World’s Largest Oceanography Library Goes Digital

Holdings of UCSD's Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library digitized by Google - May 20, 2010 - By Dolores Davies - Approximately 100,000 volumes from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library, the world's largest oceanography library, have been digitized and are being made publically accessible as part of a partnership between Google, the University of California and the UC San Diego Libraries. In 2008, UC San Diego became the first Southern California university to partner with Google in its efforts to digitize the holdings of the world's most prominent libraries. Since then, approximately 300,000 volumes and other materials have been digitized from UCSD's International Relations & Pacific Studies Library, the East Asian Language Collection and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library. The University of California was an early partner with Google, joining the Google Book Search Project in 2006 and agreeing to provide several million books from UC libraries for digitization. To date, more than 2 million books from UC libraries have been digitized. 'Partnering with Google in this global effort will lead to much greater scholarly and public access to the rich, diverse and, in many cases, rare, materials at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library,' said Brian E. C. Schottlaender, The Audrey Geisel University Librarian at UC San Diego.  'Making this treasure trove of materials accessible to anyone with Internet access is a tremendous boon for scholars, students and interested members of the public.' - 'I am very proud that another vital part of the Scripps-Google relationship has come to fruition,' said Tony Haymet, director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and UCSD vice chancellor for Marine Sciences.