“I think it makes the printed literature of the 20th century able to compete for student attention on the same terms as the new literature, which is born digital, and I think that’s extremely important because there’s a remarkable amount of very important work that was done in the past,” he said.

The complete digitization of library collections is the most significant technological change for libraries to date, Courant said.

“I really think (it) is the biggest transformation in the work of libraries ever,” he said.

But not all the volumes are currently readable because of problems with copyright law, according to Courant.

The Google Books Library Project is in the midst of a class action lawsuit with the Authors Guild regarding issues with copyrights. The lawsuit was initially filed against Google in 2005. The case has yet to be settled in court, according to Bunnell.

"It’s a class action, so the court has to approve any settlement proposed by the parties," Bunnell wrote. "The parties have in fact proposed a settlement, but the judge has not approved it yet."

This is the only lawsuit regarding copyright laws with which the project is currently involved, Bunnell added.

"We are confident that Google Books is fully compliant with U.S. and international copyright law," he wrote.