The University of Pittsburgh Library System (ULS) has become the newest member of HathiTrust
Date: November 2, 2010
Pittsburgh, PA: The University of Pittsburgh Library System(ULS) has become the newest member of HathiTrust (www.hathitrust.org), a partnership of major academic and research libraries collaborating in an extraordinary digital library initiative to preserve and provide access to the published record in digital form. The ULS is contributing thousands of volumes, the result of over a decade of digitization efforts. Among the contributions are many works from the Darlington Library, the first major library collection donated to the University of Pittsburgh; volumes from the Library’s extensive collection of 19th Century Schoolbooks; and theses and dissertations from the University’s degree programs.
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“Membership and participation in the HathiTrust is part of a multi-pronged approach to permanent archival storage of the digital books, dissertations and other materials we have created over the past ten years of aggressive digitization of library content at the University of Pittsburgh,” said Dr. Rush G. Miller, Hillman University Librarian and Director of the University Library System. “It will allow us to insure that these open access digital materials will always be available in perpetuity.”
Launched in 2008 the HathiTrust has a growing membership currently comprising more than two dozen partners.
Over the last two years, the partners have contributed nearly 7 million volumes to the digital library, digitized from their library collections through a number of means including Google and Internet Archive digitization, and in-house initiatives. Close to 1.5 million of the contributed volumes are in the public domain and freely available on the Web.
HathiTrust serves a dual role. First, as a trusted repository it guarantees the long-term preservation of the materials it holds, providing the expert curation and consistent access long associated with research libraries. Second, as a service for partners and a public good, HathiTrust offers persistent access to the digital collections. This includes viewing, downloading, and searching access to public domain volumes, and searching access to in copyright volumes. Specialized features are also available which facilitate access by persons with print disabilities, and allow users to gather subsets of the digital library into “collections” that can be searched and browsed.
HathiTrust was named for the Hindi word for elephant, hathi, symbolic of the qualities of memory, wisdom, and strength evoked by elephants, as well as the huge undertaking of congregating the digital collections of libraries in the United States and beyond. HathiTrust is funded by the partner libraries and governed by members of the libraries through an Executive Committee and a Strategic Advisory Board. More information on HathiTrust is available at: http://www.hathitrust.org/.
The University of Pittsburgh Library System is the 23rd largest academic library system within the United States. Under the administration of the Hillman University Librarian and Director, the University Library System (ULS) includes the following libraries and collections: Hillman (main),African American, Allegheny Observatory, Archives Service Center, Buhl (social work), Center for American Music, Chemistry, Special Collections, East Asian, Engineering (Bevier Library), Frick Fine Arts, Government Documents, Information Sciences, Katz Graduate School of Business, Langley (biological sciences, behavioral neuroscience), Music, Public and International Affairs/Economics, and Special Collections. Libraries are also located at each of the University’s four regional campuses.