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To avoid the legal problems that have dogged Google Print in this field, the collection comprises out-of-copyright books from the 19th century and earlier, approximately 25 million pages worth of content. More books are promised to follow, but a spokesperson for the British Library insisted they would also be out-of-copyright works.

As an official 'Legal Deposit' that holds every published work in the UK - and soon to be an e-Legal Deposit for equivalent electronic publications - the Library knows to tread carefully around controversial copyright issues.

The British Library also stresses that this is a non-exclusive agreement providing free access and that it has worked with a number of other partners on digitisation projects, most recently the Turning Pages project with Armadillo Systems.

It is a miscellaneous collection of works. Titles include the likes of The tale of King Florus and the fair Jehane, printed by William Morris (1893, pictured), The Matlock tourist (1838) and Pack gear for elephants (1883), which includes 13 illustrations to show the

As is the way in Internet matters, search is the key issue for Microsoft. It declares that the new book service - due to launch, in beta form, next year - will help better deliver search results. It is already a crowded and controversial field, however. Google's early efforts (which have just resumed after a legal hiatus have provoked responses from both German publishers and French academics

This has not deterred Microsoft from the fray. 'Our partnership with the British Library is not only about digitisation and preservation,' said Bill Gates, 'but also about delivering a great experience for people accessing this amazing collection through British Library and MSN Web sites.'

Redmond has already been working with the British Library on its National Digital Library project. This is part of the library's 21st century digital strategy. As well as books the system will incorporate e-journals, e-books and CDs and DVDs. The library declares it is committed to use open standards, allowing it to adapt to future shifts in storage, preservation and access technologies.

Among the libraries signed up to the Google project are Oxford University's Bodleian Library of 19th Century works, Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan and New York's Public Library.

The British Library has not joined the Yahoo! and HP-backed Open Content Alliance, but a spokesperson said that it largely agreed with its aims and principles.