Can a universal library be achieved? It is an age-old dream. Google Books and HathiTrust have endeavored to fulfill it in the modern age. They are now well-established digital archives, used by citizens, scholars, and students from around the world. The path to their creation was filled with aspirations and visions, obstacles and hurdles, negotiations and compromises. And the University of Michigan was at the center of these and other efforts in library digitization. Please join us for discussion with a panel of individuals who were intimately involved in the process: Paul Courant, who as U-M Provost at the time shaped a visionary response to the opportunities of digitization and Google in particular; Wendy Pradt Lougee, who as head of the Graduate Library and of Digital Library Services spearheaded electronic access and nurtured innovative approaches to it; John Wilkin, a leader in digital humanities who provided leadership in negotiating critical understandings and agreements concerning usage of digital material; and Roger Schonfeld, co-author of Along Came Google: A History of Library Digitization, which gives a comprehensive account of this important development in the history of modern access to knowledge.

As with all events at the Detroit Observatory, visitors are invited to tour the Observatory after the event, with observing if the weather permits.

Paul Courant is the Edward M. Gramlich Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Economics and Public Policy, Harold T. Shapiro Collegiate Professor Emeritus of Public Policy, AND Arthur F. Thurnau Professor Emeritus of Economics and Information at the University of Michigan. Among many roles at U-M, Courant has served as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, as university librarian and dean of libraries, and as director of the Institute of Public Policy Studies (predecessor of the Ford School). His academic work has recently focused on economic and policy questions relating to universities, libraries and archives, and the effects of new information technologies. He was a founding board member of both the HathiTrust Digital Library and the Digital Public Library of America.

Wendy Pradt Lougee served as University Librarian and Dean of Libraries, and McKnight Presidential Professor at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, retiring in 2020. Prior to her appointment at the University of Minnesota in 2002, Lougee held several positions at the University of Michigan over a 20-year period, including Associate Director for Digital Library Services. Her work in launching and developing a digital library program at Michigan was recognized with the American Library Association’s Hugh Atkinson Award. Her research and publications have focused on digital library development, information economics, assessment of research behavior, virtual organizations, and e-research.

Roger C. Schonfeld is the vice president of organizational strategy for ITHAKA and of Ithaka S+R’s libraries, scholarly communication, and museums program. With Deanna Marcum, he wrote Along Came Google: A History of Library Digitization (Princeton University Press, 2021), examining structural impediments to digital strategy and the role of an outside catalyst in fostering digitization among research libraries. Roger was previously at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and currently serves board member for the Center for Research Libraries.

John Wilkin is the Chief Executive Officer of Lyrasis. Prior to joining Lyrasis, Wilkin served as the Dean of Libraries at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign from 2013-2022, as well as UIUC’s Interim Provost from 2017-2018. He was the founding executive director of HathiTrust and served in that capacity from 2008 until 2013. Over the course of his career at the Universities of Michigan and Virginia, Wilkin was an early leader in the development of digital libraries, focusing on combining large-scale discovery with preservation strategies. He collaborated in creating the first legal agreement for the Google Books project. His focus on copyright and preservation played a pivotal role in HathiTrust’s Fair Use strategy, which was successfully defended in court and underpins HathiTrust today.