The search engine giant Google Inc. (www.google.com) announced on December 15 its plan to scan millions of books and periodical into its Web search engine during the next several years. Google will scan material from the New York public library and libraries at four universities: Harvard, Stanford, Michigan and Oxford. The scanned material will then be indexed on Google.
Google will only allow its users to view the bibliographies or other snippets of new copyrighted books scanned from the libraries. The search engine will provide unrestricted access to all material in the public domain, a work no longer covered by copyrights. Amazon.com (www.Amazon.com) has a program that offers online excerpts of new books as well.
For publishers and authors, this expansion of the Google Print program (http://print.google.com) will increase the visibility of in and out of print books, and generate book sales via "Buy this Book" links and advertising. Google's book scanning project increases the search engine's competitive stance against rivals Yahoo and MSN.
