Microsoft to Offer
Digitized Books
Of British Library

SAN FRANCISCO -- Microsoft Corp. has teamed with the British Library to provide digital copies of books over the Internet, advancing a race with Google Inc. to give Internet users access to a larger body of printed works.

Under the agreement, Microsoft will scan and make available online 25 million pages in the library, a Microsoft spokeswoman said. The texts -- equivalent to about 100,000 books -- will be offered through Microsoft's MSN Search service sometime next year. Microsoft will pay the library $2.5 million for the scanning.

The British Library -- the United Kingdom's national library -- has about 13 million books. Microsoft and the library have agreed to scan more texts in the future, the spokeswoman said.

The deal follows Google's announcement yesterday that it has opened an online library of thousands of texts. The library will include Civil War regimental histories, government documents and other books printed before 1923 that are in the public domain and therefore aren't protected by copyright law.

Google's library is based on books from University of Michigan, Stanford University, Harvard University and the New York Public Library.

Separately, Amazon.com Inc. yesterday said it is introducing two new programs that allow consumers to buy online access to portions of a book or an entire book, giving publishers and authors another way to generate revenue from their content.

The efforts are part of a broader battle among Internet companies hoping to provide access to more content, and generate revenue from sources such as advertising tied to search results.

Microsoft will offer books through a service it is developing called MSN Book Search, which will allow library users to search through the collection. The books aren't subject to copyright restrictions, Microsoft said.

Write to Robert A. Guth at rob.guth@wsj.com