Though libraries recognize the benefits of digitizing public domain books for online archives, they have hit a fork in the road. Starting in 2004, Google began its archival program wherein libraries can have their collections scanned at no cost to them. The company makes no direct profit from the archives; however, the content does become part of its extensive search engine, and they can then control the distribution rights to the material. Google expects to scan more than 15 million books from libraries such as the New York Public Library, Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford. A noncommercial alternative is the new Open Content Alliance, a project of the Internet Archive which wants to grant universal access to library collections. Even though it costs as much as $30 a book, more than 80 libraries and research institutions- including the Boston Public Library and the Smithsonian- have signed on to the O.C.A. project thus far. The Library of Congress appears to be trying both roads out, with both a pilot program planned through Google and its first mass digitization project through O.C.A. Despite joining the O.C.A in 2005 with its own archival project, Microsoft now prohibits inclusion of its books in any commercial search engine other than its own, but the material can still be accessed freely for academic purposes. Many members of the academic and nonprofit communities recognize the benefits of universal access and keeping one company from controlling the knowledge. Others are more attracted to being able to reach more people directly through well-known search engines, and being able to digitize collections without having to devote resources and grant money to the projects. Which of these two roads will become the one more-traveled remains to be seen.