The Open Content Alliance (OCA) has reportedly announced that it will begin scanning some open works for distribution via a digital interlibrary loan system. The move follows the recent statement regarding use of orphan works by three professional publishing associations. The three associations are the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), the International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers (STM) and the Professional /Scholarly Publishing Division (PSP) of the Association of American Publishers.
According to OCA officials, the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala City and the Boston Public Library, together with the Internet Archive, will scan works that were out-of-print but in-copyright. This is seen to pioneer 'a digital interlibrary loan service' around them. In turn, this is projected to increase scholarly and public access to hard-to-find resources.
The announcement denotes a departure of sorts, as the OCA has up to now stuck to scanning materials in the public domain or works with permission only.
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