Arjun Sabharwal, M.A., M.L.I.S., Grad. Cert. Archival Administration

Professor of Library Administration/Digital Initiatives Librarian
Digital Initiatives
419-530-4497
Email: arjun.sabharwal@utoledo.edu
ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8873-3406
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Arjun_Sabharwal
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arjunsabharwal

Education

M. L. I. S., Wayne State University, Detroit, 2003
Graduate Certificate in Archival Administration, Wayne State University, Detroit, 2003
M.A. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1996; California State University, Northridge, 1994
B.A. California State University, Northridge, 1994

Professional Biography

Arjun Sabharwal joined the University of Toledo Libraries faculty as Digital Initiatives Librarian in January 2009. His areas of responsibilities include digitizing manuscript collections and archival records and developing virtual exhibitions at the Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections, managing the University of Toledo Digital Repository, and curating the Toledo's Attic Virtual Museum. Since 2017, he has also been the system administrator and lead technical contact for the Open Journal Systems, which houses several Open Access journals at the University of Toledo. He is the selector for the following disciplines: Geography and Planning, Music, Political Science and Public Administration, and Hungarian Literature/Language. He also oversees the collections for the Margaret M. Papp Perry Memorial Hungarian Culture Endowment Collection.

His research interests include Digital Humanities, interdisciplinary approaches to digital curation, digital preservation, archival science, information architecture, data visualization, and multimodal literacy. He is the author of Digital Curation in the Digital Humanities: Preserving and Promoting Archival and Special Collections (Oxford, UK: Chandos Publishing, 2015) and has authored and co-authored several research articles and chapters.

Published works

Rigda, Christine, and Arjun Sabharwal. “Integrating the Institutional Repository into Archives and Records Management Practices: A Case Study of Digital Curation Strategies at the University of Toledo. Chapter 8.” In Rethinking Institutional Repositories: Innovations in Management, Collections, and Inclusion, 79–92. Ed. Josh Cromwell. Chicago, IL: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2023.
https://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/publications/booksanddigitalresources/digital/9798892555906_OA.pdf

Sabharwal, Arjun. "Un-Banning Books, Perspectives, Identities, and Knowledge." IFLA's Section on Libraries for Children and Young Adults Newsletter: International Views on Banned Books (Special Edition, October 2023): 13-15. https://repository.ifla.org/bitstream/123456789/2865/1/IFLA_CYA_SpecialEdition_BBW2023.pdf

———. "Digital Scriptures, Material Religion and the Digital Humanities: An Interdisciplinary Framework for Curating Digitized Sacred Texts Online," (Chap. 3) in Digital Humanities and Material Religion: An Introduction. Eds. Emily Suzanne Clark and Rachel MC Bride Lindsey. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2022.

———." Institutional Repository Engagement Framework: Harnessing Resources, Structure, and process for Strategic Plan Support in Higher Education." Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, Vol. 33, no. 3 (2021): 133-155. https://doi.org/10.1080/1941126X.2021.1949150.

———. "Functional Frameworks for Socialized Digital Curation: Curatorial Interventions and Curation Spaces in Archives and Libraries." Library Trends, Vol. 69, no. 3 (Special Issue: "Everyday Documentation"), 2021: 672-95. 10.1353/lib.2021.0009

———. "Institutional Repositories and Knowledge Curation: Revisiting Knowledge Conversion in the Academic Environment." Against the Grain, vol. 31, no. 5 (November 2019):78-80. https://against-the-grain.com/2019/12/v315-optimizing-library-services-institutional-repositories-and-knowledge-curation-revisiting-knowledge-conversion-in-the-academic-environment/.

Napp, John and Arjun Sabharwal. "Academic Libraries and the Strategic Vision for Diversity in Higher Education." Conference Proceedings of the Annual Conference and Exposition of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). Tampa, Florida, June 2019.

Sabharwal, Arjun. "Digital Humanities and the Emerging Framework for Digital Curation." In The Digital Humanities: Implications for Librarians, Libraries, and Librarianship. Ed. Christopher Millson-Martula and Kevin B. Gunn. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2019.

———. "The Transformative Role of Institutional Repositories in Academic Knowledge Management," In Digital Curation: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice, edited by Information Resources Management Association, 41-61. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference, 2019: 41-61.

