As we embark on the two-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, one crucial aspect we have seen throughout is the need for information. People want to know about the developments and impacts the pandemic is creating, especially in real time. The USF Libraries Florida COVID-19 Hub was created as a resource center for academics and the public alike to get information immediately, such as GIS data and news. It was developed by the USF Libraries Geographic Information Systems (GIS) unit of the Digital Heritage & Humanities Collection (DHHC) department. The team archives and collects data from important sources, such as the Florida Department of Health and Johns Hopkins University, as well as provides tools specific to the Tampa Bay region.
To complement the data being collected through the Florida COVID-19 Hub, a team of librarians have created the USF Libraries Florida COVID-19 Research Collection, which captures published research documenting the effect of the pandemic across many areas of study. The collection showcases COVID-19 research produced by scholars and researchers at USF, as well as pandemic research pertaining to the state of Florida. By providing easily searchable access to published research and scholarship across a wide range of research areas, the collection acts as a portal that links scientists, students, and citizens to quality information resources and tools. The collection could easily be integrated into a course curriculum as well.
The collection is now a year old and still growing. USF librarians are actively searching for and adding COVID-19 research to the collection, which is hosted through the USF institutional repository, Digital Commons. Many materials are open access, which means articles are linked right in the repository ready for download. Since the first papers were added, we’ve seen almost 1,500 open access papers downloaded. The most popular paper, “Changing the Game: College Dance Training for Well-Being and Resilience Amidst the COVID-19 Crisis,” was downloaded 135 times. When research is not open access, or not allowed to download by the publication license, a citation is made available.
Those searching for articles are mostly from the United States, with papers downloaded totaling 1,351. France has the second most downloads, with 69 papers. USF College of Medicine researcher Vladimir Uversky, PhD, DSc, has the most research hosted in the collection, with 23 papers.
The Digital Commons repository uses search engine optimization to improve discovery of publications, increasing the visibility of researcher’s work. USF researchers account for 62% of the papers in the collection, and we encourage faculty who are conducting COVID-19 related research to submit their work to the collection. They can do so via the online submission form or by contacting Camielle Crampsie at ccrampsie@usf.edu.
The past two years have been difficult and transformative, and we here at the USF Libraries will continue to preserve and provide the materials needed to help you in your study and consumption of quality information.
Join our Workshop for Researchers, COVID-19 Hub & Research Collections, on March 29th from 11AM-12PM to learn more.