(Google Books: A Massive Digital Library Project)

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Google announced a major project today. Google Books aims to scan millions of books. This creates a giant searchable library online. The goal is simple. Google wants to make vast amounts of knowledge easily available to everyone.

The project involves scanning books. Google partners with big libraries worldwide. These include libraries at Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, and the University of Michigan. Google also works directly with publishers. Publishers give permission to scan books still under copyright. This adds new books to the collection.

The scanning process is complex. Google uses special technology. This technology captures book pages carefully. It then converts the images into readable text. The result is powerful. Users can search the full text of millions of books. They can find specific words or phrases instantly. This works like searching the web.

Finding a book is easy. Users see basic details like title and author. They see relevant text snippets. Sometimes they can view sample pages. For older books no longer protected by copyright, users can often read the entire book online. They can even download a copy.

(Google Books: A Massive Digital Library Project)

Google Books offers huge benefits. Researchers find information much faster. Students discover resources easily. Anyone can explore rare or old books previously locked away in distant libraries. This project brings the world’s written knowledge to your computer. Millions of books are already scanned. Google continues scanning thousands more books daily. The digital library keeps growing. Access to Google Books is free. People visit books.google.com to start searching.