This delightful title introduces even more delightful news: the participation of university libraries across the nation in scanning in their contents, expanding the quality of information available to both online students and the general public.

University officials and librarians believe that Jefferson would have, indeed, used Google.

From CNET News:"Thomas Jefferson would have loved Google Book Search. He believed in contemplating every possible idea. He advocated the diffusion of knowledge and the power of universities to make that happen," Mary Sue Coleman told attendees of the annual conference of the Professional/Scholarly Publishing division of the Association of American Publishers. The conference takes place this week in Washington, D.C.

Jefferson, the third president of the United States, resurrected the Library of Congress after British troops destroyed it in the War of 1812 and sold his own personal library to the government at bargain prices, she said.

"As a country, we are at risk of losing millions and millions of items that constitute our heritage and our culture, because of a lack of Conservation and planning. And libraries fare the worst when it comes to dedicating resources to preservation work. So conservation efforts are paramount," she said.

The University of Michigan is one of five institutions, besides Oxford, Harvard, Stanford and the New York Public Library, that are offering up their collection to be scanned, digitized and made searchable by Google.

"This project is about the social good of promoting and sharing knowledge. As a university, we have no other choice but to do this project," Coleman said.
How wonderful. Again, we must appreciate the opportunities online technology allows us.