Digital Book Index Launches Ebook Search Engine

Posted on September 5, 2003

Ebooks are not yet a major commercial success, but they are still growing in number. The Digital Book Index is an ebook directory that provides access to more than 73,000 ebook titles. The Index also continues to add new titles. A note on the Index's website suggests how important ebooks have already become: "While there are still large gaps, a very substantial body of 'Western' thought is available in the form of downloadable or on-line books."

The Digital Book Index gathers both commercial and non-commercial ebooks from more than 1800 publishers and private publishing organizations. There is no charge to search the website's database. The website also includes a helpful page which allows users to download the last software for reading ebooks.

Titles in the Digital Book Index range from ancient agriculture to space flight. Major disciplines are also covered including literature, history, science, social science, medicine, the arts and religion. An extensive reference section includes more than 2000 dictionaries, encyclopedias, thesauri, glossaries, bibliographies, timelines, chronologies, literary histories. There is also a section about writing & style guides.

More than 25,000 titles from public archives are available free, while many others are available for a fee. Library subscribers to NetLibrary will find most of those ebooks indexed as well. Thousands more contemporary titles, ranging from the Nancy Drew mysteries to Star Trek, Ernest Hemingway or John Le Carr�, are available from leading publishers such as Random House and Simon & Schuster.