From Judith Thomas, Director of Faculty Programs:
Research Sprints offer faculty the opportunity to work with a team of expert librarians who help with getting a new project started or overcoming obstacles in an existing project. The Research Sprints program, which offers support for projects at any phase of the scholarly lifecycle, is mutually beneficial to recipients and Library staff — faculty receive help in moving projects forward, and Library staff hone and expand their skills in ways that help current and future partners. The first Sprint in this cohort began in mid-May, and Sprints continue through the summer.
This year’s participants include:
Janet Kong-Chow, American Studies and English, College of Arts and Sciences
This Sprint supports early research for a book manuscript exploring the processes through which the modern archive (physical and digital) came to be understood as a site of knowledge production in the West, and as such, how its curatorial practices continue to shape and transform ideas of race, ethnicity, gender, and postcoloniality in the American cultural imagination.
Library team:
- Molly Schwartzburg, Curator, Albert & Shirley Small Special Collections Library
- Meg Kennedy, Curator of Material Culture
- Lauren Longwell, University Archivist
- Chris Ruotolo, Director, Research in the Arts and Humanities
Mary Kuhn, English, College of Arts and Sciences
This Sprint team will research the cultural history of Paris Green, a toxic arsenic-based compound widely used in domestic and agricultural settings in the late nineteenth-century United States. The project will draw on scientific and popular periodicals, agricultural and gardening manuals, advertisements, wallpaper samples, and other domestic material culture.
Library team:
- Sherri Brown, Librarian for English
- Maggie Nunley, Science and Engineering Research Librarian
- Jenny Coffman, Science and Engineering Research Librarian
- Keith Weimer, Librarian for History, Politics, and Religious Studies
Moira O’Neill, Urban and Environmental Planning, School of Architecture and Law School
This Research Sprint will conduct an interdisciplinary literature review to support writing a book on how local governments implement climate and fair housing policy. The team will review both urban planning and law literature in their investigation of topics relating to spatial inequity, community participation in policy-making, and land use regulation.
Library team:
- Rebecca Coleman, Research Librarian for Architecture
- Christine Slaughter, Social Sciences Research Librarian
- Dan Radthorne, Reference Librarian, School of Law
Michael Puri, Music, College of Arts and Sciences
The goal of this Research Sprint is to flesh out the cultural politics surrounding the relationship between French and German music at the turn of the twentieth century. The composers Maurice Ravel and Richard Strauss receive particular attention as prominent and closely related representatives of the two traditions.
Library team:
- Amy Hunsaker, Librarian for Music & the Performing Arts
- Miguel Valladares-Llata, Librarian for Romance Languages and Latin American Studies
Dylan Rogers, Art History and Archeology, College of Arts and Sciences
The Sprint will provide research support for an interdisciplinary book project on the history of the University of Virginia, which seeks to employ methodologies of archaeology, art history, and architectural history to understand better how the University’s physical imprint and cultural significance developed over time. The Sprint will lay the crucial groundwork for identifying and collating the numerous available archival materials housed in the University’s Library that provide insight into UVA’s complex history.
Library team:
- Lucie Stylianopoulos, Librarian for Art, Archaeology, & Indigenous Studies
- Ann Burns, Metadata Librarian
- Rebecca Coleman, Research Librarian for Architecture
- Meg Kennedy, Curator of Material Culture
- Lauren Longwell, University Archivist
Jessica Sewell, Planning, School of Architecture
This Sprint will provide support for the forthcoming book, “Gender and Vernacular Architecture,” which is simultaneously a primer for studying gender in vernacular architecture and a guide and manifesto for inclusive methodologies in the study of the built environment. The Sprint will assist in finding and acquiring illustrations, supporting and enhancing the argument, and boosting the beauty and accessibility of the book.
Library team:
- Rebecca Coleman, Research Librarian for Architecture
- Erin Pappas, Librarian for the Humanities
- Brandon Butler, Director, Information Policy
Michael Sheehy, Contemplative Sciences Center
The Sprint will research topics at the intersection of sensory deprivation and meditation with a focus on self-emergent and hallucinatory visual experiences during dark exposure. The team will collaboratively identify multimedia resources on preselected topics in Religious Studies, Anthropology, Psychology, and Neuroscience.
Library team:
- Keith Weimer, Librarian for History, Politics, and Religious Studies
- Nawang Thokmey, Librarian for Tibetan, Himalayan, and Contemplative Studies
- Andrea Denton, Research and Data Services Manager, Health Sciences Library
Ben Small, Architecture, School of Architecture
This project takes a close look at visitor centers commissioned by various government organizations in the United States and asks how these buildings might be understood in terms of local concepts of place and broader political agendas. The project team will collect and interpret documentation such as commission contracts, brochures, and more, related to publicly-funded visitor centers.
Library team:
- Rebecca Coleman, Librarian for Architecture
- Christine Slaughter, Social Sciences Research Librarian
- Penny White, Reference Librarian, Special Collections Library
- Trillian Hosticka, Reference Librarian and Regional Depository Librarian