Google to put library books online

WASHINGTON - Google wants to save you a trip to the library. The search engine that revolutionized how people use the internet has teamed up with some of the world's greatest libraries to put their books in your living room.

At the same time, the nonprofit internet Archive said libraries from five countries, including China and India, have agreed to add one million digitized books to its archive, with some 70,000 expected to be online by next April.

"There will be a reshaping of how book access is done through both the commercial and library systems," said internet Archives founder Brewster Kahle. "Isn't it fantastic? Having this much access is just fantastic for everybody."

Google says it plans to scan millions of books from Oxford University, Harvard University, Stanford University, the University of Michigan and the New York Public Library to make them available through its search engine.

"We believe that having more information in our index leads to a better search experience, and we always want to make sure that users find the information they're looking for," said Susan Wojcicki, director of project management at Google.

Wojcicki declined to say how much the project would cost and how long it would take.

Nonprofit archiving efforts like Project Gutenberg and the internet Archive have been placing public-domain materials online for years. Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp., and other commercial search engines have joined the effort.

Google will post links to locations where the books can be found in the real world.

A Google search for "Of Mice and Men," for instance, turns up several pages from the Penguin Group's edition of John Steinbeck's classic novel, along with links to online booksellers.

Users will also be directed to libraries near them that carry the book, Wojcicki said.

Copyright laws prevent most recently published books from being posted in their entirety. So libraries will prioritize older books that are in public domain. Oxford University, for example, will first digitize books published before 1900, Wojcicki said.

- REUTERS