Books from some of the world鈥檚 largest academic libraries are to be scanned and made instantly searchable by Google.
The internet search engine has revealed plans to scan the whole of Michigan and Stanford University libraries, along with some archives at Harvard University and the New York Public Library, all in the US, as well as archives at Oxford University library in the UK.
Google has developed its own technology for scanning books rapidly and in a way that will not physically harm fragile old texts. Details have not been disclosed but Google spokesman Fabio Selmoni describes it as 鈥渁 combination of digital and mechanical technology鈥�.
Advertisement
Selmoni says that by adding the content from these libraries to the Google index, the company hopes to make its search service more useful. 鈥淲e felt there was an opportunity to add incremental value,鈥� he told 快猫短视频. 鈥淎nd we felt this was a new stream of information altogether.鈥�
Selmoni adds that the search engine is in talks with many other major libraries, including some in non-English speaking countries. 鈥淲e鈥檙e only just beginning,鈥� he says.
Information location
Google already provides the ability to search recently published books through its search engine. Users see several pages of these books returned by a search query and can then buy the book directly from the publishing company if desired.
This new scheme will provide the Google user with a snapshot of the book sought 鈥� it will not provide the entire text 鈥� which should be enough for the user to decide whether it is worth getting hold of the original text. The service will also make rare and out-of-print books 鈥� as well as magazines and other reference material 鈥� searchable for the first time.
鈥淭he pilot is a small but extremely significant first step that can ultimately provide both the Harvard community and the larger public with a revolutionary new information location tool to find materials available in libraries,鈥� says Sidney Verba, director of Harvard University Library in an email sent to colleagues and posted on a popular 鈥渂log鈥� website on Monday.
Alan Dawson, a researcher at the Centre for Digital Library Research at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, believes the scheme could open up entirely new avenues of research. 鈥淚 think it will be enormously useful,鈥� he told 快猫短视频. 鈥淏ut we don鈥檛 know exactly how it will be used and that鈥檚 the beauty of it 鈥� people will find stuff they didn鈥檛 know about.鈥�
Dawson notes that digitising old books can be difficult because of out-of-use words and foreign characters. But he says the service should ultimately prove a valuable resource for academics and the general public alike.
鈥淭hese institutions now need to publish a list of the books they are digitising,鈥� he adds, to save other institutions replicating the work. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no point in doing it twice.鈥