Broader Impacts Support

In addition to Digital Scholarship Lifecycle Support, the UF Smathers Libraries ensure that full socio-technical supports (e.g., people, policies, and technologies) are properly in place to support wide public access of all materials and collections. To this end, the UF Smathers Libraries created and use the Open Source SobekCM system to power the UF Digital Collections and Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC; www.dloc.com).

When used by the National Science Foundation (NSF), "Broader Impacts" has a specific intent which is explained by NSF. The University of Florida's Office of Research also has a helpful guide for "Broader Impacts." NSF's definition is social and technical and spans many types of activities. The SobekCM system addresses several elements of "Broader Impacts" specifically in regards to the wide dissemination of materials because SobekCM is a preservation and access repository, ensuring long-term access to materials, and because SobekCM is optimized for search engine indexing to ensure maximum findability. Further, SobekCM frames materials within aggregations or collections to provide the context necessary for understanding the materials once located.

Many programs and projects supported by SobekCM create additional materials to increase impact, including lesson plans and teaching materials, as well as direct integration with scholarly research and teaching. While these leverage the technical capacities of SobekCM, these are social supports that are implemented by the specific program and project groups.

In addition to program or project-specific additions for impact, the UF Libraries frequently conduct training, outreach, and support for the many partners using the UF-hosted SobekCM with UF as the technical infrastructure partner. Faculty and staff in the UF Libraries frequently liaise with multiple partners creating opportunities for intra- and inter-institutional collaboration. Again, this is a social support enabled by the robust technology and a social support that is tied to specific programs and/or partners as collaborative opportunities serendipitously emerge. For all programs, projects, and partners hosted by SobekCM from the UF Libraries, the UF Libraries are a collaborative partner working towards broader impacts.

Assessment

SobekCM provides a number of features to support reporting and measurement. Monthly usage statistics are tracked and available online for all materials at the item, title, and collection levels (usage statistics). These are analyzed to ensure usage and promotion of materials. An annual usability study is conducted to ensure optimal usability of all materials. Further analysis on impact is conducted on different collections on a rotating basis to ensure maximum usage and impact for all materials.

The UF Libraries conduct additional assessments for specific concerns, programs, and projects to ensure optimal support.

Altmetrics

Altmetrics or alternative metrics, are new methods for measuring impact that complement existing models with citation counts. Individual faculty and scholars, as well as research groups and institutional entities, all benefit from making their materials openly available online as Open Access. The benefits from Open Access include higher citation rates and various broader impacts that can be assessed through various web and social metrics.

The UF Smathers Libraries support the IR@UF as a central, visible location that is optimized for traditional library searches and for general search engines to ensure materials can be found. All materials in the IR@UF are supported for long-term digital preservation. Additionally, the UF Libraries provide reference support for the materials in the IR@UF and conduct outreach and promotion for the IR@UF which further supports and promotes your materials.

For all contributors, monthly usage reports are sent out and these reports include: total number of views for all of your items, number of views for all of your items in the past month, details for your top 10 items, and a link to view usage statistics for all of your submitted items. To see the usage statistics for all of your items, you can login to myUFDC and select "View usage for my items" from the main menu.

Please see the IR@UF for more information and to submit your materials.

Outreach, Promotion, and Reference

In addition to system-side supports, faculty and staff supporting the UF Digital Collections provide social supports including liaison, facilitation, promotion, outreach, reference, and many additional and growing elements to support broader impacts for all materials and collections.

Please contact the Digital Humanities Librarian, Laurie N. Taylor (laurien@ufl.edu and 352.273.2902), with any questions regarding these supports.

Publications, Presentations & Trainings

Selected recent publications, presentations, and trainings on the UF Digital Collections, Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC), and related digital collections and scholarship projects are listed on the Presentations & Trainings page.