Skip to main content

Google partners with British Library to digitize 250,000 books

British-Library
Image used with permission by copyright holder

We all like free stuff. Especially when there’s lots of it. One free book is great, but how about 250,000 of them? That’s the number Google will soon be making available thanks to a newly formed partnership with the British Library. All of the out-of-copyright books will be digitized by Google — which will also handle all associated costs — and placed on the Google Books UK website.

The project covers a period spanning the years between 1700 and 1870, a press release reveals. The focus is on converting those books that aren’t otherwise available in a digital format. The source material comes in a variety of European languages and covers a vast range of topics, everything from the French and Industrial revolutions to major inventions like the railroad to the end of slavery. The process will happen over the course of several years, with content being made available both on the Google Books website and directly through the British Library.

Several texts are named as the first to be digitized, including feminist pamphlets about Queen Marie-Antoinette, details of the first combustion engine-driven submarine and — this is a weird one — an account of a stuffed Hippopotamus owned by the Prince of Orange. Once they’ve been processed and placed online, users will be able to browse through the books, perform a full text search or download content for reading.

British Library chief executive Dame Lynne Brindley sums up the idea driving this partnership in a statement. “In the nineteenth century it was an ambition of our predecessors to give everybody access to as much of the world’s information as possible, to ensure that knowledge was not restricted to those who could afford private libraries. The way of doing it then was to buy books from the entire world and to make them available in Reading Rooms.”

“We are delighted to be partnering with Google on this project and through this partnership believe that we are building on this proud tradition of giving access to anyone, anywhere and at any time. Our aim is to provide perpetual access to this historical material, and we hope that our collections coupled with Google’s know-how will enable us to achieve this aim.”

Editors' Recommendations

Adam Rosenberg
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…
16-inch MacBook Pro gets a $250 price cut at Amazon for Black Friday
16 inch MacBook Pro deal from Amazon for Black Friday 2020

We're less than a day away now from Black Friday, but online retailers like Amazon have already hit the ground running with their Black Friday deals. The Amazon Black Friday deals in particular have been especially good so far, and that includes their current Black Friday laptop deals and their Black Friday MacBook deals. And a fantastic example of the latter, is one of the retailer's best discounts on MacBook: a 16-inch MacBook Pro with a $250 price cut.

A $250 discount on a new 16-inch MacBook Pro is nothing to sneeze at. Especially when you consider that the discount knocks a hefty price tag of $2,399 down to something a bit more manageable at $2,149. And all for a high-end MacBook Pro.

Read more
Google Pixelbook vs. Samsung Chromebook Pro
google pixelbook vs. samsung chromebook pro

Google's Chrome OS powers a host of Chromebook notebooks that have taken the PC market by storm. The platform's biggest impact is at the low end, particularly in education, but that doesn't mean inexpensive notebooks are the only options. Several vendors, including Samsung, offer higher-end machines. Even Google returned to the premium segment with its replacement for the defunct Chromebook Pixel.

Here, we compare the Google Pixelbook versus Samsung Chromebook Pro to see which machine takes the premium Chromebook crown. Both of these Chromebooks are convertible 2-in-1s with pens that allow for drawing, handwriting, and annotating documents, but are they actually in the same class? Read on to find out.

Read more
Apple MacBook Air, MacBook Pro in the sale bin at Amazon — save up to $250
Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch M1 Pro placed on a table.

We all know that Apple's MacBooks aren't cheap, but if you're really hell-bent on owning one, we've got great news for you. The 13.3-inch MacBook Air (the most affordable MacBook right now) and the 16-inch MacBook Pro (the most powerful MacBook) are both on sale at Amazon for as much as $250 off. Better hurry though since discounts on Apple devices, in general, don't tend to last long.

13.3-inch MacBook Air
— $900, was $1,000

Read more