[BOAI] Cornell University Library Partners with the Internet Archive

[Peter Suber]

[Forwarding from Cornell University.  --Peter Suber.]


FOR RELEASE:
Contact: Gwen Glazer
Phone:  (607) 254-8390
E-mail:  gglazer at cornell.edu


Cornell University Library Partners with the Internet Archive
Nearly 80,000 Public-Domain Books Available Free Online

ITHACA, N.Y. (Dec. 15, 2009) –  In an effort to make its materials
globally accessible, Cornell University Library is sharing tens of
thousands of digitized books with the Internet Archive at
http://archive.org/details/cornell.

“We have been carefully preserving and storing materials for years,
and now we’re diversifying the channels for them to be studied and
used,” said Oya Reiger, associate university librarian for information
technologies. “We have the ability to take books to the places where
readers are.”

The new collaboration repurposes nearly 80,000 books that the Library
has already digitized in-house or through its partnership with
Microsoft and Kirtas Technologies. All the books are in the public
domain, printed before 1923 mainly in the United States. They cover a
host of subject areas, including American history, English literature,
astronomy, food and wine, general engineering, the history of science,
home economics, hospitality and travel, labor relations, Native
American materials, ornithology, veterinary medicine and women's
studies.

Internet Archive, a nonprofit group dedicated to preserving materials
in all formats and well known for its “Wayback Machine” application,
includes the Library’s digitized collection in its searchable
database. Books are available for free in multiple formats, including
PDF, flip book and full text on-screen. Nearly 750,000 users are
registered on the site.

“Expanding access to knowledge is one of the Library’s core
principles, and we are excited to participate in the open-access
vision of the Internet Archive,” said Anne R. Kenney, Carl A. Kroch
University Librarian.

The collaboration with Internet Archive is another step in Cornell
University Library’s cutting-edge participation in mass digitization
initiatives. Earlier this year, the Library announced an expanded
print-on-demand partnership with Amazon.com that allows readers to pay
for reprinting of books on an individual basis.

“The Internet Archive is proud to process and host the books from
Cornell — these collections are priceless,” said Brewster Kahle,
founder and digital librarian of the Internet Archive. “We are happy
that Microsoft put no restrictions on the scanned public domain books
and Cornell is encouraging maximum readership and research use.”

Performing a simple search for one of Cornell University Library’s
digitized books now brings up both a copy on Amazon and a free online
copy on the Internet Archive.

For more information and to see Cornell University Library’s
contributions, visit http://archive.org/details/cornell.

About Cornell University Library
Cornell University is both an Ivy League institution and New York's
land-grant university. Among the top 10 academic research libraries in
the country, Cornell University Library reflects the university's
distinctive mix of eminent scholarship and democratic ideals. The
Library offers cutting-edge programs and facilities, a full spectrum
of services, extensive collections that represent the depth and
breadth of the university, and a deep network of digital resources.
Its impact reaches beyond campus boundaries with initiatives that
extend the land grant mission to a global focus. To learn more, visit
http://library.cornell.edu.

About the Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is a nonprofit library based in San Francisco
that specializes in offering broad public access to digitized and
born-digital books, music, movies and Web pages. Please visit
http://archive.org and http://openlibrary.org.
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