Google Books has received a massive boost and a distinguished nod from the British Library who are handing over 250,000 books to Google’s online reading service.
200 year’s worth of literature and reference materials spanning from 1700 to 1870 – such as books, magazines and newspapers – will be scanned into the Google library in a variety of European languages.
And before you start to wonder – Google do have permission to reproduce the works this time (unlike previous difficulties understanding copyright laws) and will be permitted to advertise alongside the 40-million scanned pages which will appear free-of-charge to readers through Google Books.
The interest of the British Library is to spread the materials freely and accessibly to those who wish to read and enjoy them.
Chief Exec of the British Library says “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”.
The British Library generosity has previously spanned to Microsoft who received and digitised Leonardo Di Vinci’s notebooks and works from the 19th century.
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