Miami University Libraries’ interim Head of Create & Innovate and distinguished copyright Librarian Carla Myers was recently selected to serve on the HathiTrust Program Steering Committee.
HathiTrust is a global, not-for-profit organization founded in 2008 aimed to collaborate with academic and research libraries to create and curate a publicly accessible online database with millions of resources. Miami University Libraries recently joined HathiTrust in December of 2023, connecting with universities across the globe like Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth and Harvard as contributing members of the network. HathiTrust has developed a variety of emerging public services- the HathiTrust Digital Library, home to millions of online books and publications, their Accessible Text Request Service, where visually impaired users can request any publication in an accessibility-friendly format, and the Copyright Review Program, where a team of copyright experts works to open resources around the globe to the public domain.
The board that Myers was selected to serve on, the Program Steering Committee, works to oversee and guide HathiTrust’s development agenda, making recommendations to the Board of Governors for future initiatives and programs. They also provide input and direct day-to-day activities throughout the organization. The committee is composed of various academics, researchers, and librarians from a range of institutions across the country, such as M.I.T., UC Berkeley, and NYU.
Myers is proud and excited to serve on the Program Steering Committee, saying “I will be able to use my knowledge and experience working with copyright and scholarly communications issues to help expand access to works through the digital library and provide input on new projects and initiatives… I am also excited to serve as an ambassador for the HathiTrust to the Miami University campus community and help them learn more about how this valuable resource can be used by them for research and instruction.”