Oxford Google Project

Project Description:

Oxford has concluded the first phase of its mass-digitization agreement with Google. The agreement between Google and Oxford covers only 'public domain' materials (i.e. Printed books for which the copyright has expired - principally, books published in the nineteenth century), and all the scanning work was undertaken on-site by Google. Volumes that have been successfully scanned and indexed are included in Google Book Search, with the degree of access to each item determined by an analysis of the date-of-publication and the copyright legislation that pertains in an end-user's domain. Under the terms of the agreement, Oxford receives a digital copy of each volume successfully scanned and these will be made publicly available and linked to records in the Bodleian Libraries' online catalogue. The addition of so many electronic books to the Bodleian's web-based library resources will not only provide a major increment in library service for users but also represents a significant step forward in the long-term aim of developing a 'virtual library' based on its incomparable physical collections.