The days of trekking to the library in the harsh Chicago wind to access books from University Library, only to find they are checked out, may be over for good.
The University Library and the other members of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, which includes all of the Big Ten schools and the University of Chicago, have partnered with Google for a large-scale book digitization process through which millions of books will be transformed into digital copies any Northwestern student or faculty member can access 24/7 from anywhere in the world.
CIC schools signed on to digitize their libraries in June 2007, but the process is just getting underway this fall.
More than 40 other national, state, municipal, public and university libraries around the world also signed similar contracts with Google to digitize their collections.
“Given the fact that Google is able to conduct this work on such a large scale, they are able to digitize so many more volumes than we could ever do on our own or with other universities,” said Scott Devine, head of University Library preservation.
Important and distinct collections within University Library such as the Africana, Music and Transportation collections will be digitized along with selections from the Galter Health Sciences Library, the Pritzker Legal Research Center, the Mudd Science and Engineering Library, the Boas Mathematics Library, the Schaffner Library and more.
“Students will benefit most from this by being able to access a lot of books,” said Clare Roccaforte, director of public relations for the library. “You already have access to a lot of databases, and this will make lots of print books available online as well.”
The University sent its first shipment of library books to Google in October. It will take about a month to have the books scanned and returned, meaning the first group of volumes should be available online before the end of the calendar year, Devine said.
“I can see why this is a worthwhile project,” said Weinberg junior Laura Markee, who works at the library circulation desk. “This opens up a lot of our valuable research materials to people that can’t get to Northwestern.”
Although the digitization process certainly makes materials more widely accessible, sometimes hard copies are preferable, said Weinberg junior Hannah Smith, another circulation desk attendant, who added she gets tired of looking at a screen all day.
Roccaforte did not disclose an exact cost for the project but said Google is handling the transportation and digitization costs of the books. The library has received a generous donation from the Office of the Provost to help cover the remaining technical costs.
“Now when students go into the library catalog and search for a title, they will see the original paper copy and a link to the digital copy,” Devine said. “We are going to be able to provide access to literally millions of volumes online that we wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.”
