Electronic Library - Where is the fun?

I can't remember when was the last time I visited a public library to get reference for my research. I missed the environment and the people. I used to hang around in the library all the time during my student years. Not because I'm a book worm or nerd but at that time lot of thing in library amused me. Of course that was before I discovered internet.

In 2004, Google start a mission which is very bold and ambitious, to digitally scan library books and make them searchable online. The program enables users to find matches within the full text of books, while publishers and authors monetize that information. Libraries like Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan, the University of Oxford, and The New York Public Library were among the pioneers. However, nnly books published before 1900 will be part of this project.

Well last night, when I watch "A Beautiful Mind" movie, story about a Nobel Prize-winning economist and mathematician John Forbes Nash, the Game Theory caught my attention. I never learn that in engineering school and I thought this theory must be an ancient mathematical theory so maybe I could try the Google Book Search to look for related books. It was really my fist time using the Google Book Search and I think the system really impressed me. Once again Google has proved that it can go through the billions of pages on its search engine to string together material on any subject that has been written about.

Personally I think the program can helps publishers from all over the world to market their books effectively. There is a link to the success story of some partners. So I guess I'm going to missed library for good.