IT and libraries: University of Michigan to digitize print collection

Working in conjunction with Google, University of Michigan is digitizing its entire print collection so the content can be viewed online. The main goals of this collaborative project are to allow students to access library content, to open up the libraries of University of Michigan to users throughout the world, and to speed up the preservation-based conversion of the library collection. This summer, the libraries of UM-Flint and the Hatcher Graduate Library are on schedule to be scanned.

“The leadership in the University Library has always been interested in this idea of digitizing,” said Library Director Robert Houbeck. “They figured out that, on their own it would take a thousand years to digitize their collection. Google promised to digitize the collection in six years and so far, they are on target.

Users will then be able to search for the digitized collections in the University of Michigan catalog Mirlyn as well as Google Book Search. The digitized books will also become part of the HathiTrust Digital Library, a digital repository currently partnered with 28 other colleges, including Yale. HathiTrust has digitized a total of six million volumes.