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Innovation Hub Student Projects

Innovation Through Student Projects

Real-world projects give students the opportunity to apply their knowledge, solve meaningful challenges, and create lasting impact. Through the Library Innovation Hub students collaborate on projects that address real needs within the Library while gaining valuable professional experience.

One example is the development of tools that help streamline and improve the assessment of student learning, transforming a longstanding challenge in higher education into an opportunity for innovation. These projects not only benefit the Library but also provide students with hands-on experience in design, technology, collaboration, and problem-solving.

Browse the innovative student projects below to see what our student employees have created, and learn more about the Library Innovation Hub and its role in supporting experiential learning.

3D Digital Herbarium

This project uses immersive technologies to create interactive 3D models of local flora that help users visualize, identify, and learn about plants, their habitat and life cycles, and more. The images and data are condensed into an easy-to-digest package that’s free and open for anyone to use. The 3D Digital Herbarium is growing thanks to a multi-disciplinary effort with Botany and Computer Science students. They collect each plant and photograph them at multiple angles to create a 360-degree view of each. The team also developed software and a website to showcase the models—which can be viewed in both augmented or virtual reality—and optimized models for phones and touchscreens. Similar to the Library’s Anatomage Table, the Herbarium offers layered and zoomed-in views of each plant. Users can click on different points in the model for information about the flora’s foliage, bark, reproductive system, history, use, and more.

Citing Insights

Citing Insights was developed by students working at the Cal Poly Humboldt Library, thanks to funding from CSU Graduation Initiative 2025. The project began in the spring of 2019, with the Citing Insights Team who developed open source software designed to streamline assessment of students' information literacy and other skills. It was released on Pi Day, March 14, 2020. By uploading one or a set of papers, Citing Insights automatically detects the citations in the paper, enabling one click access to the sources of citations via Semantic Scholar, Google Scholar, or a library’s discovery system. You can also evaluate the paper and citations using the built in Information Literacy or Critical Thinking Value rubrics from the AAC&U, or create and edit your own rubrics, and even add annotations. Lastly, you can output the results for assessment, or provide feedback to students. One of the key questions for Citing Insights is how can we make assessment easier. The first phase of development for Citing Insights answers that question by reducing the workload of assessment. Once the full version is released, the next version of Citing Insights will support students research and writing; answering our second key question: how can we assist student research and writing anytime and anywhere? Building this tool will be as ambitious as the supporting assessment with automation software.

Discovering Humboldt

To increase tourism development in our rural area, and to enhance student experience, we developed a diverse range of information and perspectives about the area. By “Discovering Humboldt,” the variety of details, images, and information make it easier to find the places we enjoy, attracting tourists and students who are interested in enjoying sightseeing attractions and activities. By collectively answering what is there to do in Humboldt County, we enrich everyone’s life. Discovering Humboldt is an iterative project that each semester adjusts to the realities of the community, and learning various platforms.

GIS Data Archive

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are computer systems that analyze and create visual displays of geographic data. Cal Poly Humboldt students and faculty have created amazing GIS projects related to our local area that are often challenging to store, maintain, and discover. The GIS Data Archive is a project designed to preserve these projects, and their data, and make them discoverable. It includes GIS projects, maps, aerial photographs, and other relevant data and, with interactive visualization tools, will enable us to combine and repurpose data in unique and impactful ways.

Library Room Reservations Slips 

The Library is home to dozens of events each week, and every room reservation is communicated with a room slip posted outside the door. The Library Room Reservation Slips Project transformed a student-developed prototype into a sustainable, accessible, and easy-to-use tool that automatically creates these room slips. The project not only improves the Library's daily operations but also showcases how student innovation can solve real-world challenges.The project focused on improving hosting, accessibility, functionality, and document compatibility for long term usability that works within library workflows. This project supports Cal Poly Humboldt Library’s commitment to accessibility, sustainability, and improved internal tools for student and staff use.

SpaceUse

Since 2015, the Library observes where students prefer to study in the building, and uses the data for strategic renovations. By studying seating preferences and aligning renovations to meet students where they prefer to work, the use of library spaces has dramatically increased. Most recently, our research methods were radically transformed. In 2018, we hired three Cal Poly Humboldt Computer Science students, and with additional support from Information Technology Services, we embarked on developing software that expands our data gathering and understanding of how students use the Library. The results are amazing! In the past, we used printed floor maps that were tabulated by hand, thankfully, we now have SpaceUse, open-source software on a portable tablet to understand where people study. The software provides analysis of preferences including tracking where furniture is moved, trends by day of the week, hour of the day, and time of the semester. It is easy to use and allows smart decision-making for space use and renovations.

Outstanding Students & Projects

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