Linux.com writes about online library (Universal Library Project) which has made 1.5 million books freely available in digitized format. According to the researchers’ estimates, the Universal Library collection currently represents one percent of the approximately 100 million books to ever have been published.

An international venture called the Universal Library Project has made more than one million books freely available in digitized format. […] One and a half million books in more than 20 languages, including Chinese, English, Arabic, and various Indian languages, are now accessible via a single Web portal. The online library includes rare and out-of-print books from private and public collections around the world.

There are plenty of books that are no longer in copyright, and that have long been forgotten, but which would be useful to scholars, students, and just the general population – says Michael Shamos, co-director of the project at the Carnegie Mellon University in the US. However, don’t be too excited. You won’t find books newer than 1920 there – at least I couldn’t find them. No doubt Amazon is still the best. Of course, only when you want to pay for your books.