The UConn Library and Connecticut State Colleges & Universities (CSCU) Library Consortium have partnered to acquire major university press eBook collections from Walter De Gruyter Inc. The first of its kind, this purchase lays the foundations for future library partnerships among all public institutions of higher education in Connecticut.
The partnership gives students, faculty, and staff at UConn and all CSCU institutions permanent online access to almost every book published by:
Harvard University Press, 2000-2020
Iberoamericana Vervuert, 1979-2020
University of Chicago Press, 2017-2020
Yale University Press, 2016-2020
Access to these approximately 4,800 books is through the De Gruyter platform, which allows chapter-by-chapter downloads in PDF format without restrictions on simultaneous users. Faculty may adopt these books in their courses and are encouraged to consult with their institution’s library about linking for off-campus access. CSCU and UConn are also permitted to lend the whole eBooks to other libraries nationwide, enabling even more inclusive access.
“This collaboration is an example of the work we are doing at UConn to find innovative and sustainable models of providing access to materials that are vital to research and teaching,” said UConn Provost Carl Lejuez. “This partnership maximizes cost savings and underscores our commitment to working with colleagues across CT on the critical role we all play in advancing scholarship.” CSCU Provost Jane Gates concurs, adding, “The CSCU libraries provide critical resources to our students, and I am pleased to support this innovative partnership with UConn, particularly in the current environment where remote access is more important than ever.”
Kenneth McNeil, Professor of English at Eastern Connecticut State University, commented that “It’s wonderful we have obtained this collection, which will be a great new resource, especially for our students. And the ability to adopt eBooks for use in courses is an added bonus.” Via this purchase, “hard-to-find, in some cases prohibitively expensive texts have become immediately available,” observed Margaret Breen, Professor of English and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at UConn. “The investment reflects support crucial for scholarly research and training.”
Students, faculty, and staff may browse and access the newly acquired eBooks by visiting their institution’s library website and then searching for DeGruyterCT in the library’s catalog. To learn more about these ebook collections, please explore De Gruyter’s University Press Library or contact carrp@ct.edu or michael.a.rodriguez@uconn.edu.
The UConn Library recently acquired permanent online access to 18 million pages of scholarly journal articles, 51,000 scores, 6,000 scholarly books, 1,800 documentary films, and millions of pages of primary sources across all subjects. Electronic access was prioritized in response to the COVID pandemic, which curtailed access to library DVDs, print, and archives. Unlimited access and downloads are permitted. Everything is available to all UConn, including Health and Law.
Highlights
Academic Video Online 70,000 streaming videos, including documentary and feature films, interviews, performances, news programs and newsreels, and demonstrations and trainings across all subjects. Note that this is a subscription database, so its continuation past 2022 hinges on usage and funding.
Classical Scores Library 51,000 classical music scores comprising 1.3 million printable pages—the largest such collection sold to libraries. Scores are from more than 4600 composers and span all major classical musical genres and time periods from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. UConn owns Parts 1-4.
Wiley Journal Backfiles 900+ Wiley-published journals (18 million pages) from their first volumes and issues through 1997. This archive encompasses all subjects and is strongest in business, social sciences, and STEM, especially medicine and nursing. Half the titles are sourced from scholarly societies.
Women’s Magazine Archive 12 major consumer magazines aimed at a female readership, including Better Homes & Gardens (1922-2005), Cosmopolitan (1886-2005), Essence (1970-2005), Seventeen (1944-2005), and Town and Country (1846-2005). Contains over 1.7 million pages. UConn owns Parts 1 and 2.
Streaming Videos
DocuSeek2 Complete Collection 1800+ documentary films covering a vast array of issues and topics from leading film producers and distributors, including Bullfrog, Icarus, and independent filmmakers worldwide.
National Theatre Collection 30 stage productions from the powerhouse National Theatre, captured on high-definition video. Features adaptations of classics (Shakespeare, Mary Shelley) as well as contemporary dramas. Also includes unique digitized primary sources such as photos, scripts, and costume designs.
Scholarly eBooks -Subject Collections
Bloomsbury Medieval Studies Includes the Global Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages and more than 150 scholarly eBooks, along with museum images and an interactive timeline, making this database a useful teaching tool.
Oxford University Press Classical Studies 2015-2020 345 scholarly eBooks in Classical Studies published online by Oxford University Press from April 2015 through May 2020. UConn already owns Oxford’s 2010-2015 Classical Studies titles.
Springer Computer Science Ebooks 2017 Hundreds of computer science eBooks and conference proceedings published by Springer, including the complete 2017 Lecture Notes in Computer Science.
Digitalia Hispánica 30,000 scholarly eBooks and journals in Spanish from presses in Latin America and Iberia. Note that this is a subscription database, so its continuation past 2021 hinges on usage and funding.
Archives of Sexuality & Gender: LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940 Parts 1-4 4 million pages of primary sources on social, political, health, and legal issues impacting LGBTQ communities globally. Over 15 languages and 35 countries are represented. UConn owns Parts 1-4, adding Part 4, “International Perspectives on LGBTQ Activism and Culture,” this year.
American County Histories New England Part 1 County histories of Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts from the 1800s and early 1900s, offering insights into these states’ local history, geology, geography, weather, and more. Note that UConn does not provide access to New England County Histories Part 2 (RI, VT, NH).
Children’s Literature & Culture 2.2 million pages of primary sources recording the growth of children’s literature during the nineteenth century and providing legal and sociological texts to contextualize this growth, especially in literature, education, and crime mostly from the US and UK.
Law and Legal History: Archives Unbound 180,000 pages of primary sources illuminating pivotal legal issues in the United States. Coverage includes 122 cases argued by Abraham Lincoln (1855-1861), Jim Crow laws (1871-1884), price control regulations (1941-1961), and the passage of the Clean Air Act (1990).
Radical Studies: Archives Unbound Tens of thousands of pages of primary sources documenting radical political groups throughout the 20th century across the United States, Europe, and Latin America, including Communist and other leftist groups, Black liberation movements, and U.S. federal surveillance of activists.
Historical Newspapers
Burlington Free Press Historical Newspaper 1848-2007 Complete full text of Vermont’s Burlington Free Press from 1848 to 2007 – one of the oldest historical newspapers in the US and a key resource for the study of New England history.
Chicago Tribune Historical Newspaper 1849-2010 An additional 14 years of content from the Chicago Tribune. Previously we had access only to 1849-1996 content. This brings our access up to 2010.
Nation Magazine Archive 1865-2020 Permanent online access to the full text of The Nation (1865-2020), a leading progressive magazine and the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States.
