Microsoft will end its book search and academic search projects as it seeks to develop a sustainable business model for its search engine, the company said on Friday.

The company will also stop its library scanning and its in-copyright book programs, according to a post on a company blog related to its search business.

Given the evolution of the Web and our strategy, we believe the next generation of search is about the development of an underlying, sustainable business model for the search engine, consumer, and content partner, said Satya Nadella, Microsoft's senior vice president of search, portal and advertising.

The Redmond, Washington-based firm says that during the life of the projects, the company digitized 750,000 books and indexed 80 million journal articles. Microsoft will continue to integrate books and scholarly publications into its search results, but not through separate indexes, Nadella said.

He said he foresees that the best way for its search engine to make book content available will be by crawling content created by book publishers and libraries. The company says it is encouraging its partners to build on the platform it helped develop.

Microsoft will remove contractual restrictions on digitized library content. It will also make scanning equipment available to its partners and libraries to continue with the digitization programs.

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