UW-Madison and Google announced an agreement today to digitize more than 7.2 million holdings at UW-Madison Libraries to their book search database, exposing the world to Wisconsin resources and shaping the way Internet research is conducted worldwide.
UW-Madison is the eighth library in the world to join the exclusive program that currently includes collections from Harvard, New York Public Library, the University of Michigan, Oxford, Stanford, the University of California System and Madrid's Complutense University, the largest university library in Spain.
""By having these things digitized with the Google Book Project, we're making information available for scholars from across the world, independently from time and place,"" said Don Johnson, head of UW Library Communications.
The Google Book Search is a search option on Google's website. Users can select this option and search the full text of books that have been digitized into the collection by key words and phrases.
""In the past, users have only been able to search books in general, like by author name, title or subject area. Now they can search by a phrase, like ‘to be or not to be,' for example. It will bring up a catalog entry of a book,"" said Google Spokesperson Megan Lamb.
The idea for a book search program is as old as Google itself. While Google's founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page were still graduate students in 1996, they were already working on a project with Stanford's digital library collection.
After a pioneer program, the program formally launched in 2004.
The program expands Google's goal to digitize all of the world's books and make them easily accessible for anyone with access to the Internet, Lamb said.
UW-Madison signed the agreement with Google with the interests of copyright holders and the interests of the university in mind, Johnson said.
""Protecting the rights of publishers, authors and other copyright holders is one of the highest priorities for the university. That is not something we're going to neglect,"" he said.
Google allows users to fully browse and view books with expired copyrights, documents that are in the public domain or have been published before 1923.
For copyrighted materials, users will only get the basic background of the book, a few lines of text and information about where they can buy or borrow the book. If publishers or authors of copyrighted materials do not want their materials digitized, they are excluded.
In addition, Johnson said Google has been extremely cooperative in recognizing the unique collection UW-Madison libraries have to offer.
UW-Madison possesses rare documents of not only the state's history, but also the United States', Johnson said. They include a book annotated by Isaac Newton, legal documents from the period of Edward II and documentation of Wisconsin's admission to the Union.
""The addition of the University of Wisconsin's collection will expand access to rich historical information,"" Lamb said.
Google and UW-Madison are still in the process of working out the logistical details, but Johnson said the university will be able to maintain and access all the documents posted on Google Book Search. Documents have already started being digitized.
Johnson said this cooperation will expose more scholars to UW-Madison and increase the credibility and status of the university
""We're taking the Wisconsin Idea worldwide,"" he said.
