Last year, 20,000 publishers signed an agreement with Google to become part of the Google Book Search project, according to Reuters. With the agreements the publishers guarantee space for the dissemination of their catalogs, in a research service of the American company entirely dedicated to publications, literary and others.
The books made available through this route are partially accessible for consultation, through some excerpts or chapters. To access all the content, the user is directed to the online store of the respective publisher where he can purchase the book.
Another aspect of Google’s book search service is powered by content provided by universities and their libraries. In this case, in a mixture of content protected by copyright and content of completely free access.
In this component of the program, over the past year, Google will have to recruit two new libraries, bringing to 29 the number of institutions that have joined the initiative.
In both aspects, there are Portuguese entries, with the agreements reached with Leya and the University of Coimbra.
Google does not officially confirm the numbers.
