The University of California Libraries will join with the University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin and University of Florida in an initiative to identify and make available digital versions of "orphan works" within the holdings of the HathiTrust Digital Library.
HathiTrust is a partnership of major research institutions and libraries working to ensure that the cultural record is preserved and accessible long into the future. The majority of HathiTrust holdings are in-copyright works, of which an unknown but likely large proportion are so-called "orphans" - works whose owners cannot be identified or located. The University of California will join the effort to identify orphan works and publicise information about them in order to give rights holders an opportunity to claim them and make informed decisions about their availability within HathiTrust. It is said to be likely that many people with these rights wish to make the books fully viewable.
The majority of orphans probably are just that - lacking anyone to claim ownership. If the orphan works are not claimed by rights holders, the digital volumes will be made available in full view to HathiTrust partner library patrons if their libraries hold those works in their print collections.
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