From provider to partner: how digital humanities sparked a change in Gale’s relationship with universities

Abstract

The past decade has seen huge growth in the teaching and research of what is broadly called digital humanities (DH). Increases in computing power and data availability have seen a rise in individual researchers and research groups working on digital scholarship projects in the humanities, arts and social sciences. This article shows how publishers of traditional digital archives have adapted to the increasing prevalence of DH amongst their traditional customers. The success of this adaptation depends entirely on the relationship with the academic community, and Gale has seen a shift from being a provider of products to a partner, trusted to help libraries, scholars and institutions achieve their objectives. As a leading global provider of digital archives, Gale is well placed to review the current state of DH research and teaching, and this article will discuss significant academic events that have brought scholars, librarians and students together, and the lessons learned for institutions around the world looking to expand into DH. Finally, the article looks at how working to understand the common challenges and barriers to DH research and teaching has pushed many archive publishers to re-evaluate traditional archive publishing and enable new and innovative ways to explore the past.