Books without Boundaries: A Brief Tour of the System-wide Print Book Collection
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Date of Publication
The rate of publication of print books has grown steadily over time. Figure 4 illustrates the distribution of books (manifestations) in the system-wide collection by year of publication. It is interesting to note the ebb and flow of book publication accompanying several important historical events, including a dramatic peak at the turn of the 20th century; troughs during the two World Wars and the Great Depression; and perhaps most importantly of all, the dramatic increase in publishing associated with the expansion of higher education and scientific research accompanying the start of the Cold War.
Cumulatively, the post-war increase in book publication is the dominating characteristic, as Figure 4 illustrates. Approximately half of all books held in the system-wide collection were published after 1977. The share of these books published prior to 1923 — a rough cut-off point for in-copyright vs. out-of-copyright materials, according to U.S. copyright law — is only 18%. Although the true share of out-of-copyright print books is undoubtedly higher than this due to non-renewal of copyright for books published prior to the 1976 copyright law changes, the key point to be drawn from this figure is that a date-based approach to copyright permissions is not likely to yield a high proportion of books for mass digitization.
