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Google To Digitize, Make Available British Library's Historical Holdings

Posted by timothy on from the to-be-young-was-very-heaven dept.

pbahra writes with part of an excellent story at the WSJ: "The British Library today announced its first partnership with Google, under which Google will digitize 250,000 items from the library's vast collection of work produced between 1700-1870. The Library, the only British institution that automatically receives a copy of every book and periodical to go on sale in the United Kingdom and Ireland, joins around 40 libraries worldwide in allowing Google to digitize part of its collection and make it freely available and searchable online, at books.google.co.uk and the British Library website, www.bl.uk. ... As well as published books, the 1700-1870 collection will also contain pamphlets and periodicals from across Europe. This was a period of political and technological turmoil, covering much of the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, the introduction of UK income tax and the invention of the telegraph and railway. All of these topics are covered, as are the quirkier matters of the day, such as the account, from 1775, of a stuffed hippopotamus owned by the Prince of Orange."

8 of 86 comments (clear)

  1. But the IMPORTANT question is... by Serious+Lemur · · Score: 3, Funny

    What will Apple and Facebook do? They can't afford a British literature gap!

    1. Re:But the IMPORTANT question is... by buchner.johannes · · Score: 3, Informative

      Here is a talk by librarian Brewster Kahle on book archiving. He created the Internet Archive internet.org.

      With Google, its important to make a contract so that the content is really open to all.

      --
      NB: The message above might reflect my opinion right now, but not necessarily tomorrow or next year.
  2. Not the only one... by metageek · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is not the only British library that gets all publications, The National Library of Wales (http://www.llgc.org.uk/) also gets all publications that are published in the UK (and there is likely one also in Scotland)

    --
    metageek
    1. Re:Not the only one... by jcupitt65 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Actually the BL really is the only one to automatically get all publications. Five other libraries are entitled to a free copy upon request.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_deposit#United_Kingdom

      I know Cambridge gets everything with an ISBN, and from your post it sounds like Wales and Scotland do too. Things like PhD thesis only go to the BL though.

    2. Re:Not the only one... by Geeky · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Interesting, as it's covered by law in the UK. I wonder how it would apply to self-published books, such as books sold through the likes of Blurb or Lulu.

      Those companies are not UK based, so are not covered by the legislation. However, if I (as a UK resident) published a book, for sale to the public, via Lulu, would I be classed as publisher in terms of this legislation?

      --
      Sigs are so 1990s. No way would I be seen dead with one.
  3. Re:Now I am intrigued... by pieterbos · · Score: 3, Informative

    Put in your cabinet of curiosities of course, and show to visitors. What else would you ever do with it? The title Prince of Orange is held by the crown prince of the Netherlands. It refers to the french city called 'Orange'. The title still exists, but is not a claim of any sort on the city of Orange, which is part of France. See wikipedia for the rather strange history of the term

  4. This is going to be incredibly great by davide+marney · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The 18th century saw the birth of both the Industrial Age and the Age of Enlightenment. This was a time of profound change on a global scale that easily rivals the impact of our own information age.

    You may ask what is the point in studying history -- who cares about the impact of steam power, for example? Here's the thing: although technology improves over time, people basically remain the same. By understanding the dislocation of farmers to factories in 1750, you can gain insight into the dislocation of national workers to global workers today.

    To get access to literally every single published work from this period is going to be amazing. Bravo UK and Google!

    --
    "We receive as friendly that which agrees with, we resist with dislike that which opposes us" - Faraday
  5. Re:Now I am intrigued... by SMoynihan · · Score: 5, Informative

    Indeed, and the title is older than the English word "orange" itself. This was introduced to English in the early 1500's (just in time for Shakespeare to complain its lack of rhyme...), and is termed after the name for the fruit. Prior to this, the colour was "geoluhread" (yellow-red). Note, we don't call it "carrot", as (yellow-red) carrots were developed in the 1700s.

    Now, the house of Orange comes from the city, originally "Arausio", in southern France. This was named for the local Celtic water God of the same name.

    Being Irish, I admit I find it somewhat ironic that the "Orange-men" are originally termed for a pagan, Celtic god...