Software Giant Microsoft and the British Library have come together to digitize 25m pages of content from the library’s collections in 2006. The two will work together to digitize around 100,000 out-of-copyright books and deliver search results for this content through the new MSN Book Search service.
According to a library press release, Lynne Brindley, chief executive of the British Library, said: This partnership helps us fulfill our vision of promoting ready access to our collection for everyone who wants to use it.
This is great news for research and scholarship and will give unparalleled access to our vast collections to people all over the world. Items digitized will be available to anyone, anywhere and at any time.
The release quoted Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft as saying: Our partnership with the British Library is not only about digitization and preservation, but also about delivering a great experience for people accessing this amazing collection through British Library and MSN Web sites.
Microsoft is initially investing $2.5 million in the project, but both sides say there are plans to digitize more titles in the future.
A plan by search engine Google — a rival to Microsoft’s MSN search engine — to upload its own digital library has been dogged by complaints from publishers that their copyrights are being infringed.
Mindful of that controversy, Microsoft and the British Library stressed that they will be choosing books only from the older end of the library’s vast collection of 13 million titles, as these have long fallen out of copyright.
Despite the fierce rivalry between the two digital companies, the library says its deal with Microsoft is not exclusive — the scanned books will be posted on the British Library’s own Web site, currently freely searchable through Google.
This will help people find precisely what they are looking for on the web. MSN Search will launch an initial public beta offering next year.
Meanwhile, Amazon.com says it will launch two programs next year giving readers the opportunity to buy digital books. Amazon Pages will let users buy internet access to individual pages, chapters or entire books, while Amazon Upgrade will provide online access to physical books bought by customers.
Microsoft is already working with the British Library to help build the digital infrastructure for the National Digital Library providing software tools and support to the Library’s experts.