Google Book Scanning Project

Google has scanned seven million books that are held in large collections. Over 4 million of these are out of print. The project was held up pending a lawsuit from publishers and authors claiming improper use of copyrighted material. The suit has now been settled. Google will continue scanning books, making twenty percent of every book visible at no charge. Images of full books will be available for purchase. This probably has limited importance for secondary schools, but it demonstrates the huge quantity of digital information that is becoming available.