———. "City, Legacy, and Reform: The Beginnings of the Toledo Humane Society." Ohio History, vol. 125, no. 1 (Spring 2018). doi:10.1353/ohh.2018.0003

———. "Emerging Technologies in Humanities Education" in Humanities: Past, Present, and Future." Chapter 6. Edited by Michael Shaughnessy. New York: Nova Science Publishers (2017).

Sabharwal, Arjun, with Gerald R. Natal. "Integrating the IR into Strategic Goals at the University of Toledo: Case Study." Digital Library Perspective, Vol. 33, no. 4 (Fall 2017). doi:10.1108/DLP-03-2017-0008

Sabharwal, Arjun. "Digital Humanities and the Emerging Framework for Digital Curation." College & Undergraduate Libraries, Vol. 24 (July 2017). doi:10.1080/10691316.2017.1336953

———. "The Transformative Role of Institutional Repositories in Academic Knowledge Management," in Bhojaraju Gunjal, Ed. Managing Knowledge and Scholarly Assets in Academic Libraries. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2017

———. "Toledo's Attic: A Community-Curated Virtual Museum Nears 20 Years Old." Ohio Genealogy News, vol 46, no. 4 (Winter 2015): 16-19.

———. Digital Curation in the Digital Humanities: Preserving and Promoting Archival and Special Collections. Oxford, UK: Chandos Publishing, 2015.

———. "Toledo's Attic: A Collaborative Digital History Project.” Northwest Ohio History, Vol. 81, no. 1 (Fall 2013): 1-23.

———. "Networked Co-Curation in Virtual Museums: Digital Humanities, History, and Social Media in the Toledo’s Attic Project." International Journal of Heritage in the Digital Era, Vol. 1, no. 4 (2012): 587-610.

———. “Digital Representations of Disability History: Developing a Virtual exhibition at the Ward M. Canaday Center, University of Toledo.” Archival Issues: Journal of the Midwest Archives Conference, vol. 34, no. 1 (2012)

———. “More Than Meets The Ear.” Recorded Sound, Spring 2012. http://www2.archivists.org/groups/recorded-sound-roundtable.

———. “Knowledge domain navigation in interdisciplinary digital landscapes.” Journal of Library Metadata, vol 11, no. 2 (May 2011): 63-82.

Also writes reviews for CHOICE Reviews Online since 2010

Presentations

Sabharwal, Arjun. "Curation-Migration Cycle: A Preservation-Centered Framework for Institutional Repository Migration." Presented (virtually) at the 2024 Southern Mississippi Institutional Repository Conference, April 25-26, 2024. Southern Mississippi University.

Natal, Gerald R., Arjun Sabharwal, and Margaret A. Hoogland. “NOT Lost in Translation: The Library’s Role in Establishing and Sustaining a Medical Science Journal” Midwest Chapter/Medical Library Association Conference, October 11-13, 2023. October 2023.

Sabharwal, Arjun. "25 Years in Community Service: Background, Current Directions, and Prospects for the Toledo's Attic Project." Presented (virtually) at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the Society of Ohio Archivists. May 11, 2023.

———. "Building a Literacy Pedagogy Framework for Approaching Visualization of Archival Data." Presented as a Webinar sponsored by Association for Information Science and Technology and ASIS&T SIG Visualization. February 17, 2022. https://www.asist.org/building-a-literacy-pedagogy-framework-for-approaching-visualization-of-archival-data-sig-vis

———. "BitCurator Environments in Archives: Collaboration Architectures and Workflow for Digital Preservation." Presented at the 2020 BitCurator Users Forum, October 14, 2020 [virtual conference]. https://bitcuratorconsortium.org/forum/.

———. "Open Journal System at the University of Toledo: Migration, Digital Preservation, and Knowledge Management. Presented at the Michigan Academy of Sciences and Letters 2020 Conference, September 26, 2020 [virtual conference].

———. "Historical Visualizations: The Visual Literacy Continuum as Framework for Using Archives in the Digital Humanities." Presented at the 2020 Conference of the International Visual Literacy Association, September 25, 2020 [virtual conference]. https://members.ivlaconference.org/members/evr/portal/itinerary.php?org_id=IVLA&evid=24416461.

