Google will digitize hundreds of thousands of books from the Library, including selected portions of the Library's American history, literature, and humanities works collections, and make them searchable online through Google Book Search. With 13 physical locations as well as the original Rotunda, the Library contains more than five million volumes, 17 million manuscripts, rare books and archives, and rapidly-growing digital collections.
For scholars and readers all over the world, this offers even more access to the great works of history and culture. By simply searching online, researchers across the globe can discover books held on the shelves of the U.Va. Library, including a broad range of materials from American literature to Buddhist studies.
"This is an historic moment," said University President John T. Casteen III. "When Jefferson designed the University, he placed the library at its center -- both physically and academically. Reading and the quest for knowledge were all-important to him. Reaching out into the world -- what we now call Globalization -- was central to his vision of what an American university must do to promote the knowledge that sustains personal freedom. To have the library that is the clearest single emblem of this vision now assume a role in a vast, international digital library has special meaning here. It puts a distinctly contemporary meaning to our founder's dream of making knowledge accessible to all people."
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