Roy Tennant, Google Out of Print, Library Journal, February 15, 2005. Excerpt: 'Since Google announced its initiative to digitize all, or major portions, of the book collections in select research libraries, I've struggled to figure out what to think of it (see "Google Is Adding Major Libraries to Its Database."). This is so difficult, in part, because we have so little information....Evidence to the contrary, we must assume that Google does not wish to get sued out of existence for violating U.S. copyright law. Therefore, it will be able to display only tiny snippets of books under copyright. According to [Elizabeth] Edwards [of the Stanford libraries], "Google will be responsible for determining what's in copyright and what's not if there are any questionable materials, and copyright will drive what will be fully displayed."...The problem is that determining what is in the public domain can be difficult....Without expensive research, the only works that can be displayed in full are materials published before 1923....The only thing we know for sure is that the public will have access to all pre-1923 imprints digitized and an unknown number of post-1923 books. Unfortunately, I can think of few situations where having access to only pre-1923 literature is a good thing....What does Google want out of all this? Will it be satisfied with context-sensitive ad placements next to displayed books, with ads for antidepression medication shown next to Hamlet's soliloquy? I wonder, too, how Google plans to compensate its many shareholders impatiently waiting for a killing on their investment. Like many things about this project, Google isn't saying.'
Posted by
Peter Suber at 2/15/2005 01:08:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
