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Harvard Libraries and Google Announce Pilot Digitization Project
With Potential Benefits to Scholars Worldwide
Harvard University is embarking on a collaboration with Google that could harness Google's search technology to provide
to both the Harvard community and the larger public a revolutionary new informatio location tool to find materials
available in libraries. In the coming months, Google will collaborate with Harvard's libraries on a pilot project to
digitize a substantial number of the 15 million volumes held in the University's extensive library system. Google will
provide online access to the full text of those works that are in the public domain. In related agreements, Google will
launch similar projects with Oxford, Stanford, the New York Public Library, and the University of Michigan. An FAQ
detailing the Harvard pilot program with Google is available at http://hul.harvard.edu.
The Harvard pilot will provide the information and experience on which the University can base a
decision to launch a large-scale digitization program. Any such decision will reflect the fact that Harvard's library
holdings are among the University's core assets, that the magnitude of those holdings is unique among university
libraries anywhere in the world, and that the stewardship of these holdings is of paramount importance. If the pilot is
deemed successful, Harvard will explore a long-term program with Google through which the vast majority of the
University's library books would be digitized and included in Google's searchable database. Google will bear the direct
costs of digitization in the pilot project.
By combining the skills and library collections of Harvard University with the innovative search skills and capacity of
Google, a long-term program has the potential to create an important public good. According to Harvard President
Lawrence H. Summers, "Harvard has the greatest university library in the world. If this experiment is successful, we
have the potential to provide the world's greatest system for dissemination as well."
In addition, there would be special benefits to the Harvard community. Plans call for the eventual development of a link
allowing Google users at Harvard to connect directly to the online HOLLIS (Harvard Online Library Information System)
catalog (http://holliscatalog.harvard.edu) for information on the location and availability at Harvard of works identified through a Google search. This would
merge the search capacity of the Internet with the deep research collections at Harvard into one seamless resource—a
development especially important for undergraduates who often see the library and the Internet as alternative and
perhaps rival sources of information.
Eventually, Harvard users would benefit from far better access to the 5 million books located at the Harvard Depository
(HD). If the University undertakes the long-term program, Harvard users would gain online access to the full text of
out-of-copyright books stored at HD. For books still in copyright, Harvard users could gain the ability to search for
small snippets of text and, possibly, to view tables of contents. In short, the Harvard student or faculty member would
gain some of the advantages of browsing that remote storage of books at HD cannot currently provide.
According to Sidney Verba, Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and Director of the University Library, "The
possibility of a large-scale digitization of Harvard's library books does not in any way diminish the University's
commitment to the collection and preservation of books as physical objects. The digital copy will not be a substitute
for the books themselves. We will continue actively to acquire materials in all formats and we will continue to conserve
them. In fact, as part of the pilot we are developing criteria for identifying books that are too fragile for digitizing
and for selecting them out of the project.
"It is clear," Verba continued, "that the new century presents unparalleled challenges and opportunities to Harvard's
libraries. Our pilot program with Google can prove to be a vital and revealing first step in a lengthy and rewarding
process that will benefit generations of scholars and others."
The Harvard University Library, founded in 1638, is the largest academic library system in the world. Harvard's rich and
extensive collections serve as invaluable tools for teaching and research. These collections include books, journals,
primary source materials, and audiovisual and digital resources that span a vast range of subjects, languages, and time
periods. Through its use of cutting-edge technology, the Harvard University Library is offering online access to an
increasing number of library holdings for the benefit of the general public. For more information about Harvard's
libraries, visit http://lib.harvard.edu.
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