Today Microsoft plans to introduce Live Search Books, a new beta service which enables users to search the full text of books via the Internet. Initial offerings will include books scanned from collections at the University of California, the University of Toronto, and the British Library; Microsoft plans to add additional content through partnerships with the New York Public Library and the American Museum of Veterinary Medicine, according to Microsoft’s Cliff Guren on the company’s Live Search blog; other sources have Microsoft in conversations with Cornell University as well.
Microsoft’s Live Search Books will compete with Google’s ambitious Book Search, which has drawn the ire of some copyright holders and publishers as a copyright infringement. Although Google does not make the full text of copyrighted works available via the Internet, publishers argue the mere act of scanning the entire book in order to provide “fair use” samples to searchers constitutes a violation of copyright. In contrast, books currently searchable via Microsoft’s Live Search Books are either out of copyright, or the copyrights are held by the partner institutions, although Microsoft apparently plans to work with publisher and copyright holders to secure permission to include copyrighted works in its service.
Microsoft plans to integrate advertising with Live Book Search, as well as strike revenue-sharing deals with book sellers. Over time, the company plans to integrate Live Search Books search results with its more general Live Search service, so search results from books will appear side-by-side with Internet, news, and other search results.
