Digital Humanities is an umbrella term for theories, methodologies, and practices related to Humanities scholarship that uses the digital computer as an integrated and essential part of its research and teaching activities. The computer can be used for establishing, finding, collecting, and preserving material to study; as an object of study in its own right; as an analytical tool; or for collaborating and disseminating results (Brügger, 2016). 

The Library has identified that its role in Digital Humanities will involve participation in collaborative projects with either communities, the Institutional IT Division or academia. The role itself is two-fold and will address the following aspects: 

• making data and digital collections freely available to the wider academic community, and
• the description thereof and putting digital special collections into the correct historical context which forms part of these projects

Within the context of this role, the Library has identified two core areas that can contribute to the Digital Humanities initiative namely special collections and research data collections. On the one hand, special and unique collections could be digitized and indexed in order to provide access to digital cultural heritage collections for research. Furthermore, these collections could be grouped in a particular manner that contextualises cultural heritage material. On the other hand, there are many datasets from the Social Sciences and Humanities field that are available on SUNScholarData. These datasets could be utilized as research data sources by scholars in the Digital Humanities.  

The Library intends to create an online resource which will provide information relating to Digital Humanities. Although this online resource will include links to software with training videos, the Library will not actually provide any training services regarding the use of the software in question. 

For more resources and information about Digital Humanities and research tools:

• Berry, D.M. 2012. Understanding digital humanities. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Brügger, N. 2016. Digital Humanities, in Klaus Jensen, Robert Craig, Jeffersen Pooley & Eric Rothenbuhler (eds). The International Encyclopedia of Communication Theory and Philosophy. 1–8. Wiley-Blackwell.
• Piotrowski, M. 2018. Digital Humanities : An Explication. [Available Online].
• Terras, M. 2016. A Decade in Digital Humanities. Journal of Siberian Federal University, 9(7):1637–1650. [Available Online].