3D Painting, British Library. Photo credit: Plashing Vole.
“Comprehension, in short, means the unpremeditated, attentive facing up to, and resisting of, reality –– whatever it may be.” ― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
The COVID-19 pandemic, regardless of the declaration from many that it has reached some sort of official conclusion, has left in its wake a series of strains upon institutions of higher learning. As a student at Columbia, I have found myriad challenges emerge over the course of the last eighteen months, particularly manifest in the areas of library access and independent research. As a senior, the need to compile relevant data to supplement my thesis proposal has been a point of particular contention, as I attempt to access resources that are still available only in limited physical or solely digital forms. However, in adapting to the conditions of the surrounding world––both in Manhattan and across the varied landscapes of universities throughout the United States––I have found that the confinement of my research to digital mediums has proven remarkably revelatory in my understanding of such resources.
As a History major, a great deal of my preparation for the writing of my senior thesis essay concerns the accruement of primary source materials. With its millions of volumes, this venture would typically usher a student toward the dust-laden stacks of Butler Library. However, as the libraries closed in March 2020, I was suddenly made to endeavor beyond the comfort of the tangible shelves. Through immensely supportive conversations with librarians and the faculty within my academic department––conducted via Zoom and other virtual platforms––I found comfort in the fact that the closing of Butler would not have the profound impact on my research that I anticipated; that is, if I knew where to look.
While students at Columbia are typically familiar with the titles of digital encyclopedias, or their own institutional access to CLIO (the library’s digital database), it is not often that they are also particularly aware of the vast digital offerings and archives that are available with just their institutional login. Through a series of workshops with librarians that were organized by my History faculty in 2020, as well as a number of online trainings that I attended as a virtual research assistant within the Mailman School of Public Health, I was made privy to a staggering number of online resources that proved fundamental in my ability to continue my research while confined to my computer screen. Specifically, I was able to access articles from published newspapers dating back centuries; a slew of historical letters published and compiled by former New York City mayors; and a remarkable offering of autobiographical writing that was entirely free with my UNI. In many ways, the resources that I found online via Columbia’s digital archives proved more substantial and varied than those I had interacted with in-person––a reality that I could not have anticipated prior to the pandemic.
To this same point, then, the last year has made evident the significance of online resources that Columbia and its libraries provide to students beyond the gates of campus. Whether exacerbated by a global pandemic, or simply in supplement to physical archives, the digital materials that are offered by the University continue to prove integral to the success of my own senior thesis drafting process. Similarly, these archives and my gradual education in how to operate such databases were one of the sole reasons that I was able to continue both independent and faculty-sponsored research from the confines of my childhood bedroom at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. I strongly believe that such resources will continue to bolster the academic prestige of our campus community, serving as a critical tool for students in their intellectual discovery––even as we return to on-campus operations, and re-familiarize ourselves with the leather-bound volumes we have so profoundly missed.
For more information on Columbia Libraries’ digital archives, visit: https://library.columbia.edu/collections/eresources.html