Yale Bulletin and Calendar

February 25, 2000

Volume 28, Number 22

Grant supports a collaborative
library project on digital books

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has granted $42,000 to the Yale Library to take part in a one-year pilot project called "BYTES, Books You Teach Every Semester."

The project grows out of the NERL's (North-East Research Libraries) desire to exploit and influence effectively the rapidly developing electronic book marketplace.

It will be conducted by 8 of the 18 members of NERL. In addition to Yale, these institutions include: Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, New York University, Syracuse University and the University of Connecticut.

Over the course of an academic year, the participating institutions will pool and analyze the bibliographic information about their reserves collections in two areas widely taught to undergraduates -- history and literature in the English language.

The investigators will attempt to answer a series of fundamental, policy-shaping questions related to the potential digitization of books and other reading materials that support study and teaching in these areas.

Among these questions are:

* What are the similarities and differences between the reading materials used to support basic courses at these schools?

* What types of books might be most usefully digitized by the publishers and vendors making investments in the electronic-books arena?

* Under what circumstances would teachers and students using commonly taught works be interested in digital collections?

* How can universities, as important marketplaces for such materials, influence the information providers to convert the materials of greatest utility and value?

A report to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will be delivered at the conclusion of the pilot project, and results will be widely distributed to the academic library community.

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