University of California - UC Newsroom | UC Libraries expand access to orphan works

"The University of California Libraries will join with the University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin and University of Florida in a groundbreaking initiative to identify and make available digital versions of "orphan works" within the holdings of the HathiTrust Digital Library....The University of California will join the effort to identify orphan works and publicize information about them in order to give rights holders an opportunity to claim them and make informed decisions about their availability within HathiTrust. It is likely that many people with these rights wish to make the books fully viewable....If the orphan works are not claimed by rights holders, the digital volumes will be made available in full view to HathiTrust partner library patrons if their libraries hold those works in their print collections...."