The world is at our fingertips, and we are awash with information. This exciting experience can become a predicament when quality resources are required and time is short. There is so much “stuff” returned with a search string. If the building is only as good as the materials used likewise a paper is only as good as the sources used. How does the time-harried student locate sources that translate into a well-written and thoughtful paper? The answer is by standing on the research of a giant (or checking the resources the USF library makes available). We, the members of the USF community, are truly fortunate to have access to digital collections, digital exhibits, refereed online journals, et cetera….and the librarians who are responsible for putting so much value at our disposal.
Recently, the National Audubon Society sent me an email about preserving our endangered bird populations, and I followed up with a visit to their site. Looking for other sources discussing conservation and protection of endangered bird populations, I found USF Special Collection’s featured exhibition, “Robert Porter Allen, Savior of the Whooping Crane.” The exhibition made available through USF’s Special Collection, hands down, was a more dynamic and meaningful presentation of the message that Audubon was also conveying; moreover, the field notes, photographs and drawings from the exhibition are available should I choose to conduct primary research on my own. This is worth noting.
USF’s Digital Collection gives staff, students, and researchers access to such quality resources that we can create electronic presentations rivaling the quality of large, well-funded organizations. For undergraduates, the digital collections offer quality, vetted and interesting resources. For the graduate students and researchers, the digital collections offers quality, vetted, and interesting resources as well as primary documentation. Even if you don’t have a research deadline or goal, USF’s Digital Collection is a fantastic resource for future ideas or quality reading.