From the College Librarian

A Not-So-Quiet Revolution
 


Slaving away in some of the world's great libraries are workers under contract with Google to digitize all or parts of those libraries' collections. Google currently has digitizers working at

  • The Bavarian State Library
  • Cornell University
  • Harvard University
  • Ghent University
  • The National Library of Catalonia
  • The New York Public Library
  • Oxford University
  • Princeton University
  • Stanford University
  • University of California
  • University Complutense of Madrid
  • University of Lausanne
  • University of Michigan
  • University of Texas
  • University of Virginia
  • University of Wisconsin

Over the next decade Google hopes to scan some 15 million books.

At the same time, another organization—the non-profit Open Content Alliance—has signed agreements to begin digitizing books within the Boston Library Consortium, which includes libraries at Northeastern University, Tufts University, University of Connecticut, University of Massachusetts, University of New Hampshire, Amherst, Dartmouth, Wellesley, and Williams.

Google will allow users to see the full text of all books no longer under copyright (i.e. everything published before 1923), and to download these books free-of-charge. To comply with copyright law (see below), Google will allow users to see only snippets of all other works (although they may search the complete text of these works). The Open Content Alliance is currently digitizing only those books not under copyright.

The repercussions for libraries and researchers will be enormous.

  • A mammoth amount of literature is becoming available, instantaneously and free of charge, to anybody with an internet connection.
  • Researchers can search the entire content of books in ways never before possible.
  • Libraries have begun asking themselves whether they need to keep on their shelves copies of works now freely available over the web.
  • Publishers are scared, and have sued Google, claiming it has no right to make available snippets of works still under copyright. Google claims it is working within fair-use guidelines. Any decision will likely be appealed to higher courts, and will send waves throughout the legal world. (Nobody has questioned Google's or the OCA's right to digitize books not under copyright.)
  • A new market for electronic book readers is emerging, and will continue to grow as more literature becomes available in electronic form. The Sony Reader and iRex iLiad are beginning to sell well.
The Google book project is well along, and I encourage you to take a look. These are heady, uncertain, and exciting times for all who seek information.