———. "Digital Rights and Open Access: Using the Digital Repository as a Hub for Public Humanities Collaboration." Presented at Network Detroit: Digital Humanities Theory and Practice, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, September 2019.

———. "Digital Curation for Social Justice: Strategic Approaches to Metadata as Nexus for Collaboration between Archives and Digital Humanists." Paper Presentation & Lightning Talk given at the 2019 Association for Computers and the Humanities (ACH) inaugural conference. Pittsburgh, July 2019.

Napp, John and Arjun Sabharwal. "Academic Libraries and the Strategic Vision for Diversity in Higher Education." Presented at the 126th Annual Conference and Exposition of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). Tampa, Florida, June 2019.

Sabharwal, Arjun. "Digital Humanities and the Emerging Landscape for Archival Literacy." Presented at the Annual Conference of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters, Alma College, Michigan, March 2019.

———. "Archives, Memory, and Community Engagement: Socio-Digital Strategies for Activism in Archival Work." Presented at Network Detroit: Digital Humanities Theory and Practice, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, September 2018.

———. “A Practical Approach to Digital Curation.” Professional (invited) Webinar Presentation given to the San Jose State University Student Chapter of the Association for Information Science & Technology, April 2018.

Sabharwal, Arjun, with John Napp. "The academic library as catalyst in the strategic mission for diversity." Presented at the Annual Conference of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI. March 2018.

Sabharwal, Arjun. "Technologies for mapping heritage collections and archival records." Presented at Network Detroit: Digital Humanities Theory and Practice, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, October 2017.

———. "The Course-Integrated IR: New Models for Digital Curation." Presented at the Annual Conference of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI. March 2017.

———. "Virtual Exhibitions in the DH Context: Community-Centered Digital Curation (Panel E)." Presented at Network Detroit: Digital Humanities Theory and Practice, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, September 2016.

———. "Curating Sister City Heritage: A Virtual Exhibition on Toledo's Sister Cities." Presented at the Annual Conference of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters, Saginaw Valley State University, Saginaw, MI. March 2016.

———."Structuring Collections in Digital Archives." Presented at Network Detroit: Digital Humanities Theory and Practice, Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, MI, September 2015.

———."Digital Curation of Archival and Special Collections." Presented at the Annual Conference of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters, Andrews University, Berien Springs, MI. March 2015.

———.“Digital Biography: Intertextuality, New Media, and Curating Lives Online.” Presented at Network Detroit: Digital Humanities Theory and Practice, Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, MI, September 2014.

Sabharwal, Arjun, with Keith Manecke, Andrew Harris; and Stefan Langer. “Moving On Up! Migrating Digital Collections and Catalogs to New Platforms.” Presented at the Annual Conference of the Society of Ohio Archivists. Dublin, OH, May 2014.

Sabharwal, Arjun. “Opportunities and Challenges in Accessioning Personal Digital Archives.” Presented at Personal Digital Archiving Annual Conference, Indianapolis, IN, April, 2014.

———. “Social networks’ impact on digital heritage collections.” Presented at the Annual Conference of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters, Oakland University, Rochester Hills, MI. February 2014

Mary Wallace and Arjun Sabharwal. "Digital Preservation: Starting and Managing a Digital Preservation Program." Presentation, annual meeting and conference of the Ohio Regional Association of Law Libraries (ORALL), October 17, 2013. Accessible at http://www.utoledo.edu/library/canaday/pdfs/digitalpreservation_orall2013.pdf

Sabharwal, Arjun. "Networked Curation in Virtual Museums: Digital Humanities, History, and Social Media in the Toledo’s Attic Project." Presentation, Network Detroit: Digital Humanities Theory and Practice, September 27, 2013, Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, Michigan. http://nkelber.com/netdetroit/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/networkdetroit_sabharwal.pdf

———. "New Frameworks for Old Worlds: The Role of Archives and Special Collections in Popular Culture Scholarship." Presentation, National Annual Conference of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association, March 27-30, 2013, Washington DC. http://ncp.pcaaca.org/presentation/new-frameworks-old-worlds-role-archives-and-special-collections-popular-culture-scholar

———. "Medicine on the Maumee: Collaborative Exhibition and Curation of Medical History in Northwest Ohio." Presentation, Michigan Academy of Science Arts & Letters Annual Conference, March 21, 2013. Presentation collaboratively developed with Barbara Floyd.

