Living Archives
Advancing Natural Resource Archives and Accessibility
Article by Kelsey Evans, CNR Editor.
Documentation plays an integral part in building a legacy of natural resource expertise. And as for CNR’s archives, the future — and past — are bright.
The U of I library is always growing data repositories, digitalized collections and finding aids for archives. Repositories feature data of all kinds, including documents, correspondence, brochures, pictures, journals, video and audio files, and GIS information such as “INSIDE Idaho,” a collection that provides information about the state from a spatial perspective.
There are collections on the Rangeland Center, Taylor Ranch, Women in Natural Resources, and the Idaho Forester, to name just a few, as well as collections on long-term studies such as adult salmon and steelhead migration from 1996-2014.
One of the many CNR-related growing data repositories, the U of I Experimental Forest’s (UIEF) Research Exchange, was released in May 2023. This is an active, living database that provides access to UIEF research and related content to help inspire scientific inquiry and inform forestry and natural resource management. It brings together a variety of sources including historical press, outreach materials, publications, theses and dissertations, presentations and other research products.
The UIEF 4.0 web app is neat because it includes our new, cutting-edge lidar digital inventory combined with almost a century of historical data. Rob Keefe, director of the UIEF
The UIEF Research Exchange and its contributors, along with Bruce Godfrey, U of I’s GIS librarian, are also compiling digital and visual archives to create the new UIEF Web Mapping Application, called “UIEF 4.0,” which enables users to explore GIS datasets to support research, teaching and collaborations among departments and colleges across campus.
“The UIEF 4.0 web app is neat because it includes our new, cutting-edge lidar digital inventory combined with almost a century of historical data,” said Rob Keefe, director of the UIEF.
Historical data includes items like 10 georeferenced maps of fire history from the early 1900s, vegetation cover type, ownership and building locations on Moscow Mountain in the 1930s, logbooks and images, while lidar inventory, or “light detection and ranging” imagery, includes precise, 3D scans giving information about the forest terrain.
The Research Exchange will continue to grow as a living archive.
“Every time someone publishes research, they are now required to submit to this database. It spans the whole forest history, we’re always adding to it, and everyone can access it,” Keefe said.
In addition to new research, UIEF staff and students including recent graduates Axel (Andrea Wall ’23) and Kelsey Roach ’22 have worked with U of I Library Digital Librarian Evan Williamson to locate, digitize and reference past articles for the research 4 exchange. This work helps improve the quality over time and has made it possible to reference the locations of past studies on the UIEF to help inform current and future research.
Robert Keefe, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Director, University of Idaho Experimental Forest
The UIEF has been in the college for 90 years, and now we have a place to analyze and reflect upon that history. Rob Keefe, director of the UIEF
As with all projects documenting history, “It’s a collaborative work in progress,” said Jeremy Kenyon, U of l’s research librarian specializing in Natural Resources. “It inspires scientific inquiry and informs forestry and natural resource management.”
“The UIEF has been in the college for 90 years, and now we have a place to analyze and reflect upon that history,” Keefe said.
The expansion of UIEF archives is a part of a wider endeavor to make geospatial information more available. Much of the work on the UIEF 4.0 web application took place at the Library’s Data Hub, a space for geospatial and data science support and collaboration.
Web GIS is just one innovation of technology which “has evolved significantly over the past two decades to a point where it is much more accessible to a wide range of users,” according to Godfrey. With UIEF 4.0, “Rob Keefe is taking advantage of that to share geospatial data and information,” Godfrey said.
Historically, U of I has been a foundation for GIS information, beginning in the late 1990s with “INSIDE Idaho,” the geospatial data clearinghouse for the State of Idaho. “INSIDE has served as a valuable geospatial data discovery resource,” Godfrey said.
According to Godfrey, U of I is also host to a number of GIS resources such as Idaho’s recent and historical georeferenced aerial imagery, which is publicly accessible.
As for other CNR-related sources of information, the Library and the Center for Digital Inquiry and Learning (CDIL) are taking initiatives to improve quality and accessibility.
In accordance with the university’s land-grant mission, the library has public-facing federal and state government-produced reports for everyone to access.
“Our information is a treasure trove waiting for the public to dive in. The library has been a pillar since the beginning of the university, so our resources go back over a century,” Kenyon said.
As of Fall 2023, CDIL has produced a new, extensive digital collection dedicated to all types of CNR materials. The collection allows website users to view a comprehensive timeline, as well as search by subject keywords, titles and dates. This is thanks to archivists such as Flori Tulli, who have organized, scanned, described and made the materials digitally available. Tulli says that CDIL helps students, faculty and collaborators campus-wide create engaging multimedia projects.
“Whether you’re working on a fellowship or independent research, CDIL can help make it more accessible through digital platforms,” Tulli said.
Other CNR repositories are housed in the special collections, which are material archives located at the library. The library also has a new finding aid for these CNR-related primary materials, making navigating physical archives much easier.
Our information is a treasure trove waiting for the public to dive in. The library has been a pillar since the beginning of the university, so our resources go back over a century. Jeremy Kenyon, U of l research librarian
What isn’t on the shelves is usually a part of the library’s large breadth of subscriptions. While some journals are only available to U of I affiliations because of licensing agreements, the library can still offer help to the public by providing access.
“We might be able to provide physical access in the building. And if there’s only one or two articles that an individual has in mind, they might be available from the local public library,” Kenyon clarified.
Kenyon says he enjoys helping students with their research.
“I recently had a student come in for a forest policy project to study the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974. You could see everything about the Act from BLM reports, public hearings, expert testimonies and more. He ended up leaving with a huge stack of books about how the legislation came into being. Sometimes, you don’t know where to look, or where to start, but librarians are always happy to help,” Kenyon said.
With this, it’s clear that the past and future of research information, and its accessibility, is becoming brighter for not just U of I students, but for adjacent natural resource and data researchers and the greater public.
Published in March 2024.