Global library cooperative Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC), US, has announced that it will work together with HathiTrust to increase visibility of and access to items in the HathiTrust's shared digital repository. HathiTrust is a group of some of the largest research libraries in the US collaborating to create a repository of their vast digital collections.
Launched jointly by the 12-university consortium known as the Committee on Institutional Cooperation and the 11 university libraries of the University of California system, HathiTrust leverages the time-honored commitment to preservation and access to information that university libraries have valued for centuries. The group's digital collections, including millions of books, will be archived and preserved in a single repository hosted by HathiTrust. Materials in the public domain and those where rightsholders have given permission will be available for reading online.
OCLC and HathiTrust will work together to increase online visibility and accessibility of the digital collections by creating WorldCat records describing the content and linking to the collections via WorldCat.org and WorldCat Local. The organisations will launch a project in the coming months to develop specifications and determine next steps.
HathiTrust provides libraries a means to archive and provide access to their digital content, whether scanned volumes, special collections, or born-digital materials. The representation of these resources in digital form provides expanded opportunities for innovative use in research, teaching and learning.
