Google's digital gift for European Publisher's

Google opens digital library to European book publishers
Google Inc is asking European book publishers to submit non-English material to its Internet-leading search engine - a move that may ease worries about the company's digital library relying too heavily on Anglo-American content.

It marks the first time that Google has sought submissions from non-English publishers since it began to scan books into its search engine index last year.

The Google Print undertaking represents a major piece of Google's effort to convert printed material into a digital format so it can be called up from any computing device with an Internet connection. By indexing the material, Google hopes to attract more visitors to its website and spawn more searches that generate advertising revenue.

Google's database already includes books printed in about 100 different languages, but all that material came from US, Canadian and Australian publishers that submitted a handful of non-English books on their own.

By reaching out to European publishers, Google hopes to substantially increase the volume of non-English books in its database, said Jim Gerber, director of content partnership for Google's print programme.

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