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book digitization projects

These industrial-strength projects are preceded and complemented by a variety of different approaches, narrower in scope, but potentially offering greater depth, better metadata, better search functionality. These include Project Gutenberg but also more focused projects like the English Emblem Book Project, Wright American Fiction 1851-1875, and the Cornell and Michigan Making of America projects; several of these are described here.

• Google Book
  Not designed to make a search for a specific book easy. Use the advanced search function, and limits as appropriate (begin and end year, title, full text, etc.). Some URLs contain OCLC numbers, others are enciphered. Google Book is not a library catalogue, and one quickly sees the utility of such catalogues when trying to find an item that one knows is there, somewhere. University library catalogs slowly begin to indicate that specific items are also available via Google Book.

  View on screen, or download PDFs.

• Microsoft Live Book Search
  (which seems not workable from a Mac)
• Preservation in the Age of Large-Scale Digitization A White Paper (Council on Library and Information Resources, CLIR pub 141)

  This report by Oya Y. Rieger examines large-scale digital initiatives (LSDIs) to identify issues that will influence the availability and usability, over time, of the digital books these projects create...

  The paper describes four large-scale projects — Google Book Search, Microsoft Live Search Books, Open Content Alliance, and the Million Book Project — and their digitization strategies. It then discusses a range of issues affecting the stewardship of the digital collections they create: selection, quality in content creation, technical infrastructure, and organizational infrastructure. The paper also attempts to foresee the likely impacts of large-scale digitization on book collections.

• Internet Archive — (text archive)
  Use advanced search as appropriate. Allows keyword searches, also LC subject headings (but as with Google Book, do not depend on these alone!).

  Internet Archive also provides access to moving images, concerts and the internet "WayBackMachine."

  View on screen (excellent interface) or download PDFs (and other formats).

  Print on demand option via lulu.com.

• Universal Digital Library
  The "Million Book Project" requires Djvu Viewer plugin. At this time, seems slow; limited display functionality (one page at a time, but several scales). Hard (impossible?) to navigate from page view back to metadata and search functions. Titles and authors searchable, but not body of text.

  Browse the collections by author, title, year, subject and language (Chinese, English, Arabic, Bengali, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Hindi, Sanskrit, Persian, Marathi, Urdu) —
  search results include "approximate translations" for non-English titles.

  View on screen; downloads only by specific request.

  Read the FAQs and About pages via www.ulib.org.
  Carnegie Mellon University press release, 27 November 07 —
  Online Library Gives Readers Access to 1.5 Million Books

  There appears to be some relationship between the Universal Library and the Internet Archive.

• ArtBibliographies Modern
  "Full abstracts of journal articles, books, essays, exhibition catalogs, PhD dissertations, and exhibition reviews on all forms of modern and contemporary art, with more than 13,000 new entries being added each year. Entries date back as far as the late 1960s."
  $1,568
• AccuNet / AP Multimedia Archive
  A primary source database from the Associated Press that takes users on a sensory journey of photographs, audio sound bites, graphics and text spanning over 160 years of history. — The Archive has now been enhanced to feature the new AP Images interface, which includes a powerful new search engine, concept showcases, and a calendar of events. From simple keyword searching to more complex searches such as concept, color, and category, research projects are enhanced with the diversity of subject matter contained within the Archive. Over 3.5 million primary-source photographs for every discipline, from the 1840s to a minute ago, are available, including the original captions. Also available from the world's most respected news gathering organization are more than 100,000 graphics, including maps, timelines, logos and graphs."
  $2,200 for five users — not really consortial pricing
• ProQuest Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
  "Comprehensive listing of journal articles on architecture and design, including bibliographic descriptions on subjects such as the history and practice of architecture, landscape architecture, city planning, historic preservation, and interior design and decoration. It contains more than 440,000 thousand entries surveying over seven hundred American and international journals. These include not only scholarly and popular periodical literature, but also publications of professional associations, American state and regional periodicals, and the major serials on architecture and design of Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Australia."
  $1,520
• Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA)
  "...The world's most comprehensive bibliography of scholarly writing about the history of western art. The BHA is produced jointly by the Getty Research Institute and the Institut de l'Information Scientifique et Technique (INIST) in France. Collaborations with several European and American institutions ensure that a broad range of material is included."
  $1,568
• ProQuest Design and applied Arts Index (DAAI)
  "...The leading source of abstracts and bibliographic records for articles, news items, and reviews published in design and applied arts periodicals from 1973 onwards. An indispensable tool for students, researchers, and practitioners worldwide, DAAI covers both new designers and the development of design and the applied arts since the mid-19th century, surveying disciplines including ceramics, glass, jewellery, wood, metalsmithing, graphic design, fashion and clothing, textiles, furniture, interior design, architecture, computer aided design, Web design, computer-generated graphics, animation, product design, industrial design, garden design, and landscape architecture. As of March 2006, DAAI contains more than 150,000 records, with around 1200 new records added each month in twice-monthly updates."
  $1,725
• ProQuest Design Abstracts Retrospective (DAR/DP)
  "...The retrospective of Design and Applied Arts Index, provides broad, international coverage on a wide range of subjects in the fields of design. This database includes a particular emphasis on European publications. In addition, access to Design ProFILES (DP) is included in the subscription; this is the largest collection of profiles of designers and design organizations of its kind.
  DAR provides coverage of more than 100 design and design-related journals most of which have ceased publication, but which are distinctly important to the development of design concepts in the early 20th century. DAR contains more than 24,000 abstracts and is updated quarterly, with 15,000 records added per year."
• Material Connexion
  "Material ConneXion library users have immediate access to comprehensive information about over 3,500 innovative materials and processes — with more being added each month — representing eight categories: polymers, glass, ceramics, carbon-based materials, cement-based materials, metals, natural materials and natural material derivatives."
  
