Google Launches Online Library of Public Domain Works

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 3, 2005 - 3:42am.

Mountain View, Calif. - Google on Thursday announced the availability of the first large collection of public domain books on its Google Print program, which aims to digitize the world's printed works and make them searchable in an online index. Works now available from Google Print include those whose copyrights have expired, such as U.S. Civil War history books, government documents, and the writings of author Henry James -- which users may now search and browse every page online. Google partnered with the New York Public Library and university libraries at Harvard, Michigan, Oxford and Stanford to provide public domain works for scanning. "Today we welcome the world to our library," said University of Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman. "As educators we are inspired by the possibility of sharing these important works with people around the globe. Google's digital library project has angered many authors and publishers, however, who say the company should not be profiting from their works used without permission. The Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers have separately filed suit against the company for copyright infringement.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/051103/35521.html?.v=1
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/03/business/media/03google.html
http://googleblog.blogspot.com
http://print.google.com