Innovating Digital Literacy for History Students During COVID-19 and Beyond

Abstract

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many cultural institutions that house archives and special collections closed their doors or otherwise limited in-person access. For disciplines that utilize special collections for research, such as history, students faced challenges as they worked to conduct original primary source research for projects, theses, and dissertations. At Murray State University, I provided library instruction that focused on accessing digital archives and collections. Concepts such as “digital archival literacy” are not only important to discuss now, but have implications beyond the pandemic as research is increasingly performed in a digital environment.