Stanford signs Google Book Search agreement and brings millions of old and out-of-print books to our fingertips

Back in 2008 Google secured a landmark settlement with authors and publishers in the U.S. Both The Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers agreed to the deal, opening up a truly vast number of books and periodicals and other written materials. The settlement received a lot of flak from authors, and Google paid $125 million to resolve a lot of claims made by troubled writers.

Since 2008 a lot of libraries have jumped on-board, opening the doors to their massive collections so that they can be scanned by Google. Today, Stanford, home of one of the finest libraries in the U.S., has joined the program and signed the agreement. Unlike the original agreement made back in 2004, the 2008 agreement allows deeper and more extensive access to works, and the ability to read (and search) complete books and writings online.

Most importantly, the new agreement lets Google, and us, enjoy the wealth of abandoned and out-of-print books sitting in libraries like Stanford's all around the world. In many cases, it's impossible to contact the original copyright holder, or even to get a copy of an out-of-print book -- now Google can scan these books without permission (and there's a website for authors to claim their work).

Keep an eye on Google Books -- I would expect some ancient and esoteric gems to start appearing from the dark depths of Stanford!

Tags: ebook, google, google books, GoogleBooks, knowledge, library, online, search, stanford