American Psychological Association to Digitize Content from the University of Akron's Archives of the History of American Psychology Historical Collection

WASHINGTON, DC – January 11, 2008 – The American Psychological Association (APA) announced it has entered an agreement with the University of Akron to digitize books and gray literature from the Archives of the History of American Psychology (AHAP) historical collection for inclusion in APA databases.

The titles will include any books published prior to 1923, materials published between 1923 and 1963 that APA has researched and determined to be in the public domain, and any later books and gray literature for which APA has acquired written permission. The historical book content will be indexed in PsycINFO, with each chapter of each book added to PsycBOOKS; and abstract records for each gray literature item together with the full text will be added to PsycEXTRA.

"We are very pleased and honored to have the opportunity to work with the Archives of the History of American Psychology on digitizing such an important historical collection," said Gary VandenBos, Ph.D., the APA Publisher. David Baker, Ph.D., Margaret Clark Morgan Director, AHAP adds, "We are pleased to work with APA on making the historical record more accessible."

PsycBOOKS currently includes approximately 1,500 scholarly books, including 150 APA published out of print books from 1950–2002 and about 750 classic resources in psychology. Digitization of the AHAP holdings will add upwards of 2,500 works of historical significance to this collection.

PsycEXTRA is a gray literature database that includes information written by professionals and disseminated outside of the peer-reviewed journals. It currently includes more than 120,000 bibliographic and full-text records from technical and government reports, conference presentations, professional newsletters, and more.

Kirtas Technologies has been selected to manage the digitization of the collection. Kirtas has developed state-of-the-art technology for scanning bound material, and is the only company in the world to offer an automatic page turning capability that is gentler than the human touch. This non-destructive bound document scanning will ensure that these valuable archival materials will not be harmed during the scanning process.

Media Contacts:
Timothy P. Rinda
American Psychological Association
750 First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002-4242
Tel (800) 374-2722 or (202) 336-5736
Fax (202) 336-6191
E-mail
APA Databases Web Site

Sarah Lane
The University of Akron
Broadway Building
Akron, OH 44325-0604
Tel (330) 972-7429
Fax (330) 972-6168
E-mail
University of Akron Web Site

About APA
The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists.APA's membership includes more than 148,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students.Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting human welfare.

About AHAP
The Archives of the History of American Psychology, a division of University Libraries at the University of Akron, is dedicated to acquiring, preserving, and making available the historical record of psychology in America.

About the University of Akron
The University of Akron is the public research university for Northern Ohio. It is the only public university in Ohio with a science and engineering program ranked in the top five nationally by U.S. News & World Report. Serving 24,700 students, the university offers approximately 300 associate, bachelor's, master's, doctoral and law degree programs and 100 certificate programs at sites in Summit, Wayne, Medina and Holmes counties. For more information, visit the University of Akron web site.

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