THE PROJECT
What is the Cornell/Microsoft project?
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Are there any other libraries involved?
Microsoft has entered into agreements with the The University of Toronto, the British Library, the New York Public Library, the University of California, Yale University, Princeton Theological Seminary, and the American Museum of Veterinary Medicine are also collaborating with Microsoft.
How does this help faculty and students?
When surveyed about their needs, the Library's users rate access to full-text online as one of their highest priorities, so this partnership will enable us to respond to student and faculty expectations. Although Cornell has a long history of digitizing books for scholarly access, this project will make substantially more books available for these purposes much sooner than would otherwise be possible.
SELECTION
How many books are being digitized?
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We continue to work on refining our selection policy. The first batch of materials sent were public domain monographs from monographs (pre-1923) from Olin Library and Engineering Library that are in English. Some SSome of the subject areas to strengths in the CUL that could theoretically be digitized in subsequent shipments include agriculture, American history, English literature, astronomy, food and wine, general engineering, the history of science, home economics, hospitality and travel, human sexuality, labor relations, Native American materials, ornithology, veterinary medicine, and women's studies.
What is not being selected?
Currently no copyrighted or material, non-English language books, or serials are under consideration for digitization.
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Our experience digitizing library material suggests that digitizing and making "low-use" material available online will boost their use and will increase the long-term returns on our investment in the purchase, storage, and maintenance of Cornell's extensive print collections.
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Currently we will not be scanning any copyrighted material.
USER IMPACT
How can I tell if a book is charged out to digitization?
The general public will be able to tell that items are charged out, but it will not be apparent from the public catalog that these items are charged out for digitization. Public service staff can assist users by accessing the MARC record in the online catalog. The 903 field in the MARC record will reflect that the book has been sent to be digitized. It will have "Kirtas" and the barcode in the field. For example: 903 __ |a Kirtas |d 20060901 |p 31924029885658
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No. During the first year of the project we are only digitizing books in the public domain. We are currently focusing on books published prior to 1923.
ACCESS
How will I be able to access the digitized books?
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All books will be made freely available to the world.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Who can I contact for more info?
Contact Oya Rieger (oyr1@cornell.edu) for further information.