Chapman University Digital Commons is continuing to soar to new heights, and the month of March has been momentous.

Increased Usage and Content

In March, we uploaded our 10,000th file to Chapman University Digital Commons.

Perhaps more excitingly, works from Digital Commons have now been downloaded over 100,000 times by users from over 190 countries!

When we celebrated our first anniversary in August 2015, we had just surpassed the 25,000 download mark.  Quadrupling that in just eight months is a testament to the high quality of research and creative work generated by Chapman faculty, students, and staff, which is now having a positive impact on readers from all corners of the globe.

New Collections

We’ve added quite a few new and significant collections recently:

  • The Reimagining Local Government: Strengthening Democracy in Our Communities conference proceedings have been added as the second in the series of Local Government Reconsidered conferences organized by Dr. Fred Smoller (Political Science). This conference examined various ways that local governments can take the lead in problem solving and policy innovation.
  • Photos and Programs of the Department of Theatre’s recent productions of Rent, Eurydice, and A Flea in Her Ear have been added to showcase our students’ talent and skills, as well to provide a permanent home to these images.
  • The Frank Mt. Pleasant Library of Special Collections and Archives continues to expand its digital holdings with the addition of the Pesaro/Cantoni Family in Italy gallery, increasing our coverage of the effects of World War Two on Italy.

Updated Author Dashboards

This fall saw a great improvement to the Author Dashboards.  Now, all authors with at least one file in Digital Commons will receive a monthly email with a personalized link to their Dashboard, where they can discover how much their work has been downloaded by country, institution, or referral link.  A readership map (like the one in the header image for this post) will show you exactly where traffic is originating, helping you to actually see the reach your work is getting.

Student Contests and Prizes

Students can now enter both the Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize and the John and Margaret Class Student Book Collection Contest via Chapman University Digital Commons.  Both contests offer cash prizes as well as the opportunity for the winners to showcase their work with the world.  The deadline for both contests is April 18th, so please share the word with your students ASAP!

 

 

Thank you, as always, for contributing to all the great examples of Chapman research and creative work in Chapman University Digital Commons.  As we add more quality content like yours, our reach keeps growing.  Please continue to spread the word, and remember to send any new publications, data sets, teaching materials, or other content to Kristin Laughtin-Dunker at laughtin@chapman.edu.