in the sub-community is the UWRF English Studies collection, which is comprised of exemplary student papers from a variety of classes taught in the English Department at the University. Papers included in the collection were selected by individual faculty members within the department.
- Additionally in 2008, the library unveiled two additional collections to the UWRF English Department sub-community. The first new collection was Prologue, the University of Wisconsin-River Falls student literary and art publication. The second new collection was the establishment of the UWRF Undergraduate Literature Conference collection, which provides a space for the annual conference hosted by the English Department and Literary Society at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. This conference provides presentation venue for student work on any topic and includes presenters from campuses across the United States.
- In Winter 2009, the library added a new collection preserving the brochures from the library's annual CRSCA event. The CRSCA event recognizes the intellectual and creative achievements of faculty and staff of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Each spring semester the library displays the articles, books, academic posters, fine and performance art, playbills and other items produced by UW-River Falls faculty and staff during the previous calendar year. All submissions are cited in a CRSCA booklet and the celebration culminates in an annual reception to honor the faculty and staff who submitted work.
- In Spring 2009, the library, working in conjuction with the University Archives, began a project to digitize the University's yearbooks - the Meletean, which was published from 1912 to 1969. The first yearbook to be scanned, digitized and added to MINDS@UW-River Falls was the class of 1959, which is celebrating its 50th class reunion in May 2009.
- Additionally in Spring 2009, working the Department of Counseling & School Psychology, the library added a communty highlighting the School Psychology program's directed research projects which are required for the
educational specialist (Ed.S.) degree.
- In June 2009, the library added a space for the newest member to the MINDS community, the UWRF Survey Research Center (SRC). Once completed, this community will have 6 collections of reports that the SRC produces. The collections include comprehensive plan reports, labor reports, local government reports, rural development reports, UWRF reports, and other miscellaneous reports.
Now, the Library is taking the next step towards establishing more sub-communities and collections within the MINDS@UW-River Falls community. If you would like to take part in the project or if you have any questions, please contact Heidi Southworth at heidi.southworth@uwrf.edu or (715) 425-3924.
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