Ouachita Stories

Did you know that Ouachita has an institutional repository called Scholarly Commons @Ouachita? An institutional repository is like an archive that digitally captures, preserves and distributes a variety of items uploaded onto a platform. Ouachita’s institutional repository, Scholarly Commons @Ouachita, uses the Bepress platform and is part of the Digital Commons network.

Scholarly Commons @Ouachita is a collection of the creative and academic works of Ouachita faculty, staff and students. There are photos from theatre productions, class papers by students in dietetics, history, math and English and honors theses going back to 1964! Faculty have included links to their books, articles and creative works. Scholarly Commons also houses digital collections from our community, like the Arkansas State Baptist Convention Annuals (from 1848 to 1900), photographs from the Ouachita National Forest and even a digital copy of William Dunbar’s journal from his 1803 expedition up the Ouachita River with Dr. George Hunter. We also have streaming and downloadable videos of Tiger Tunes.

One of the most wonderful things about Scholarly Commons @Ouachita is that each digitized item is distributed around the world and is searchable through Google! The best—most hypnotic—part for me, though, is that you can see how often an item is being downloaded and where in the world a collection is being viewed. You can even see Ouachita’s items being downloaded across the world in real time!

Since Scholarly Commons @Ouachita started in August 2015, Ouachita scholarship and creative works have been downloaded around the world over 154,000 times!  Our works have been read in nearly every country and by such government institutions as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the National Archives and Records Administration and National Park Service; such educational institutions as Ohio State University, University of Arkansas and Columbia University; and such commercial institutions as Facebook.

Now you may be asking yourself, “How can I be a part of this awesome library service and have my scholarship read around the world?” First visit Scholarly Commons @Ouachita and read our Author FAQs and our Policy Statement. Then, to submit an item, download and complete the Contributor Agreement. Finally, email the agreement and your work to Autumn Mortenson at [email protected]. Contact me if you have any questions or concerns!

By Autumn Mortenson, Ouachita reference librarian, Scholarly Commons administrator and assistant professor