Google Book Search now offers a collection of complete, scanned books formatted into pdf files, free for download. Books include Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Dante’s Inferno, and Aesop’s Fables. The titles represent books that have fallen into the public domain and so have no copyright conflict. Google has stated that their service is for “personal use only”. When Google Book Search was first launched it was for accessing limited sections of copyrighted works, the idea was to make it easier for people to find books on a research topic and then quickly scan them to see if the contents matched their needs, and then be able to purchase the title. Today’s re-launch of the service now allows for both options – limited scanning of copyrighted works and full download and free use of public domain titles. To find the books, you’ll have to choose the “View Full Books” option from the front page and the twist is that you’ll only be able to access the books selected for your country. Google has set the service to detect a person’s country through their internet service connection and will be blocking out those trying to visit international versions of Google’s service. For instance, Canadians will be blocked from using Google Book Search’s library in the United States and will be limited to only accessing titles selected for the Canadian market. Every book contains a very carefully written disclaimer explaining the exact legal circumstances that allow for this service, including a full description on what “public domain” means.
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