European Libraries want to Google digitise too

More news is coming out on the proposed European libraries project to counter or compliment (depending on how you look at it) Google's plan to digitise the contents of some major UK and US academic libraries.

"The European project will be an alternative to Google's online library

In a stand against a deal struck by five of the world's top libraries and Google to digitize millions of books, 19 European libraries have agreed to back a similar European project to safeguard literature.

Nineteen European national libraries have joined forces against a planned communications revolution by Internet search giant Google to create a global virtual library, organizers said Wednesday. The 19 libraries are backing instead a multi-million euro counter-offensive by European nations to put European literature online."

I'm not really sure why it has to be a competition. Isn't it just a good idea?

Thanks to Cory and Richard Swetenham for the links.

Now combine that with John Naughton's plan to change the world as explained by his colleague, Dr Seb Wills, in this BBC article, and you've got a real story.