Project LEND Background

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered an unplanned large-scale experiment in digital access to scholarly books, including at the University of California Libraries. As campuses across North America and around the world closed in the early months of 2020, many libraries began offering expanded access to digitized versions of the print books in their collections as an emergency measure.

Informed by existing models and platforms

During a 2022 planning phase, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the UC libraries laid the foundation for this large-scale research and service design work, building on the work of existing programs and services. The Project LEND team assessed the landscape and laid groundwork for research and service design work. 

The research is informed by existing models including controlled digital lending, a set of practices and technologies by which some libraries lend digital surrogates of their print materials. It also draws on UC’s experience with pandemic-era programs such as HathiTrust’s Emergency Temporary Access Service, or ETAS, which offered temporary access to digitized versions of in-copyright print books held by the user’s library.  

Building on these initiatives, Project LEND aims to develop service models that enable high impact access to digital books. As of January 2023, the team has completed the initial one-year planning phase and has launched the intensive two-year research phase with additional partners. See the project report to date. 

Large-scale expertise at UC Libraries

Supporting the largest public research university in the United States, with ten campuses and five medical centers, the UC Libraries is ideally positioned to undertake the design of a large-scale program expanding access to digital books. UC Libraries stewards 40M volumes, over 4.6M of which have been digitized. With a multi-decade track record of strategic multi-campus collaboration in collection stewardship and the application of new technologies, the UC Libraries has developed extensive expertise in designing online library services and associated technologies. Further, UC’s work as a co-founder and key contributing member of HathiTrust places it in position to provide for its users the access to additional millions of books through collaborative agreements and services.