April 10, 2015

Duke University Press, in partnership with Google and HathiTrust, has opened an initial set of 145 of its backlist titles in HathiTrust. These titles are available under a CC-BY-NC-ND license, and are available for reading and download worldwide. The list of newly opened titles is eclectic, covering subjects such as literature, history, critical theory, political science, sociology, and others. Noteworthy titles include Derek Bok’s 1990 volume Universities and the Future of America and a facsimile edition of early drafts of Lie Down in Darkness, by William Styron.

Duke joins other scholarly publishers, including a number of other university presses, in opening titles through HathiTrust. Rightsholders of any type may choose to apply a Creative Commons or open access license to their works held by HathiTrust, thereby making them available for research and study worldwide. Details about the permissioning process can be found here: http://www.hathitrust.org/permissions_agreement.

"We're delighted to work with Duke University Press to make these works available in HathiTrust," said Executive Director Mike Furlough, "Publishers and libraries share a common mission to make scholarship widely available, and this is just one way in which we can collaborate to do so." Steve Cohn, Director of the Press added, "Looking back at this list reminds us of the good things we've published over the years. Even if these titles no longer have commercial value sufficient to justify the expense of creating e-book versions, they should still be available for reading in good digital editions. That's why open access through HathiTrust makes sense for these books."

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