Cornell University is Newest Partner in Google’s Library Project

As someone who is familiar with all of the great resources available via Cornell University’s Library system, I was quite pleased to see this recent announcement on a blog by William Rucklidge:

Cornell University becomes newest partner in Library Project

Wednesday, August 08, 2007 at 10:32 AM
Posted by William Rucklidge, Software Engineer

“I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study.”
— Ezra Cornell, 1865.

As a graduate student at Cornell University, I spent many hours in the library stacks. Cornell’s collections are outstanding in breadth and depth; there, it seemed to me, any student could indeed “find instruction in any study.” So I’m especially excited to share the news that Cornell has joined our Library Project aspart of its educational mission. The collection housed at the extraordinary Mann Library will be digitized, making it possible for people everywhere to search and discover books on environmental science, public policy, natural resources, and much more.”

In its quest to be the world’s land-grant university, Cornell strives to serve the scholarly and research needs of those beyond the campus,” said Cornell President David J. Skorton. “This project advances Cornell’s ability to provide global access to our library resources and to build human capacity across the globe.”This is tremendous news, and I hope people around the world will gain as much joy and enrichment from Cornell’s raries as I did.

To see what a Google Books Library Project looks like, click here.

“When you click on a search result for a book from the Library Project, you’ll see basic bibliographic information about the book, and in many cases, a few snippets – a few sentences showing your search term in context. If the book is out of copyright, you’ll be able to view and download the entire book. In all cases, you’ll see links directing you to online bookstores where you can buy the book and libraries where you can borrow it.”