LONDON – December 14, 2004 – As part of its effort to make offline information searchable online, Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced that it is working with the libraries of Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan, and the University of Oxford as well as The New York Public Library to digitally scan books from their collections so that users worldwide can search them in Google.
“Even before we started Google, we dreamed of making the incredible breadth of information that librarians so lovingly organise searchable online,” said Larry Page, Google co-founder and president of Products. “Today we are pleased to announce this programme to digitise the collections of these amazing libraries so that every Google user can search them instantly.”
“Our work with libraries further enhances the existing Google Print programme, which enables users to find matches within the full text of books, while publishers and authors monetise that information,” Page added. “Google’s mission is to organise the world’s information, and we are excited to be working with libraries to help make this mission a reality.”
Today’s announcement is an expansion of the Google Print™ program, which assists publishers in making books and other offline information searchable online. Google is now working with libraries to digitally scan books from their collections, and over time will integrate this content into the Google index, to make it searchable for users worldwide.
Reg Carr, Director of Oxford University Library Services, said, “Making the wealth of knowledge accumulated in the Bodleian Library’s historic collections accessible to as many people as possible is at the heart of Oxford University’s commitment to lifelong learning. Oxford is therefore proud to be part of this effort to make information available to everyone who might benefit from it.”
“The Bodleian’s 19th century collections, which include many out-of-print titles which otherwise would be incredibly hard to find, will be scanned as part of the Google Print programme. We hope that Oxford’s contribution to this project will be of scholarly use, as well as general interest, to people around the world,” said Carr.
“We believe passionately that such universal access to the world’s printed treasures is mission-critical for today’s great public university,” said Mary Sue Coleman, President of the University of Michigan.
For publishers and authors, this expansion of the Google Print programme will increase the visibility of in and out of print books, and generate ook sales via “Buy this Book” links and advertising. For users, Google’s library programme will make it possible to search across library collections including out of print books and titles that were not previously available anywhere but on a library shelf.
Users searching with Google will see links in their search results page when there are books relevant to their query. Clicking on a title delivers a Google Print page where users can browse the full text of public domain works and brief excerpts and/or bibliographic data of copyrighted material. Library content will be displayed in keeping with copyright law. For more information and examples, please visit print.google.com/library.
Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program, which is the largest and fastest growing in the industry, provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.
The Bodleian Library, Oxford University’s principal research library, was first opened to readers in 1602. Together with its dependent libraries, the Bodleian holds over eight million books on shelving measuring more than 120 miles. In England it is second in size only to the British Library. It has effectively been a legal deposit library for nearly 400 years and as such can claim a copy of every book and periodical published in the UK and Ireland. Oxford is actively involved in developing electronic information provision, including electronic text archives and image databases. The University is a leader in the digitisation of manuscripts and other library material. More information about the Bodleian Library is available at: www.bodley.ox.ac.uk.
Labels: English (UK), UK news announcements
