Microsoft launches book search beta

Microsoft is set to release Live Search Books, its competitor to Google Book Search, in beta today.

The book search engine performs keyword searches for books that have been scanned as part of Microsoft's book scanning project, in the same way that Windows Live Search searches the internet, said Danielle Tiedt, the general manager of Live Search Selection for Microsoft.

Initially, the Live Search Books database will be searchable from the book search engine's beta home page, or as a category on the main Windows Live Search page - a method referred to as vertical search. Once the tool is out of beta, Microsoft plans to incorporate all of the scanned publications into its general internet search engine. The company hopes to do this in the next six months, according to Tiedt.

Tiedt said: "As we move out of beta, what you will see is that book content integrated with the web content [search results on Windows Live Search]. What we are focusing more of our efforts on for live searching is integrating all of those content types together to give you the most relevant results. Sometimes the most relevant will be from books. If, for example, it's a search on historical content, chances are the most authoritative content may be found in a book."

Live Search Books' 'Search inside a book' feature also allows users to search the full texts of scanned books. Microsoft has restricted the beta release of Live Search Books to only include non-copyright books scanned from the collections of the British Library, the University of California and the University of Toronto.

The company plans to add books currently being scanned by robotic machines from the American Museum of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University and the New York Public Library within the next month. In a later release, Microsoft will also be adding copyright works that publishers have given permission to include in the scanning project.

All of the books in the Live Search Books database will offer full text views, according to Tiedt.

Microsoft also plans to announce today the addition of medical content to its Windows Live Academic Search, an engine that searches full texts of journals in conjunction with institutions' subscriptions to them. The addition of medicine as a category will "practically quadruple" the amount of available searchable content, according to Tiedt.

Candace Lombardi writes for CNET News.com