The new program, entitled Google Print Library, will be an expansion of the existing Google Print program, which assists publishers in making books and other offline information searchable online. Google is now working with libraries to digitally scan books from their collections, and over time will integrate this content into the Google index, to make it searchable for users worldwide.
We believe passionately that such universal access to the world’s printed treasures is mission-critical for today’s great public university, said Mary Sue Coleman, President of the University of Michigan.
For publishers and authors, the move will increase the visibility of in and out of print books, and generate book sales via Buy this Book links and advertising. Users will be able to search across library collections including out of print books and titles that were not previously available anywhere but on a library shelf.
Where the material is copywrited, links will appear in their search results page when there are books relevant to their query. Clicking on a title delivers a Google Print page where users can browse the full text of public domain works and brief excerpts and/or bibliographic data of copyrighted material. Libraries also benefit form the system as links to public libraries will also be provided to continue the tradition of borrowing books.
Google’s ambitions of becoming a digital library have been largely welcomed by librarians, although there has been some doubt about the project’s success. While they recognized that the project would provide increased publicity for libraries unable to settle into the age of the Internet, they were anxious that book collections might get lost in the immense web of information on Google.
However, many major libraries have already established a working electronic classification of their collected works, and by implementing its technology Google will speed up the process considerably.
This is the day the world changes, said John Wilkin, a University of Michigan librarian working with Google. It will be disruptive because some people will worry that this is the beginning of the end of libraries. But this is something we have to do to revitalize the profession and make it more meaningful.
Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day, and its command of 47.6% of Internet searches makes it the world’s most popular search engine. Now with the introduction of its Print Library, Google looks to have pushed ahead of its competitors Yahoo and Microsoft’s MSN.