Thomas Atwood, Alice Crosetto, Lucy Duhon, Gerald Natal, Arjun Sabharwal. "Who are you? Emerging professional identities and responsibilities" Presentation, Presentation, annual meeting of the Academic Library Association of Ohio, Wilmington, OH, October 23, 2012.

Sabharwal, Arjun. “Intertextuality, Heterodisciplinarity, and the Supernarrative in Digital Biography: Cultural Renaissance of a Popular Genre.” Presentation, National Annual Conference of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association, April 11-14, 2012, Boston. http://ncp.pcaaca.org/content/arjun-sabharwal.

Sabharwal, Arjun. “Archives-Faculty Collaboration on Developing a Video Digital Archive: Supporting Web-assisted and fully online courses.” Professional poster presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Society of American Archivists, August 22-27, 2011. Chicago.

Floyd, Barbara, Brownlee, Kimberly H., and Sabharwal, Arjun. “Invisible Cultures: Discovering the Hidden History of People with Disabilities.” Presentation, annual meeting of the Midwest Archives Conference, Chicago, April 24, 2010.

Sabharwal, Arjun. “Metadata Development Strategies in the Development of Digital Libraries using Greenstone Digital Library Software.” Presentation, annual conference of the Ohio Valley Group of Technical Services Librarians, Morehead State University, Morehead, KY, May 20, 2010.

———. “Digital Directions in Academic Knowledge Management: Opportunities and Visions for Digital Initiatives at the University of Toledo.” Presentation and Contributed Paper, annual conference of the Special Libraries Association, New Orleans, LA, June 16, 2010.

———. “Toledo’s ‘High-Tech’ Attic: New Opportunities in Networked Outreach Programs.” Presentation, annual meeting of the Academic Library Association of Ohio, Wilmington, OH, October 30, 2009.

Brownlee, Kimberly H., and Arjun Sabharwal. “From Institution to Independence: A History of People with Disabilities in Northwest Ohio.” Presentation, Spring Conference of the Society of Ohio Archivists, Columbus, OH, May 21, 2009.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

University of Toledo Libraries, Information Literacy Sessions: Overview of Library resources for graduate and undergraduate research. Some courses cover digital resources needed in Humanities and historical research:

HIST 4480: Public History Practicum, Winter 2018
ANTH 3900: North American Archaeology, Fall 2017
GEPL 4420/5520: Quantitative Techniques for Geographic Research, Fall 2017
GEPL 6530: Seminar in Urban/Regional Planning Applications, Fall 2017
SISS 7010: Spatial Statistics, Fall 2017
COMM 2400: News Writing, Fall 2012
HIST 2100: Research Methodology, Fall 2011
COMM 2630: Visual Communication, Winter 2010
COMM 2100: News Writing, Winter 2010.

University of Toledo, Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections, January 2009 to Present.

Course: HIST 4980/5980 (Primary Source Research for the Modern Humanities Scholar, Winter 2014).
Other teaching activity: instruction sessions on archives and digital resources for Communication and History Courses; Canaday Center exhibition tours; digitization and metadata training for staff.

Baker College, Flint, MI. Center for Online & Graduate Studies, April 2005 – December 2008

Courses: BUS 800 (Doctoral Seminar in Information Proficiency, Fall 2008); BUS 609 (Graduate Seminar); COL 112 (College Success Strategies Online); MIS 501 (MIS Graduate Seminar).

Wayne State University Music Department, January 1997 – May 2004

Courses: MUH 1340/5340 (World Music Survey); MUH 3320 (Music History II: Baroque to Classic Era); MUH 5993 (Writing Intensive); MUH 6310 (Afro-American Music History); and MUH 7991 (Directed Study/Research: Ethnomusicology).

Oakland Community College, Auburn Hills, Humanities Department, January 1999 – May 2003

Courses: FSH 150 (Foundation Studies in Humanities); and HUM 151 (Traditions in Western Arts and Music).

