As Google battles publishers over copyright issues, an AP story out this evening announces that Google Print “on Thursday will begin serving up the entire contents of books and government documents that aren’t entangled in [the] copyright battle.” I don’t think it’s live quite yet as my searches failed to turn up anything interesting, but we’ll see tomorrow. Here are some more details on what we can expect to see from Google Print (via the Washington Post):
The list of Google’s so-called “public domain” works – volumes no longer protected by copyright – include Henry James novels, Civil War histories, Congressional acts and biographies of wealthy New Yorkers.
Google said the material … represents the first large batch of public domain books and documents to be indexed in its search engine since the Mountain View-based company announced an ambitious library-scanning project late last year.
Update: So Google has rolled out the search function if you want to take it for a spin.