NEWS RELEASE 

For Immediate Release:  21 June 2006
Contact: David Seaman [log in to unmask]

Oxford University Joins the Digital Library Federation 

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Board of Trustees of the Digital Library
Federation (DLF) today announced that Oxford University has joined DLF
as its fortieth member, and its fourth from outside the United States.

"I am delighted that Oxford University has accepted our invitation to
join DLF," said Carol A. Mandel, dean of libraries at New York
University and president of the DLF's Board of Trustees. "Oxford shares
with DLF member libraries extraordinary research collections, a strong
digital library program, and a commitment to give scholars the benefits
of federated digital collections. We are pleased to welcome Oxford to
our joint endeavor," she said.
 
David Seaman, executive director of DLF, added, "We are a fast-moving
consortium of very active academic digital libraries and the addition of
this remarkable university library will enrich our collaborative work
and inform our view of large-scale digital library endeavors." 

Ronald Milne, acting director of Oxford University Library Services,
said, "Oxford is delighted to be joining an organization whose members
share our vision of the future of library and information landscapes and
who are addressing the challenges that face us all in the digital age.
We look forward to contributing to the work of DLF and to working
together with like-minded colleagues."


The Digital Library Federation, founded in 1995, is a partnership
organization of academic libraries and related organizations that are
pioneering the use of electronic-information technologies to extend
their collections and services. Through its strategic and allied
members, DLF provides leadership for libraries by identifying standards
and "best practices" for digital collections and network access;
coordinating research and development in the libraries' use of
technology; and incubating projects and services that libraries need but
cannot develop individually. More information about DLF is available at
http://www.diglib.org/. 

DLF is housed at the Council on Library and Information Resources
(CLIR), an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving
the management of information for research, teaching, and learning. More
information about CLIR is available at http://www.clir.org/. 

The University of Oxford is the oldest university in the
English-speaking world and lays claim to nine centuries of continuous
existence. As an internationally renowned center for teaching and
research, Oxford attracts students and scholars from across the globe,
with almost a quarter of its 18,000 students from overseas. Oxford is a
collegiate university, with 39 self-governing colleges related to the
university in a type of federal system. The University of Oxford's Web
site is at http://www.ox.ac.uk/.

Oxford University has an extremely rich and diverse library service
provided by more than one hundred libraries, including the college
libraries, making it the largest university library system in the United
Kingdom. The libraries share a common catalog, OLIS. More information is
available at http://library.ox.ac.uk/.

Most of the University's library facilities are managed under the
umbrella of the integrated Oxford University Library Services (OULS).
There are major research libraries -- including the Bodleian Library,
which has been a library of legal deposit for almost 400 years -- as
well as libraries attached to faculties, departments, and other
institutions of the university. The combined collections of the OULS
number more than 11 million printed items, in addition to vast
quantities of materials in many other formats. More information on OULS
is available at http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/.