Nineteen European national libraries have agreed to digitize millions of books, to counter a deal Google made in December with five top American libraries to digitize millions of their books and publish them on the web for free.
"The leaders of the undersigned national libraries wish to support the initiative of Europe's leaders aimed at a large and organized digitization of the works belonging to our continent's heritage," a statement said. "Such a move needs a tight coordination of national ambitions at EU level to decide on the selection of works," it added.
