Offering the best possible online library seems to be the thing that all big players of the online scenery are trying to do. The latest to add the librarian job description on their CV is Microsoft, who has recently signed an agreement with the British Library.

Based on this agreement, Microsoft will build a digital library of over 100,000 books provided by the British Library and the best thing of this deal is that the two entities will work together and there's no risk of having any copyright infringement accusations surface later on. All of the books that will enter this indexing project will start being scanned and posted online as of next year.

Google on the other hand, the initiator of this online indexing idea, is involved already in a number of law suits for copyright infringement. Microsoft has enough experience with that sort of legal trouble to know how to avoid such conflicts and the agreement with the British Library states that all downloads will be legal.

Amazon.com Inc. announced late last week that it plans to provide Internet users with a system that will enable them to buy pages or entire chapters from indexed books, information that will be offered immediately but it will cost.

According to Microsoft spokesmen, this project isn't about making people turn to the digital alternative of the great classics, but to offer fast information from surces like cook books, travel guides and such.