Google to Add Major Library Volumes to its Database
According to the New York Times, Google
plans to announce an agreement with some of the world's best research libraries to convert their volumes into digital files freely searchable on the Internet. The libraries include Harvard, Oxford, University of Michigan, Stanford, and the New York Public library. A rough cost estimate to digitize all those books is about $10 each for 15 million volumes. Librarians say it will take about a decade to complete the job. The Library of Congress will also put 1 million books online. The focus will mainly be on works no longer under copyright. The copyrighted material will only turn up short excerpts.
