Michigan Digitization Project

The University of Michigan and Google, Inc. have entered into a ground-breaking partnership to digitize the entire print collection of the University Library. The digitized collection, which comprises a significant portion of the HathiTrust Digital Library, is searchable in Mirlyn, the HathiTrust catalog, and Google Book Search. Full-text of works that are out of copyright or in the public domain are available.

The University of Michigan University Library embarked on this partnership for a number of very compelling reasons:

  • The project will create new ways for users to search and access Library content, opening up our library collections to our own users and to users throughout the world
  • Although we have engaged in large-scale (preservation-based) conversion of parts of the Library's collection for several years, we know that only through partnerships of this sort can digitization of this scale be achieved
  • We believe that, beyond providing basic access to Library collections, this activity is critically transformative, enabling the University Library to build on and reconceive vital Library services for the new millennium.

The University Library's digital collection is constantly evolving to suit new and existing demands from library users and library services. We anticipate that the HathiTrust Digital Library will change and adjust accordingly.

For more information on the HathiTrust organization, see About HathiTrust.

Here's how to get started...

  • Go to the HathiTrust Digital Library home page to do a bibliographic search (Title, Author, Subject, ISBN/ISSN, Publisher, Series Title, or Year of Publication) or search the full-text of all HathiTrust items.
  • Go to Public Collections to browse other people's collections. Items can be copied into your own personal collection.

 

Scanning Schedule:

Currently scanning (Winter 2013): We are currently sending materials from the Law Library, the Special Collections Library, and the UM Flint Library.

Scanning completed:

  • Art, Architecture and Engineering Library
  • Bentley Historical Library
  • Buhr Remote Shelving Facility (large portions)
  • Dentistry Library (portions)
  • Fine Arts Library (large portions)
  • Hatcher Graduate Library (large portions)
  • Herbarium Library
  • Kresge Business Administration Library
  • Law Library (portions)
  • Museums Library
  • Music Library (large portions)
  • Shapiro Science Library (large portions)
  • Shapiro Undergraduate Library (large portions)
  • Social Work Library
  • Special Collections Library (portions)
  • Taubman Health Sciences Library (large portions)
  • UM Dearborn Library
  • UM Flint Library (large portions)

 

News & Announcements:

 

June 2011 The University of Michigan will begin making orphan works available to users in the UM community through HathiTrust. From the press release: "Making these orphan works accessible to the U-M community will begin to unlock that large portion of the 20th-century scholarly and cultural digital record that is in copyright and unavailable because copyright holders cannot be found or contacted." The process will rely on the UM Library's Copyright Office's identification of orphan works. The first orphan works are expected to become available to the UM community by early October.
May 2011 The UM Library's Copyright Office has begun a serious effort to identify orphan works in HathiTrust. From the press release: "This first phase of the orphan works identification project will develop procedures that can eventually be used by other HathiTrust partner institutions to expedite a task that will ultimately require the hand-checking of millions of volumes." Further information and updates will be posted on the Library's Orphan Works Project page.
May 2009 On May 20, 2009, Google and University of Michigan signed an amended agreement that allows University of Michigan to take advantage of the settlement agreement Google signed with representatives of authors and publishers last year.
Oct 2008 The Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers (AAP), and Google announced on October 28, 2008 a groundbreaking settlement agreement on behalf of a broad class of authors and publishers that would expand online access to millions of in-copyright books and other written materials in the U.S. from the collections of a number of major U.S. libraries participating in Google Book Search. Information about the settlement agreement between Google and plaintiffs the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers. See also: University of Michigan FAQ on Settlement agreement between Google and plaintiffs, the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers
Sept 2008 The University Library is pleased to announce that MBooks -- the collection of books digitized from the University Library's collections -- will become part of HathiTrust on September 3, 2008. HathiTrust, launched by the CIC libraries, is a shared digital repository for storing university library digital content, incorporating all the content from MBooks plus new content from other HathiTrust partners. The UM community will now have access to books, journals, and other documents previously unavailable through MBooks. MBooks links in the Mirlyn Library Catalog will now be renamed "HathiTrust Digital Library". The options for viewing, printing, and creating collections will be the same as in MBooks. We hope that HathiTrust will improve access to materials for your teaching, research, and scholarship. If you have questions about the collections, please Ask a Librarian http://www.lib.umich.edu/ask/, or for more information on the Hathi Trust organization, see HathiTrust.org.
July 2008 New features have been added to the MBooks system allow users to create their own collections of MBooks items and view public collections created by others. Users can also do full text searching across all items within a collection. 
May 2008 [BLT] Blog for Library Technology is Library Information Technology’s new blog. [BLT] will be one channel for LIT to announce new technologies, tools, and services that we develop for the libraries.
April 2008 University of Michigan and Indiana University create a multi-institutional repository. More details available via Indiana University's Shared Digital Repository project page.
Feb 2008 The UM Library marked the occasion of its millionth book online. Read more about the millionth book.
Jan 2008 New guide available: Google Book Search Tips (pdf). Google Book Search will help you find books digitized in the Michigan Digitization Project (MBooks) and Google's partnerships with other libraries around the world. Our new guide provides tips for searching Google Book Search, including how to download full-text books, how to locate a physical copy of books that are only available in snippet view, and how to identify what volume and issue of a journal when it is unclear in your search results.
Jan 2008 Michigan Digitization Project (wikipedia entry)

 

Examples:

These 4 examples below are items that can be found in Mirlyn and are in the public domain (that is, freely accessible).

 

See also: Hathi Trust Help & FAQ | Blog for Library Technology | Full list of MDP related news & resources | Other Google Book Search Partners

If you have questions about the project, please send them to dlps-help@umich.edu.

Page maintained by khage
Last modified: 02/14/2013