• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, June 15, 2006

Google might have found a way to finally get some much-needed good publicity for its project to digitize books in public libraries. Google has made all of Shakespeare's plays available for free on a new section of the site.

The launch, which coincides with the start of this year's popular Shakespeare in the Park program in New York City, gives users access to all plays, arranged by category: comedy, tragedy, romance and history. Like Google's offering, Shakespeare in the Park is free.

The Google page also reveals that Google is among the sponsors of the celebrity-studded Shakespeare plays; this week, Liev Schreiber took the stage in Central Park as the lead role in "Macbeth." And the page includes a small graphic that links to the Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park page.

The move is obviously designed to garner some goodwill for Google surrounding its book project--under attack by publishing companies that fear people won't purchase books if they're available for free online. While publishing companies have challenged Google's digitization of books under copyright, it's clear that they are concerned that sales of much older works also will be affected.