Three local universities are joining Google's ambitious and controversial project to make millions of library books searchable online.

The Google Book Search Library Project would enable any Internet user to search for key words in books.

On Wednesday, Google announced it will scan and digitize as many as 10 million books from 12 universities, including the University of Chicago, Northwestern University and the University of Illinois' Chicago and Urbana campuses.

Google previously announced deals with 13 other university libraries. It already has more than 1 million searchable books at books .google.com.

For books under copyright, Google will provide a few lines of text that surround the search words, along with information about where to buy the book or borrow it from a library.

"We see this as an advertisement to use the physical collection," said U. of C. librarian Judith Nadler.

For books published before 1923 and therefore in the "public domain," Google will put the entire contents on its Web site. For example, a user could download and print out UIC's 19th century books about Chicago that escaped the 1871 Fire.

Google says it will ship books to a center to be scanned and digitized.

But authors and publishers say Google has no right to copy copyrighted books without permission or compensation. The Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild are suing Google.

The project will enrich Google by drawing users and advertisers to its Web site, said Authors Guild Executive Director Paul Aiken.

"When someone exploits a book for commercial advantage, they're supposed to cut the author in on it," Aiken said. "The digital future is not just for Google. It's for the people who provide the content."

Google says its project is "fully consistent" with copyright law.