It is working with publishers to provide indexed versions of texts for web surfers, The New York Times said.
US-based Google reportedly described the project - known as Google Print - as a test version and said it was not yet generating any revenue.
Online retailer Amazon.com offers a similar facility with 120,000 books.
"Google Print is consistent with what we've been doing since Google first started," said Susan Wojcicki, the company's director of product management.
|
Amazon customers can read excerpts from 120,000
books |
Google is still assessing how the service might generate income.
The site gave details of the project on Wednesday after users began noticing the content in their search results.
When books are found during a search, the information is preceded by the words "Book Beta".
While the service does not index or provide the full text of books, the company said it was talking about the idea of hosting electronic texts for publishers.
In October, Amazon.com began a service called Search Inside the Book which allows customers to search and preview content.
This led to speculation that Amazon might compete with Google as a general search provider.
But Google said Amazon was a partner in its new project, and its results page
directed users to the Amazon website.
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