Tuesday 25 April 2023, 15:00-16:00

1. Introducing Historical Texts' new resources
for learning and teaching
Tuesday 25 April, 2023

2. Today’s Webinar
Agenda
• Introduction – Who we are
• Presentation – What have we created?
• Goals – Why have we built this?
• Benefits – How might you use this?
• The future – How might this develop?
• Questions – Over to you
Note: Today’s webinar is being recorded for those
not able to attend.
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3. Historical Texts Learning & Teaching Editorial Board
Bonnie Latimer (Chair)
• Assoc. Dean for Education & Student Experience
• University of Plymouth
Gabriel Egan
• Professor of Shakespeare Studies [& Chair, Historical Texts Advisory Group]
• De Montfort University
Brycchan Carey
• Professor of English
• Northumbria University
Jerome de Groot
• Professor of Literature and Culture
• University of Manchester
Stephen Gregg
• Senior Lecturer in English Literature
• Bath Spa University
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4. A Question For You …
• How familiar are you with Jisc’s Historical Texts service?
• VERY – Jisc should be paying me.
• FAIRLY – I know the headline facts.
• SOMEWHAT – I’m aware of it and this is a good chance to find our more.
• NOT – You mean this isn’t the Hysterical Tweets webinar?
• Please answer using the online poll.
• Regardless of how you answered, this webinar is for you.
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5. … And Questions For Us
• Please enter any questions you have, throughout the presentation, into the Q&A box.
• There is time set aside to go through as many questions as possible at the end of the
talk.
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7. Jisc’s Historical Texts service
An aggregation of primary sources
• Over half a million printed works, presented
as scanned facsimiles, with searchable text
• Bringing together four distinct collections:
• Early English Books Online
• Eighteenth Century Collections Online
• C19th Books from the British Library
• The UK Medical Heritage Library
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8. The Origins of Historical Texts
The Collections
• Early English Books Online was launched by
ProQuest in 1999 – over 20 years ago – and
based on a microfilm collection that began in
the 1940s.
• Similarly, Eighteenth Century Collections
Online (Gale/Cengage) was launched at the
turn of the millennium, again from microfilm.
• The C19th Books collection and UK Medical
Heritage Library both differ in having been
digitised from original, physical volumes.
• Historical Texts was first launched as Jisc
Historical Books in 2011.
• It sought to democratise access for
members to collections acquired in
perpetuity by Jisc, and to create synergies
between them.
• Starting with EEBO and ECCO, its scope
expanded to include other, open access
collections.
Historical Texts
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9. Identifying a Need/Opportunity
Historical Texts as a great leveller—for research!
Catch: dedicated but limited audience
Risks: subscription decisions over 5y, next-gen researchers
Opportunities: extending value of the collections, volume use….
Bigger point: what do you do with a resource that’s widely loved but
whose parameters were fixed in the past?
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10. Responding to the Opportunity
• Created an academic-led resource driven by practical teaching
needs
• End beneficiaries are students, via academics
• Polyvalent: approach through themes, type of activity,
assessments…
• https://historicaltexts.jisc.ac.uk/landt
• Our ‘kitchen vision’
• What this lets us do: interrogate vast archives, draw out
alternative histories for students, spark curiosity…
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11. How to Use these Tools

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15. Assessment:
Title Mash-Up
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16. Themed reading lists and
guidance on how to best
search the collections
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17. Reflections from the Editorial Board

18. What’s next?
• Building the contribution base
• Encourage colleagues and users to contribute resources &
knowledge to the project.
• Provide visible recognition.
• Expanding coverage
• Goal to provide content on research/study skills, role of machine
learning, and to extend into the 19th Century.
• Feedback from the community will help inform prioritisation and
decision making.
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19. Questions

20. Call to Action
Let us know how you are getting on with using these tools:
• How are you or your colleagues integrating them with
teaching?
• Are you adapting them or using them in different ways?
• How could they be improved?
• What additional resources would you like to see?
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21. Thank you for listening
• Contact us with any questions or feedback at:
historicaltexts@jisc.ac.uk
• Or register interest in helping shape this project here:
https://jisc.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/historical-texts-learning-and-teaching
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