Many will recall that last August saw Google's partnership with the University of California over its Library Project. The venture was a momentous one, as the University of California boasts the largest research and academic library in the world. However, Google, the world's leading search engine, isn't one to take a break once at the top - which is why the world's leading search engine has just secured a partnership with the fifth largest academic library in the US: the University of Texas at Austin. Google's Books Library Project, launched in November 2005, is on an ambitious mission to make the world's books accessible online. And with the likes of the University of Michigan, Harvard University, Stanford University, Oxford University and the New York Public Library backing the project at its outset, it certainly came off to a good start.
The system allows readers to view, browse and download entire books onto their computers for free; but when it comes to books that are protected by copyright, users will only be provided with basic background information, such as the book's title and the author's name, as well as information about where they can borrow or buy the book.
The University of Texas library system houses some of the nation's leading collections, including the world renowned Nettie Lee Benson Latin American collection. During the course of the multi-year partnership, Google will digitize at least one million volumes from its various libraries.
But does such a vast project signal the death knell of printed books? Certainly, many publishers and editors fear that it might. But with 380 million people using Google each month, the project also gives significant exposure to books that might not easily be accessed otherwise - a notion which Fred Heath, vice provost and director of libraries at the University of Texas, expressed when stating the University's reasons for joining the project:
"Joining with Google's Book Search program will mean that the intellectual content of our collections are discoverable by a much wider range of scholars and students." It seems this is an ambition with which Google heartily agrees.
