The Million Book Project, an effort led by Carnegie Mellon University to create an online library, has digitized 1.5-million books and made half of them freely available online, according to a statement released today by the university.
Most of the scanning, digitization, and cataloging of the books takes place in China and India. Zhejiang University, in China; the Indian Institute of Science, in India; and the Library at Alexandria, in Egypt, are partners in the program. It is part of a growing movement to provide free academic material online. This fall some college students in Ethiopia and Indonesia began using free digital texts written by professors volunteering for the Global Text Project.
Books in the Million Book Project are available in multiple languages. About half the current collection is under copyright, so only about 10 percent or less of the material in these books is available online.—-Andrea L. Foster
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