Abstract
As part of its recently announced involvement with the Open Content Alliance (OCA), Microsoft will scan 100,000 books from the British Library, adding about 25 million pages of text to an online archive. The OCA is a project led by Yahoo that takes an approach different from Google's in digitizing books and making them available online. Whereas books both with and without copyright protection are to be included in Google's scanning, officials with the OCA have said they will only scan books that are in the public domain or for which they have obtained permission from copyright holders. Microsoft has an established relationship with the British Library, providing tools and resources as part of the National Digital Library plan. Lynne Brindley, chief executive of the British Library, said Microsoft's latest announcement is "great news for research and scholarship and will give unparalleled access to our vast collections to people all over the world."