Digital Research and Inquiry Lab

What is Digital Research at AU?

Digital Research is the application of modern digital technologies to advance or supplement the traditional process of scholarly exploration, discovery, and sharing. It refers to any scholarly activity that uses digital technologies to advance conventional methods of analysis, make certain kinds of research questions possible, and publish research in novel formats. These technologies can be applied to any stage of the research process to develop new methods for collaboration, visualization, analysis, and publication.

See what you can do with digital research! Explore a selection of projects created with the support of AU’s Digital Research services and staff.

Learn more about Digital Research methods, resources, and tools by checking out our LibGuide.

Vision

The American University Library will be a centralized and comprehensive source for the use of digital technologies in support of scholarship, where any researcher can easily find relevant information, community, and support.

Mission

The Library will lead scholarship at AU in new directions, encourage collaboration between disciplines, and support innovative research at AU by providing support, expertise, programming, and community related to digital research and technologies.

What We Do

The Digital Research and Inquiry program at American University Library is a cross-collaborative group in the Library that provides expertise, training, and resources to help you integrate technology with scholarly inquiry of all kinds. We can support you at all stages of the digital research project lifecycle by:

Exploring options for digital projects
Advising on digital project design and methods
Providing technical expertise and training
Planning the preservation of your work
Supporting digital research assignments for your courses

Digital Research Project Showcase

ENLACE

This collection is comprised of administrative documents from ENLACE and collaborators created between 1987-1994.

FACING THE JULY MONARCHY

In 1841, the caricaturist Honoré Daumier created thirty illustrations for François Fabre’s Némésis médicale illustrée (Illustrated Medical Nemesis), a collection of stories satirizing the medical profession.

Maruja Mallo’s Heads of Women

“Maruja Mallo’s Heads of Women: A Pictorial Response to Racial Inequalities in Latin America” is the culmination of a year of research on the work of artist Maruja Mallo and the socio-cultural circumstances related to the creation of her series of Heads.

Echoes of Destruction

Mapping the Impressionist Imprint of the Franco-Prussian War and Paris Commune.

"Adorned After Nature"

“’Adorned After Nature’: Émile Gallé’s Bois des Îles at the 1889 and 1900 Expositions Universelles” is the culmination of a year of research on the work of artist Émile Gallé and the socio-historical circumstances of his wooden furniture on display at the 1900 Exposition Universelle.

BOUNDARIES OF FEMININITY

This capstone aims to answer these questions about the consistency and inconsistency of the image of the cross-dressed woman across modern Japanese visual culture.