Readers around the world will soon have online access ,to thousands of rare
books in the Yale Library thanks to an agreement between the University and
Microsoft Corporation to digitize many volumes found only in the Yale collections.
The Microsoft-Yale project will initially focus on the digitization of 100,000
out-of-copyright English-language books, which will then become available to
readers through Microsoft’s Live Search interface (http://books.live.com).
“This use of technology permits the University to share its scholarly resources
with a wider community of students and scholars than ever before,” said
President Richard C. Levin.
University Librarian Alice Prochaska added: “Yale’s position as one
of the world’s leading research libraries makes it appropriate that we
should be providing global digital access to increasing quantities of our rare
and unique material. This exciting partnership with Microsoft gives us the platform
to do so.”
The Yale Library and Microsoft have selected Kirtas Technologies to carry out
the process. The library has successfully worked with Kirtas previously, and
the company will establish a digitization center in the New Haven area.
Danielle Tiedt, general manager of the Live Search Books Selection team at Microsoft,
said, “The Yale Library has a wealth of materials in its general and special
collections, and we are delighted to help bring these treasures to the attention
of a broader audience.”
Yale University Library holds unique collections of enduring research value,
and is digitizing many of its special collections including manuscripts, archival
documents, maps, photographs, audio and visual materials, rare works of art,
and slides used for teaching and research at the University.
Hundreds of thousands of items have already been digitized from the holdings
of the Visual Resources Collection, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library,
the Lewis Walpole Library, Manuscripts and Archives, the Medical Historical
Library, and other libraries and collections. Many of these are now available
to the global research community beyond Yale. A comprehensive listing of the
library’s digital collections is available at www.library.yale.edu/libraries/digcoll.html.
This newest initiative is expected to produce substantial benefits for the Yale
community and for researchers worldwide. These include: being able to reunite
collections virtually that are physically housed in different repositories; allowing
the full text to be indexed, which enables researchers to locate relevant material
not accessible through traditional indexes or library catalogues; giving faculty
enhanced electronic access to scholarly materials; and increasing student access
to digital research and instructional materials.
Digital files can be used to integrate research material with online teaching
services and with inter-institutional collaborative projects, such as the Live
Search Books program with the British Library, Cornell University, and the Universities
of California and Toronto.
The digital format also provides security by eliminating handling of original
rare or fragile material, and securing against loss through normal deterioration,
theft, natural disaster, or other destructive events.
The project will maintain rigorous standards established by the Yale Library
and Microsoft for the quality and usability of the digital content, and for the
safe and careful handling of the physical books. Yale and Microsoft will work
together to identify which of the approximately 13 million volumes held by Yale’s
22 libraries will be digitized. Books selected for digitization will remain available
for use by students and researchers in their physical form. Digital copies of
the books will also be preserved by the Yale Library for use in future academic
initiatives and in collaborative scholarly ventures.
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