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Scholar Support and Data Services

Scholar Support and Data Services (SSDS) provides collaborative, interdisciplinary opportunities for faculty, staff, and students to engage and enhance their knowledge in the areas of data science, data visualization, digital humanities, and scholarly communication.

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Scholar Support and Data Services provides collaborative opportunity

Faculty, staff, and students can engage and enhance their knowledge in the areas of data science, data visualization, digital humanities, and scholarly communication.

 

See the work SSDS is doing

  • Teaching R and Python workshops on data wrangling, data visualization, automation, and reproducibility
  • Working with scholars who want to transition from proprietary statistical software to open software

  • Get help with data analysis, research design, statistical methods, and machine learning from faculty with expertise in applied statistics and computational social science.

  • Includes guidance on survey design, data cleaning, software selection, visualization, statistical modeling, and inference.

  • Support varies by faculty member—review availability and areas of focus when booking an appointment

Visit the Lab

  • Teaching introductory data visualization and mapping workshops
  • Supporting research using digital scholarship methodologies and tools such as Tableau for data visualization and ArcGIS StoryMaps for digital mapping

  • Working with scholars throughout the publishing process: rights retention, journal selection (e.g., avoiding predatory publishers), open access, research impact
  • Advocating for a sustainable and equitable scholarly ecosystem

  • Communicating with faculty across campus and within the library to understand research and resource needs
  • Working with publishers and vendors and establishing sustainable approaches to collection building that enable the library to support all disciplines and research within our existing budget capacity

Visit us in our temporary office in the Jesse L. White Room (221) at the J.D. Williams Library. Call us on our shared line at 662-915-5877 or email us collectively at ssds@olemiss.edu. You can also contact us individually:

Meet the Scholar Support and Data Services Team

Adam Clemons

Adam Clemons

  • Assistant Professor of Scholar Support and Data Services
Sian Lee

Sian Lee

  • Assistant Professor for Scholar Support and Data Services
Savannah Kelly

Savannah Kelly

  • Associate Head and Associate Professor of Scholar Support and Data Services
Mahek Sota

Mahek Sota

  • Application Analyst I
Shelby Watson

Shelby Watson

  • Assistant Professor of Scholar Support and Data Services
Brian Young

Brian Young

  • Interim Assistant Dean of Public Services and Head and Associate Professor of Scholar Support and Data Services

Digital Humanities

Digital Humanities (DH) brings together computational methods and humanistic inquiry to explore and interpret culture, history, and text in dynamic ways.

Defined broadly, DH encapsulates nearly every aspect of the research lifecycle including digitization and curation, the use of digital methodologies and tools, digital authoring and publishing, and digital preservation.  In narrower terms, DH is the application of computational tools and techniques to traditional humanities research in disciplines such as literature, history, and art history to explore, analyze, and present cultural, historical, and textual materials in new and innovative ways. 

What is the Digital Humanities (DH) Lab? 

The DH Lab is a service provided by the University Libraries that supports research, teaching, and community engagement at the intersection of computational technology and the humanities. 

How does the DH Lab provide support? 

The DH Lab provides consultation, instruction, and support services.

What kind of support does the DH Lab provide? 

The DH Lab provides support in the following DH methodological areas:  

  • Text analysis
  • Mapping
  • Visualization

For research, this support includes: 

  • Initial research design and project planning 
  • Strategies for finding data  
  • Best practices and software for cleaning data 
  • DH tools and techniques for analyzing data
  • Options for sharing and disseminating findings   

For teachers, this support includes: 

  • Pedagogical support including curriculum design and assignment development
  • Technical support including software, hardware, and resource requirements 
  • Training including digital tool demonstrations 

Meet with the Digital Humanities Team

While priority is given to students and faculty in traditional humanities fields, all University of Mississippi students, faculty, and staff may request an appointment.

Research and Instruction

We support teaching and learning through course-integrated instruction, research help, and online resources, with a focus on building information literacy and critical thinking across UM Oxford and Regional campuses.

  • Collaborative Instructors. We provide online and in-person instruction at all levels, using Information Literacy Learning Outcomes and Goals to guide sessions. We are happy to collaborate with you to meet the needs of your classes, whether that is through creating online materials, embedding resources in Blackboard, visiting classes, or a combination of support.
  • First-Year Instruction Initiative. R&I Librarians teach critical thinking skills to first-year students through our First Year Instruction Initiative, which includes working directly with the following classes: EDHE 105/106/202/305, WRIT 100/101/102, HON 102, SPCH 102/105, and LIBA 102. Email Melissa Dennis at mdennis@olemiss.edu to learn more. 
  • Undergraduate and Graduate Instruction. R&I Librarians have a wide array of subject expertise. If you’d like a librarian to visit your class to help with an assignment, navigating the library website or resources, basic information literacy, critical thinking, media literacy, or advanced searching skills, let us know!
  • Research consultants for faculty, staff, and students. We are here to help you find information using print and digital resources at any point during the research process.
  • Liaisons to UM departments. We manage and develop a large variety of print and digital collections. We gladly work with you to connect you to the services and resources you need.

Contact Us

  • Chat.
    Connect instantly with a member of the library’s chat team for quick help through the Ask-a-Librarian chat service available Monday – Thursday from 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM and Friday from 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM.
  • Visit.
    Our offices are located on the 1st floor of the J.D. Williams Library (Main Library) in rooms 105 and 106A
  • Email.
    Use this email for questions after hours asklib@olemiss.edu
  • Call.
    Call us at 662-915-5855 Monday – Friday from 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Meet The Research and Instruction Team

Melissa Dennis

Melissa Dennis

  • Head of Research & Instruction Services and Associate Professor
Ashley Dees

Ashley Dees

  • Associate Head of Research & Instruction Services and Associate Professor

    Royce Kurtz

    Royce Kurtz

    • AICPA Research & Instruction Librarian and Associate Professor
    Ally Watkins

    Ally Watkins

    • Research and Instruction Librarian and Assistant Professor
    Alex Watson

    Alex Watson

    • Research & Instruction Librarian and Professor