The Bookseller - 20.06.11 | Philip Jones
The British Library has signed a deal with Google, which will see one of the largest collections of books and pamphlets in the world made available and searchable online for the first time. The deal included 250,000 out-of-copyright books from the Library’s collections, covering up to 40 million pages from 1700-1870, from the French Revolution to the end of slavery.
The arrangement is similar to those Google has established with other national libraries. According to the BBC, the library has more than 150 million items representing every age of written civilisation, but this deal specifically covers texts dating back to the 18th century. It is unlikely to impact copyrighted works, but will nevertheless worry those who fret about Google's power over digitised public domain culture.
Under the terms of the deal, Google will cover the costs of digitisation, and give one file ro the British Library and keep a second for itself. It will allow readers to view, search and copy the out-of-copyright works at no charge. Google will also make the books available on its site. The items will be stored in perpetuity within the library’s digital archive.
More at The Bookseller.
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