1.
Humanidades Digitales en Bibliotecas
(Digital Humanities in Libraries) launched in July of 2023 as an opportunity for Spanish-speaking librarians to connect and learn about digital humanities. Its activities consisted of several online workshops on digital humanities tools/methodologies. The workshops were in Spanish and were designed to cover not only the tools or methodologies featured but also how they fit into the work of libraries and librarians. The ideal target were librarians with little to no knowledge of digital humanities. In its inaugural season,
Humanidades Digitales en Bibliotecas
hosted 5 workshops whose registrants included Spanish-speaking librarians in Latin America, Spain, USA, Canada, and even the Philippines. All activities were free of charge.
2.
The workshops offered were: Omeka, Scalar, Text Analysis and Pedagogy with VoyantTools (offered twice) and Creating and Developing Digital Humanities Services.
3.
Selecting the workshop topics involved careful consideration of three key elements. Firstly, instructor knowledge. All three workshops had been previously offered by the instructor in different settings and/or languages. This was beneficial because it reduced the workload for the instructor who was doing this voluntarily. Secondly, the learning curve for each tool as well as the potential usefulness for librarians. This was particularly important as librarian roles and duties vary across the world, meaningthe North American experience will not always be useful to all. The tools also needed to be simple enough to be taught in one hour. Finally, the tools needed to be free to account for differences in financial resources across the audience. Most workshop encouraged active participation from the audience and provided attendees with sample projects or materials to test out the different tools. There are already plans for the 2024 season and some attendees have offered to share their own expertise, solidifying
Humanidades Digitales en Bibliotecas’
objective of creating community.
4.
Advertising took place through a large email campaign reaching library associations and university libraries across the Americas and Spain. This resulted in registration rates of 120-150 participants per workshop.
5.
Choosing the right time for the workshops proved to be a challenge that required some research. While a suitable time was found, many attendees were not available to attend. To solve this issue, workshops were recorded and posted to YouTube, where they have garnered over 200 views in just a few months. All registrants received an email with the link to the workshop recordings and the presentation slides. The videos are also available through the website:
https://hdbiblio.weebly.com/
.
6.
This short paper explores the development of
Humanidades Digitales en Bibliotecas
from its inception to its current state. It will discuss the planning of the events, creating an audience, and managing the initiative including successes, constraints, and lessons learned. Attendees will learn about the project and will obtain the necessary tools to establish similar initiatives within their own communities.