The National Library of Netherlands, Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB), has announced an agreement with Internet search services provider Google. Under the deal, Google will digitise more than 160,000 out-of-copyright (public domain) books from the library's collection. The books will be fully searchable and accessible for free via Google Books and via the various KB websites. These books will also be accessible via the European Union's Europeana portal in the near future.
The books to be scanned constitute the majority of the library's public domain collection, and form an important addition to the corpus of public domain books that has already been digitised and made searchable in Google Books. The collection includes a wide range of historical, legal and social works published in the Netherlands during the 18th and 19th centuries and is expected to be of great interest to scholars and researchers in the Dutch-speaking world and around the globe.
Earlier this year, the KB announced plans to digitise all Dutch books, newspapers and periodicals from 1470 onwards. The agreement between the KB and Google is part of the KB's strategy to realise this ambition, and complements the library's own digitisation initiatives. The KB's agreement with Google follows on the heels of similar digitisation partnerships between Google and institutions including Harvard University, Oxford University's Bodleian Library, the Italian Ministry of Culture and the National Libraries of Italy in Rome and Florence and the Austrian National Library.
Scanning will take place over a number of years, and after digitisation, the books will be returned to the library so that they can be made available again in the reading room.
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