first batch of Google Print books now available

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc. and four U.S. libraries plan to unveil on Thursday the first collection of thousands of mostly 19th century American literary and historical works as the Web search leader seeks to regain momentum for its project to put library books online. ~ "Today we welcome the world to our library," Mary Sue Coleman, president of the University of Michigan said in a statement. "As educators we are inspired by the possibility of sharing these important works with people around the globe." The works are just a small fraction of the information that the Google Print project plans to eventually make available. "Any researcher or student, whether they're in New York or New Delhi can now research and learn from these books that previously were only available in a library," said Susan Wojcicki, vice president of product management at Google. [full article]