Norwegian National Library Inches Forward

Here's an interesting experiment that shows the way for all national libraries:

Kopinor and the National Library of Norway signed a contract regarding a pilot project for digital books on the Internet.

Through the project, called Bokhylla.no (’Bookshelf’), the library will make all Norwegian books from the 1790s, 1890s and 1990s available on the Internet.

All titles from the 1990s and some titles from the 1890s – together approx. 50.000 books – are under copyright. These books will not be prepared for print or download, but will be made available to Norwegian IP-addresses.

There are things to fault - like limiting it to Norwegian IP addresses, and the fact that only some years are available - but it's a useful start.