Google donates $3M to help scan more rare documents

["Hamaker, Chuck" <cahamake@email.uncc.edu>]

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-11-22-google-world-library_x.htm?
csp=34#&POE=click-refer

Google donates $3M to help scan more rare documents
By Michael Liedtke, Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO - Google is giving $3 million to the U.S. Library of Congress to
help set up a system for creating digital copies of rare documents from around
the world - the latest step in Google's crusade to expand the amount of
information that can be indexed by its Internet-leading search engine.  With
the donation announced Tuesday, Google becomes the first business to back the
"World Digital Library," a concept that began to take shape about five months
ago.

The worldwide program is loosely modeled after the Library of Congress' American
Memory project launched 11 years ago.

Backed with $48 million in private donations and a $15 million infusion from the
federal government, the American Memory site at http://loc.gov/memory now has
more than 10 million items, including early maps of the United States as well
as photos and letters from the Civil War.

Librarian of Congress James Billington now wants to create similar sites devoted
to other cultures outside the United States and Europe.

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Chuck Hamaker
Associate University Librarian Collections and Technical Services
Atkins Library
University of North Carolina Charlotte
Charlotte, NC 28223