This book recounts the history of the controversial Google Books project and the ongoing quest for a universal digital library. Libraries have long talked about providing comprehensive access to information for everyone. But when Google announced in 2004 that it planned to digitize books to make the world's knowledge accessible to all, questions were raised about the roles and responsibilities of libraries, the rights of authors and publishers, and whether a powerful corporation should be the conveyor of such a fundamental public good. This book traces both the history of Google's book digitization project and its implications for the future.-- From publisher's description.