In an effort to provide greater public access to books, the
University of California recently announced a partnership with the
Open Content Alliance, a project that plans to scan and upload
thousands of print materials onto the Internet.
Led by Yahoo!, the Alliance will be accessible to the general
public starting in January 2006. These materials will be within the
public domain, as they are out-of-copyright works.
The motivations behind the university’s efforts stem from
the UC’s public service mission, said Jennifer Colvin, a
senior communications analyst at the UC.
“We have an interest in making sure that scholarship is
preserved and freely accessible,” she said.
The UC plans to donate $500,000 to the project and contribute
the digital scans of 10,000 books, mostly early American fiction
works written between 1800 to 1920 by writers such as Mark Twain
and Jack London.
“This is new technology that gives the general public
access to amazing, amazing materials,” said Jennifer Ward, a
spokeswoman for the UC.
“The University of California has tried to stay in the
technological forefront that provides benefit to students, staff
and the general public,” Ward said.
Digitization of print materials has been a subject for debate
recently, as some feel the conversion will decrease the use of
libraries over time.
Music and other forms of media are also being converted into
electronic formats, which some suspect may jeopardize the future
use and preservation of traditional forms of media, such as books
and music albums.
“That’s not to say that (reading the digital scans)
can replace holding a book,” Ward said.
Instead, she said, it is intended to increase library attendance
by stirring public interest in classic works.
In turn, the increased interest may motivate people to read
other works, many of which may be not available through the Open
Content Alliance.
“I would use (the project), but I would rather have a book
in front of me instead of staring at the computer,” said
Jennifer Pham, a fourth-year sociology student.