Baylor University Libraries Join the HathiTrust Digital Library Consortium

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The Baylor University Libraries joined the Library of Congress and a group of more than 50 leading research universities in a partnership with HathiTrust, a collaborative digital archive initiative that will dramatically enhance research resources available to the Baylor community.

HathiTrust was established in 2008 when the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, the libraries of the University of California system and the University of Virginia established a repository to archive and share digital collections. The HathiTrust Digital Library already includes more than 7.2 million volumes digitized by Google, Microsoft, partner libraries and other organizations, and the collection will continue to expand as member institutions add their digital collections to the repository.

"This partnership with the HathiTrust Digital Library will expand the depth and breadth of our collections because we will share resources with other top research universities in the nation," said William B. Hair, associate dean of libraries at Baylor. "We are excited to join such a prestigious organization and to collaborate with them as we all work to support the academic success of this and future generations."

The mission of HathiTrust is to "contribute to the common good by collecting, organizing, preserving, communicating and sharing the record of human knowledge." By integrating the digital archives of its member institutions, HathiTrust will, over time, create an international digital library available to researchers in perpetuity at member institutions worldwide.

By virtue of the Baylor University Libraries entering into this international collaborative digitization effort during the first wave of HathiTrust's expansion, they will participate in a "constitutional convention" in 2011 to define the next phase of governance of this effort and shape future directions for the partnership of HathiTrust members.

The Baylor University Libraries connect people with ideas in support of teaching, learning, scholarship and academic distinction. Its central libraries (Moody Memorial and Jesse H. Jones) and special collections libraries (Armstrong Browning Library, The Texas Collection and W.R. Poage Legislative Library) are home to nearly 2.5 million volumes, more than 60,000 serials, and more than 500,000 e-books, e-journals, digital collections and other online research resources. The Baylor University Libraries provide access to a wealth of academic resources, online and in person reference assistance, and technology-rich, flexible and comfortable 24-hour learning environments.

Media contact: Lori Fogleman, director of media communications, (254) 710-6275