The University of California has decided to become a part of the book-scanning project initiated by Google Corp. The university's action represents the addition of another 100 academic libraries to Google's controversial venture. The book-scanning project has been criticized for its alleged infringement of copyrights. The deal between Google and the university covers all libraries in its system, which includes ten campuses. It is the greatest expansion of Google's attempt to digitize millions of library books since an author and publisher group brought suit against the search engine giant in the fall of 2005. The University of California joins three other major universities in the United States, including Stanford and Harvard, all of which are contributing their library collections to Google's effort. Google wants to ensure that all of the knowledge currently on paper will make the transition to digital format. Parts of the New York Public Library and Oxford University libraries will also be scanned as part of Google's project. Google is paying the estimated tens of millions of dollars required to fund the project, which is expected to last about ten years. Google can afford to pay these costs, since it has collected about $10 million in cash during its eight years in existence. The company has invested in the digitization project because it wants to ensure that its search engine has unique material that will encourage users to visit its Web site. The site is the center of Google's advertising network, which generates most of the firm's profits.