POST: Three Questions with Yasmeen Shorish and Kevin Hegg

The Digital Library Federation has published a post on their blog, “Three Questions with Yasmeen Shorish and Kevin Hegg.” Shorish and Hegg’s answers to the questions of “What must change in our field?” and “What should endure?” are particularly relevant to information professionals working at the intersection of libraries and digital humanities. They call for “more flexibility and experimentation in our partnerships with students and faculty” while keeping the core functions of the library “as a community hub – collecting and providing access to the intellectual and cultural output of that community” intact.

The piece closes with the pair’s answers to “What are you or your colleagues geeking out on lately?”:

Yasmeen: I want to see more intentional work to enfranchise historically underrepresented groups in the work of digital collections and archives. I think this requires much more engagement with the technologists in the library, to have the conversations about how to facilitate representation and, because of various historical structures, this can be a challenge for people to maintain as a primary consideration. So, I guess I am geeking out on systemic challenges?

Kevin: I am currently engaged in research projects that incorporate technologies with higher barriers to entry, such as larger datasets stored in relational databases that feed into interactive and dynamic charts, graphs, and layered maps. I am having fun this semester with CartoDb, ArcGIS Online, Tableau, various JavaScript charting libraries, and Google Apps Script.