|PIC1|Microsoft and the British Library today announced a strategic partnership to digitise 25 million pages of content from the Library's collections in 2006, with a long term commitment to digitise still more in the future.

The announcement made will digitise around 100,000 out-of-copyright books and deliver search results for this content through the new MSN Book Search service to provide a powerful research tool that would be available through the web.

Lynne Brindley, Chief Executive of the British Library, said, “This partnership helps us fulfil our vision of promoting ready access to our collection for everyone who wants to use it.”

"This is great news for research and scholarship and will give unparalleled access to our vast collections to people all over the world: the items digitised will be available to anyone, anywhere and at any time.”

The British Library's vast collection includes 13 million books, 7 million manuscripts, 4.5 million maps, 56 million patents, 3.5 million sound recordings, 8 million stamps, and 58 million newspapers in various formats. Of these, the Magna Carta, Lindisfarne Gospels and Sherborne Missal can already be found online on the Library’s ‘Turning the Books’ Gallery.


The National Digital Library

|QUOTE|The announcement follows the British Library’s continuing drive to build a National Digital Library. Predicting a ‘seismic’ shift from print publishing to digital, the British Library unveiled statistics earlier this year that would leave just 10% of new titles available in print alone by 2020.

“Most people are aware that a national switch to digital broadcasting is expected by the end of this decade. Less well known is the fact that a similar trend is underway in the world of publishing” she stated

“This is a seismic shift, and one that we – and our partners in the publishing and information industries – need 2020 vision to prepare for to maintain Britain’s competitiveness across all sectors, from business to the arts, from science to education and culture.”

Microsoft’s role in this is already gathering pace as they help build the infrastructure required for such a task by providing software tools, advice and technical support to the Library's experts.