Instructional Programs

INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAMS

D.H. Ramsey Library Special Collections offers a variety of instructional programs. Probably the most important program is the ongoing instruction offered to a variety of students, interns, and volunteer workers who spend a minimum of 5 hours per week working in Special Collections and who engage in a variety of research, archival and information science activities. Generally, Special Collections provides the opportunity to interested students on a first-come basis and the students are selected based on their level of commitment to a full semester of engagement.

In addition to the ongoing education and training program, Special Collections offers Bibliographic instruction programs for a variety of disciplines within the university. We specialize in instruction that teaches students about the relevance of our historical resources as primary research resources. We believe that the opportunity to experience these primary sources enriches the research process and enables students to navigate other like environments to conduct similar research. We custom design our presentations for the discipline and provide students the opportunity to experience the original artifacts as well as how to respect and handle rare materials.

Special Collections provides individual faculty and students the facility and materials for structured semester-long study that can engage the class or the students deeply in work with manuscript, photograph, map, or oral history collections. Advanced student projects that are related to Special Topics classes or to Independent Study may also be arranged with our unit.

Examples of work conducted in Special Collections in the past include research of Jewish Life in Western North Carolina, early literary history of the Appalachian region, local architecture, urban renewal, the Greek community of Asheville, African Americans in western North Carolina, and many other topics.

Topics frequently presented in one or two class segments include, photographic history, historiography, Freshman Language 120, and other introductory courses. Our collections support the exploration of American Civil War history, women's studies, Popular Culture, economics, environmental science, geology, forestry, paleography, art history, theater and dramaturgy, European history (particularly WWI,), the Holocaust, Jewish history, and especially local and public history course work.

We also welcome the community to use our instructional resources and on request we will provide instructional sessions for public school classes and for organizations and clubs.