Google may partner with MSU to digitize massive turf library
7 Jun, 2007EAST LANSING, MI — Michigan State University’s Turfgrass Information Center is the world’s leading research collection for the study of turfgrass. It is one of five unique collections from MSU Libraries being considered for inclusion in the Google Book Search project.
MSU is one of 12 Midwest universities that are part of a new agreement with computer search engine giant Google to digitize the most distinctive collections of the universities’ libraries.
As part of the Google Book Search project, the agreement could result in the digitization of as many as 10 million volumes.
The agreement between Google and the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) will help preserve and stabilize the libraries’ legacy collections, as well as provide broader and more in-depth access to historically significant print resources.
Turfgrass is a ubiquitous crop supporting a $50 billion per year business in the United States – from golf courses and stadiums to suburban lawns, highway margin ground cover and industrial park landscaping. The MSU Libraries began methodical collecting in this area in the 1960s and hasbenefited from the donation of the personal collections of key turf agronomists such as O. J. Noer and James B. Beard. Materials date back as far as 1790 with expanded holdings in materials published since 1895 and continuing through the present day. The collection includes more than 3,000 bound volumes of serials, representing more than 300 serial titles and some 1,400 monographs. Three quarters of the cataloged titles are unique within the holdings of the combined CIC libraries.
For additional information on MSU Libraries and its distinct collections, visit the Web at www.lib.msu.edu.
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