Digital Collections at NMSU

A variety of primary and secondary source documents on multiple topics are available for teaching and learning through the New Mexico State University Library (NMSU). Many of the items in the digital collections are part of NMSU Library’s Archives and Specials Collections.

Use the links below to learn more about teaching with digital collections. Consult the Lesson Plans tab for ideas on using digital collections in your classroom.  We are available to help you use digitized and born-digital collections in order to meet a wide variety of learning goals. If you have questions, ideas or want to learn more about using NMSU’s digital collections, please contact the Digital Projects Collections Team directly.

Understanding Digital Collections, Images, and Facsimiles in Context

Introduce your students to Archives & Special Collections and primary source research online. Use digital collections and surrogates to help students understand the context of a digital source, engage with data, and make connections between digital materials and course themes.

• Incorporate a classroom activity, such as the Newberry Library's Digital Collections for the Classroom. .
• Defining Digital Images. An exercise that will help you get in the habit of looking at digital images of books as images, rather than as transparent representations of a book.
• Read about Teaching with Digital Primary Sources: Literacies, Finding and Evaluating, Citing, Ethics, and Existing Models. This white paper explores the opportunities and challenges of teaching with digital primary sources, including relevant literacies and issues in finding, evaluating, and citing digital primary sources, emphasizing ethical use and concluding with existing models for teaching.
• Digital Facsimiles. A question and answer article with Sarah Werner, a book historian and digital strategist.
• Think about the questions to consider when engaging with a digital collection. A short list of questions. 

Primary Source Literacy, Document Analysis, and Transcription

Use primary source sets for students to interpret and engage in document analysis, build narrative between sources, and contribute to scholarly communications through transcription, annotation, and other activities.

• Consider the Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy
• Explore examples of primary source lesson plans in Teaching with Documents and at TeachArchives.org; many of these are easily adaptable to an online environment

Data and Digital Humanities Tools

Using data visualization and textual analysis tools students can create interactive methods to learn from collections, leverage voices often lost in the archive, and foster a better understanding of the context of a collection.

• Explore sample data visualizations from NMSU's digital collections
• Read more about ways to use Library data to support your course objectives
• Create your own data visualizations
• Find Data Visualizations

The NMSU Library makes its collection images available for any lawful purpose without licensing or permission fees to the library.