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British Library and Google Announce Partnership to Digitize Books

The British Library and Google have announced a partnership to digitise 250,000 out-of-copyright books from the Library’s collections.

This major project plans to digitise up to 40 million pages from 1700-1870, from the French Revolution to the end of slavery, opening up access to one of the greatest collections of books in the world, this demonstrates the Library’s commitment, as stated in its 2020 Vision, to increase access to anyone who wants to do research.

Selected by the British Library and digitised by Google, both organisations will work in partnership over the coming years to deliver this content free through Google Books http://books.google.co.uk and the British Library’s website www.bl.uk

Google will cover all digitisation costs for this project. Google has already partnered with over 40 libraries around the world.

Image: De Natuurlyke Historie van den Hippopotamus of het Rivierpaard, George Louis Leclerc (1775), [The Natural History of the Hippopotamus, or River Horse] – Translated from a French original but with additional material, including an account of the stuffed Hippopotamus in the Prince of Orange’s cabinet of curiosities. British Library

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the world’s greatest research libraries. It provides world class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world’s largest and most comprehensive research collection. The Library’s collection has developed over 250 years and exceeds 150 million separate items representing every age of written civilisation and includes books, journals, manuscripts, maps, stamps, music, patents, photographs, newspapers and sound recordings in all written and spoken languages

www.bl.uk

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