• Wilson Art Index
  Art Full Text
  $1,828

• New England Library Review
  "A meeting place for New England's librarians, library supporters, and interested readers"
• OCLC — College Students' Perceptions: Libraries & Information Resources
  On the "information-seeking habits and preferences of international college students."
• OCLC — Sharing, Privacy and Trust in Our Networked World
  Covering the use of social networking, social media, commercial and library services on the web; how and what users and librarians share on the web and their attitudes toward related privacy issues; opinions on privacy online; libraries' current and future roles in social networking
• University of Rochester — Studying students: the undergraduate research project at the University of Rochester
  PDFs of complete book and individual chapters: 1 Faculty expectations of student research; 2 Asking students about their research; 3 Night owl librarians: shifting the reference clock; 4 Library design and ethnography; 5 Dream catcher: capturing student-inspired ideas for the libraries' website; 6 Photo surveys: eliciting more than you know to ask for; 7 Mapping diaries, or where do they go all day?; 8 What an experience: library staff participation in ethnographic research; 9 Then and now: how today's students differ; 10 The mommy model of service; and 11 Conclusion: creating Student-Centered Academic Libraries.
• Educause e-book — Learning Spaces
  Space, whether physical or virtual, can have a significant impact on learning. Learning Spaces focuses on how learner expectations influence such spaces, the principles and activities that facilitate learning, and the role of technology from the perspective of those who create learning environments: faculty, learning technologists, librarians, and administrators. Information technology has brought unique capabilities to learning spaces, whether stimulating greater interaction through the use of collaborative tools, videoconferencing with international experts, or opening virtual worlds for exploration. This e-book represents an ongoing exploration as we bring together space, technology, and pedagogy to ensure learner success.
• Educause e-book — Educating the Net Generation
  The Net Generation has grown up with information technology. The aptitudes, attitudes, expectations, and learning styles of Net Gen students reflect the environment in which they were raised, one that is decidedly different from that which existed when faculty and administrators were growing up.
  This collection explores the Net Gen and the implications for institutions in areas such as teaching, service, learning space design, faculty development, and curriculum. Contributions by educators and students are included.
• Bibliographic Services Task Force. Rethinking How We Provide Bibliographic Services for the University of California (Final Report: December 2005).
  Important. Includes "modest," "moderate" and "radical" scenarios pp 27-35.
• John Wenzler. LibraryThing and the Library Catalog: Adding Collective Intelligence to the OPAC. A Workshop on Next Generation Libraries CARL NITIG (September 7, 2007)
• Task Group on Discovery and Metadata (Harvard University Library Council)
  presentations include —
• Terry Ryan. Next Generation Discovery and Delivery at the University of California

• Karen Calhoun. Libraries, Catalogs, and the Strange New Digital Landscape