Google looks at compiling a massive book database

Google.com has begun discussions with book publishers to compile a searchable database of the contents of thousands of volumes, a publishing executive briefed on the project said Monday.

David Krane, a spokesman for Google, declined to comment.

Google's move coincides with a recent effort by Amazon.com to court Internet users looking for information -- the people who now increasingly turn first to Google -- by enabling them to search for words or phrases in its own database of the contents of thousands of books.

Amazon said the service was intended to please its customers and sell more books, but the archive of books also helps make Amazon more attractive as a source of information.

Now Google appears to be retaliating by trying to build a rival archive of its own.

Amazon, Google and other Web sites compete fiercely to become a habitual first stop on the Internet for as many users as possible.

A newsletter from Publishers Weekly, a trade magazine, reported the moves Monday.

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
THE NEW YORK TIMES