German Publishers Offer Alternative to Google Books

German publishers launched Libreka, an Internet book search machine of their own Wednesday, Oct. 10. They hope Libreka will rival Google Book Search while allowing them to keep control.

Rüdiger Salat, a board executive at Holtzbrinck, the top German-based book publisher, said Google might someday become a partner to publishers. But for now it was still “more an enemy.”