Google announced on Monday that it is soon to
begin digitizing 250,000 books from The British Library, making them free to view online. The works, which span 170 years of history, will be
carefully selected historical out-of-copyright
publications, with Google responsible for
handling and scanning costs. Once complete, users will be able to per use the
collection on Google Books and The British Library’s website, with Google providing
downloadable versions and the ability to conduct
full text searches. The materials include
pamphlets, books and periodicals from
1700-1870 in a variety of European languages.
Chief Executive of The British Library, Dame Lynne
Brindley said in a press release: In the nineteenth century it was an ambition of
our predecessors to give everybody access to as
much of the world’s information as possible, to
ensure that knowledge was not restricted to
those who could afford private libraries. We are
delighted to be partnering with Google on this project and through this partnership believe that
we are building on this proud tradition of giving
access to anyone, any where and at any time. Over the process of the digitization, around 40
million pages will have to be scanned.
Unsurprisingly, we’ve had no sniff of an
estimated completion date.
Source: The British Library
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