Our Mission

The mission of the Innovation and Scholarly Communication department at the University Libraries is to cultivate an environment that encourages experimentation, creativity, and technological literacy and facilitate scholarly communication practices across the University of Memphis with focus on the promotion of faculty and student research. 

Innovation

• The Sandbox, which includes a creatorspace and studios located in McWherter Library, is a collection of collaborative spaces and technology available to all UofM students and employees. The Sandbox Creatorspace (1st floor) includes several 3D printers, a Glowforge laser cutter, a Cricut smart cutter and more. The Sandbox Studios include a Podcast Studio (2nd floor), Video Studio (2nd floor), Audio Studio (3rd floor), and Presentation Practice Studio (4th floor). To be authorized to use our technology and studios, you must take an orientation. To learn more, visit our Orientations & Workshops page.
• Need technology? Learn more about the technology available to borrow, checkout guidelines, and more on the Check Out Technology page. UofM students and employees can check out technology from the Check Out Desk (McWherter Library, 1st Floor) with their UofM ID.
• Need technology at Lambuth? Visit the Lambuth Technology Resources page to view equipment available for check out at the Lambuth Library.

Scholarly Communication

• The Digital Commons, or digital repository for the University of Memphis, is an online hub for the preservation, visibility, and accessibility of UofM scholarly communication, research, and University Libraries digital collections, helping ensure valuable research and educational resources are available to the University community and a global audience. The Digital Commons hosts an extensive range of academic works, including theses, dissertations, faculty publications and open access journals, showcasing the impactful research produced by the University community. The Open Educational Resources (OER) Collection, one of several Digital Commons collections, features free and openly licensed educational materials, such as textbooks, syllabi and course modules.
• The NEDcast, a Libraries-created podcast recorded in our podcast studio and distributed through the Digital Commons, features conversations with UofM scholars, faculty and students about their research, projects and services. The Digital Commons also hosts two other UofM podcasts, “Change Agents” and “The AMUM Podcast.” We hope more UofM students, faculty and sta­ff take advantage of the opportunity to produce their own shows and join the growing network of UofM podcasts
• Scopus is a comprehensive and highly regarded database that provides abstracts and citation tracking of peer-reviewed literature in science, technology, medicine, social sciences and arts and humanities. All UofM faculty and students have access to Scopus through a subscription provided by the University Libraries. This subscription empowers scholars to contribute to the global academic conversation and advance knowledge in their respective disciplines. To help continue to build our Colleges and Schools Collection, faculty are encouraged to create a Scopus account and an ORCiD, a free, unique, persistent identifier (PID) for individuals to use as they engage in research, scholarship and innovation activities.
• The Scholarly Communication Research Guide provides information on scholarly communications and the publishing ecosystem, including: formats of academic literature (journals, monographs, edited collections), research impact, grants, copyright, Open Access, and public scholarship.