Harvard Library Service Aims To Deliver Digitized Book Excerpts

Harvard University Library hopes to introduce a new electronic document service this spring that will allow students to order digitalized book excerpts from its collections.

The free “Scan and Deliver” program is designed to save researchers the labor of photocopying materials and will provide faster access to the library’s extensive collections.

Once requests are made, students can expect a maximum turnaround time of two business days, and according to Head of Access Services Suzanne Wones, HUL is hoping to decrease that time once the program is under way.

“I think this will be a really great and popular service,” Wones said. “I was once a graduate student, and I see how much time it will save on the students’ end.”

Harvard affiliates will make requests through the online HOLLIS catalog and will have 30 days to save or print the files before they are taken off of the server.

The program has been under development since last January, when a task force was created to discuss the feasibility of the project, according to Wones.

Copyrighted and uncopyrighted works will be accessible through the service, with some limitations. Each library will determine which works are made available, and according to Wones, materials too fragile to be scanned will be excluded.

She added that students working in the library system will be largely responsible for the labor.

Wones could not provide an estimate of how many students may use this service, but she noted that other institutions have seen requests of about 20,000 a year—though their programs have been limited to faculty members.

Wones said that she is confident in the technology but is “concerned” about demand for the service.

In addition to facilitating research for students, the program will also reduce the number of recalls from the depository—a benefit for the environment.

“The materials do not have to travel,” said Marilyn Wood, chair of HUL’s Public Services Coordinating Committee. “There is a positive greenhouse impact from not moving materials back and forth.”

Across campus, officials and students expressed enthusiasm for the program.

“This is a service that has long been requested by the faculty and students,” said Thomas E. Schneiter, assistant director of HUL for the Harvard Depository. “We want it to be a premium service that the Harvard community will receive.”

Linguistics concentrator Welton E. Blount, Jr. ’09 said he appreciated that the new program will enable him to keep all his sources in one place.

“I won’t have to rely on print-outs that I cannot keep on me at all times,” Blount said. “If the books are scanned, I can still have access to information even if the book itself isn’t in the library.”