Washtenaw Community College, Ann Arbor, Humanities Department, January – December 2000.

Courses: HUM 101 (Humanities I: Pre-Historic through the Renaissance).

Oakland University, Rochester Hills, MI, Music-Theatre-Dance Department, 1997-98.

Courses: MTD 101 (World Music), MTD 598 (Graduate Seminar in Music Bibliography and Research)

service to the College & Department

University of Toledo Libraries, Department Personnel Committee (2017-Present, Chair 2018-2020)
University of Toledo Libraries, UT-AAUP Representative (Summer 2020 to Present)
University of Toledo Libraries, Diversity Committee, Chair (Spring 2017 to 2019)
University of Toledo Libraries, Inclusion Officer (Spring 2017 to 2019)
University of Toledo Libraries, Dean Search Committee (Fall 2016 to Summer 2017)
University of Toledo Libraries, Digital Repository Task Force (2013-2017, Chair 2015-17)
University of Toledo Libraries, Elections & Bylaws Committee (2013-16; Chair: 2015-16)
University of Toledo Libraries, Search Committee: Manuscript Librarian (Fall 2014)
University of Toledo Libraries, Search Committee: Curator/Assistant University Archivist (Fall 2014)
University of Toledo, Open Access Steering Group (Fall 2011)
University of Toledo Libraries, Faculty Affairs Committee (2010-2012, 2013-15; Chair: 2014-15)
University of Toledo Libraries, Digital Initiatives Task Force (2009-2010)
University of Toledo Libraries, eLibrary Services Task Force (2009-2010)

Service to the University

University of Toledo, Banned Books Committee (Fall 2010-Present)
University of Toledo, Faculty Senate Faculty Affairs Committee (2018-Present)
University of Toledo, President's Commission on the River (2009-2013)
University of Toledo, Search Committee: Costume Technology Lecturer (Fall 2015)
University of Toledo, Search Committee: Theatre Management Lecturer (Summer 2014)

service to the community

Toledo Sister Cities, Toledo-Szeged Committee, 2015-2016
OhioLink, Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Task Force (2013)
OhioLINK, Digital Resources Management Committee (2009-2013):DRC Migration Task Force (Winter-Summer 2013), Chair; DRC/USC Commercial Resource migration Task Force, member (Spring-Summer, 2013);Metadata Task Force, Chair (Fall 2010-Present); Digital Preservation Standards Task Force (2011-Present); Liaison Assistance Sub-committee (2009-2010); User Services Liaison (Volunteer, 2009-2010);Naxos Music Project (Volunteer, 2009)
Toledo's Attic Steering Committee (2009-2017)

service to the profession

American Society for Information Science & Technology, Arts & Humanities SIG Webmaster, 2015-Present
American Society for Information Science & Technology, Michigan Chapter: Webmaster & Discussion List Administrator (2004-06); Chair, 2013-15
Special Libraries Association, Taxonomy Division, Fall 2009-2012):Strategic Planning Committee (Member, 2009-2012);Web & Wiki Committee (Chair, 2009-2012); Division Archivist and Archives Committee Chair (2009-2012);Listserv Administrator (2009-2012)
Special Library Association, Michigan Chapter: Director (2009 & 2010)
Michigan Library Association, Web Advisory Committee (2006-08)
Michigan Library Association, Library Technology Division (2004-06)

ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL HONORS & AWARDS

Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T), SIG Member of the Year Award, Fall 2017
Beta Phi Mu Honor Soc, Beta Tau Chapter (Library and Information Science), Wayne State University, 2004
Graduate Professional Scholarship, Wayne State University, 2002-04
LISP Dean’s Merit Scholarship, Wayne State University, 2003
Outstanding Service Award, Detroit 300 Organization, 2001.

NATIONAL SERVICE HONORS & AWARDS

Honorable Discharge. U. S. Army Reserves, 2000 (served from 1985)
Joint Service Achievement Medal (Operation Joint Endeavor: Bosnia). U.S. Army, 1996
Service Excellence Ribbon. California Army National Guard, 1989
Enlisted Excellence Medal. California Army National Guard, 1989
Honor Graduate, Field Artillery Meteorology Course, U.S. Army, 1987

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