Becoming a Partner
The EEBO-Text Creation Partnership is working with ProQuest to enhance the Early English Books Online image product by creating and offering accurately keyed, tagged, and searchable texts that link directly to corresponding EEBO page images. The project, however, is not a ProQuest "product" nor sold directly by ProQuest. To join Text Creation Partnership, and become a co-owner of the EEBO-TCP textfile, a library must first have access to the EEBO images through ProQuest, and then contract for partner status through the University of Michigan University Library. Payment for membership in the Partnership, and access to the searchable text, is arranged through the Council of Library and Information Resources in its role as fiscal agent for the EEBO-TCP initiative.

EEBO-TCP Partner libraries are co-owners of the textfile that includes thousands of accurately keyboarded and SGML/XML encoded texts selected from the larger EEBO corpus. As a co-owner, a Partner library has the right to locally load and manage the file, integrate it with other resources, and convey to its authenticated users the right to reuse the files in their entirety for research and instructional purposes. After a contractually agreed upon date, the rights of partnership also permits Partner libraries to distribute the textfile beyond its campus community to support other constituencies to whom the Partner seeks to provide service (e.g., alumni, high school students, state residents, or the world at large).

It is the intention of the EEBO-TCP structure to create a standards-based resource of enduring value to which the library community can claim full rights of ownership, and maintain broader community access under the doctrine of "public domain."