About the Information Community

<This is an archived page for a project that is no longer active>

An Information Community comprises people (authors, publishers, and users), sharing collections (texts, images, videos, audio, and maps), news, and tools that benefit an area of study. The information can include text, data, digitized media, images, and formal and informal scholarly exchanges of ideas. Information Communities exist as a nexus for bringing people together and making them aware of opportunities and resources, fostered by personal communication, shared research materials, and shared tools.

The American Studies Information Community builds upon the Library's renowned strengths in American history and literature, and UVa's innovative lead in developing programs around these collections. This community is a resource for American Studies both in the United States and abroad, and serve related disciplines, including Art, Architecture, History, Literature, Media Studies, Religion, and Sociology. The American Studies Information Community is in part supported through a $300,000 grant funded by the Mellon Foundation.

The current directories on this site point to resources built by UVa faculty and the UVa Library based on local and remote collections; online finding aids for physical UVa Library collections; digital surrogates of some of the items at UVa; and digital objects licensed for UVa use. The "Features" promote research themes, events, and activities involving or of interest to the Community's members. An Email list and an online Discussion Forum are available for use. The community will grow with the development of tools to allow participants to register their own digital projects and tools, as well as contribute to a collaborative bibliography.