Primary sources and scholarship are just clicks away

Each month I receive a brief email summary of the prior month’s download statistics on our online digital repository.  The global reach of the web facilitates access to primary sources and generative scholarship on a scale of volume and accessibility that was almost beyond our comprehension just a few ago.

Each month, without fail, I am amazed to see what the most popular items and publication are.  Month after month, with few exceptions, our Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD’s) and Stone-Campbell Books take the top spots by a fair margin.  Primary sources and generative scholarship, downloaded by the tens of thousands by readers in 179 countries.

Seeing the stats never gets old.  Neither does pondering what those usage statistics might mean.  What items from our past will someone find next that will mark a turning point in their research project? What article or piece of scholarship will someone download that result in new or better understanding?

This screen shot is not clickable, so here are the direct links:

The most popular papers were:
Church Directory and List of Preachers of Churches of Christ (4940 downloads)
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/crs_books/416
The Effect of Anxiety and Depression on College Students’ Academic Performance: Exploring Social Support as a Moderator (2980 downloads)
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/51
The Ethical Considerations of Physician-assisted Suicide (590 downloads)
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/dialogue/vol4/iss1/12

The most popular publications were:
Electronic Theses and Dissertations (11441 downloads)
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd
Stone-Campbell Books (7657 downloads)
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/crs_books
Dialogue & Nexus (1363 downloads)
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/dialogue

Royce Money’s 1999 apology at Southwestern Christian College now available on video

In November 1999 Dr. Royce Money, President of Abilene Christian University, made a formal apology on behalf of Abilene Christian University, its board, administration, faculty and staff, to an assembly at the 50th anniversary celebration of Southwestern Christian College, Terrell, Texas.

Dr. Money was introduced by Southwestern President Dr. Jack Evans, whose remarks begin at the 1:17:15 mark.

Money confessed that ACU acted in prejudiced and discriminatory ways toward African-Americans, particularly by denying their admission for almost the first full sixty years of the school’s existence.  The full video can be viewed here: https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/historical_audio_video/101/

He repeated his statement at the annual Bible lectureship at ACU in February, 2000. The audio recording of that speech is available here: https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/historical_audio_video/8