Google to Give Full Access to Books Online

The University of Texas, Austin has joined Google's book search project, by allowing the search giant to digitize all its books. According to the multi-year project, Google will digitize at least one million volumes from the University of Texas Libraries' collections, working from selection lists prepared by the Libraries.The digitized books from the University of Texas will all be fully searchable through Google Book Search, to allow internet surfers to view, browse and read the university's public domain books, including books in the Libraries' historic collections.

Google has promised to pay particular attention to copyright law and says the Book search engine has been specifically designed, to comply with various copyright laws, rules and regulations. Copyright protected books will be offered only with the title and the author's name, with a few lines of text related to their search and information about where users can borrow or buy the book. Publishers or authors who wish not to have their books digitized can be omitted from inclusion in the project.

Other partners of Google, in its book search venture are University of Michigan, Harvard University, Stanford University, Oxford University and the New York Public Library.

Meanwhile, according to news reports, Google is also working on a system that would allow readers to download entire books onto their computers, in a format that they could read on screen or on mobile devices. A report quoted Jens Redmer, director of Google Book Search in Europe saying that they are currently working on a platform that will let publishers give readers full access to a book online. According to the project plan, readers will also be linked to sites such as Amazon where they can buy a physical copy of the book. The initiative is likely to be a part of Google's Book Search service and is expected to have the same partners.

Redmer said that the project was likely to come to fruition sooner rather than later.