WSU Libraries have partnered with HathiTrust, a non-profit partnership of academic and research libraries, in order to preserve and provide access to published files in digital form.

HathiTrust’s collection of documents contributed by various partners covers a span of more than 500 years and 1,360 languages, according to WSU News.

Melissa Stewart, assistant to the executive director of HathiTrust Digital Library, said the network is a partnership of more than 100 universities from around the world.

WSU gains information from HathiTrust and other universities partnered with HathiTrust obtain the information WSU has added to the overall collection.

“Since this is such a large undertaking, it has been considered for a while and the partnership is just in the initial setup period,” said Joel Cummings, head of collection development and collection manager for the sciences at WSU’s library.

In addition to preserving documents, HathiTrust is also committed to the long-term preservation of historic artifacts like those in WSU’s Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections (MASC).

Many artifacts and manuscripts do not leave the library, and HathiTrust helps to connect people to primary sources that may have been inaccessible otherwise.

“In regards to MASC, we are already uploading digital content on our own, but this will definitely act as a supplement to help students get a grasp of what the MASC collection can offer,” said Trevor James Bond, head of MASC.

Students might not see the results right away but they are being discussed and implemented as soon as possible. The amount of information available through the partnership should increase WSU’s collection exponentially.

According to hathitrust.org, its digital library contains almost 14 million volumes and its digitized statistics are updated on a daily basis.

Reporting by Corinna Thornton