Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Google turns to libraries
Tony Sanfilippo is of two minds when it comes to Google Inc.’s ambitious programme to scan millions of books and make their text fully searchable on the Internet.
Under the Print Library Project, Google is scanning millions of copyright books from libraries at Harvard, Michigan and Stanford along with out-of-copyright materials there and at two other libraries.
Google has unilaterally set this rule: Publishers can tell it which books not to scan at all, similar to how website owners can request to be left out of search engine indexes. In August, the company halted the scanning of copyright books until November 1, saying it wanted to give publishers time to compile their lists.But publishers aren’t submitting all their titles, and many of the titles Google wants to scan are out of print and belong to no publisher at all.
On the one hand, Sanfilippo credits the programme for boosting sales of obscure titles at Penn State University Press, where he works. On the other, he’s worried that Google’s plans to create digital copies of books obtained directly from libraries could hurt his industry’s long-term revenues.
With Google’s book-scanning programme set to resume in earnest this fall, copyright laws that long preceded the Internet look to be headed for a digital-age test.
The outcome could determine how easy it will be for people with Internet access to benefit from knowledge that’s now mostly locked up, in books sitting on dusty library shelves, many of them out of print.
‘’More and more people are expecting access, and they are making do with what they can get easy access to,’’ said Brewster Kahle, co-founder of the Internet Archive, which runs smaller book-scanning projects, mostly for out-of-copyright works. ‘’Let’s make it so that they find great works rather than whatever just happens to be on the Net.’’
To prevent the wholesale file-sharing that is plaguing the entertainment industry, Google has set some limits in its library project: Users won’t be able to easily print materials or read more than small portions of copyright works online.
Google also says it will send readers hungry for more directly to booksellers and libraries. Many publishers’ remain wary.
“To endorse Google’s library initiative is to say it’s okay to break into my house because you’re going to clean my kitchen,’’ said Sally Morris, chief executive of the UK-based Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers.
“Just because you do something that’s not harmful or (is) beneficial doesn’t make it legal,’’ she added.
Morris and other publishers believe Google must get their permission first, as it has under the Print Publisher Program it launched in October 2004, two months before announcing the library initiative.
Google has deals with most major US and UK publishers. It scans titles they submit, displays digital images of selected pages triggered by search queries and gives publishers a cut of revenues from ad displays.
Under the Print Library Project, Google is scanning millions of copyright books from libraries at Harvard, Michigan and Stanford along with out-of-copyright materials there and at two other libraries.
Google has unilaterally set this rule: Publishers can tell it which books not to scan at all, similar to how website owners can request to be left out of search engine indexes. In August, the company halted the scanning of copyright books until November 1, saying it wanted to give publishers time to compile their lists.But publishers aren’t submitting all their titles, and many of the titles Google wants to scan are out of print and belong to no publisher at all.
On the one hand, Sanfilippo credits the programme for boosting sales of obscure titles at Penn State University Press, where he works. On the other, he’s worried that Google’s plans to create digital copies of books obtained directly from libraries could hurt his industry’s long-term revenues.
With Google’s book-scanning programme set to resume in earnest this fall, copyright laws that long preceded the Internet look to be headed for a digital-age test.
The outcome could determine how easy it will be for people with Internet access to benefit from knowledge that’s now mostly locked up, in books sitting on dusty library shelves, many of them out of print.
‘’More and more people are expecting access, and they are making do with what they can get easy access to,’’ said Brewster Kahle, co-founder of the Internet Archive, which runs smaller book-scanning projects, mostly for out-of-copyright works. ‘’Let’s make it so that they find great works rather than whatever just happens to be on the Net.’’
To prevent the wholesale file-sharing that is plaguing the entertainment industry, Google has set some limits in its library project: Users won’t be able to easily print materials or read more than small portions of copyright works online.
Google also says it will send readers hungry for more directly to booksellers and libraries. Many publishers’ remain wary.
“To endorse Google’s library initiative is to say it’s okay to break into my house because you’re going to clean my kitchen,’’ said Sally Morris, chief executive of the UK-based Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers.
“Just because you do something that’s not harmful or (is) beneficial doesn’t make it legal,’’ she added.
Morris and other publishers believe Google must get their permission first, as it has under the Print Publisher Program it launched in October 2004, two months before announcing the library initiative.
Google has deals with most major US and UK publishers. It scans titles they submit, displays digital images of selected pages triggered by search queries and gives publishers a cut of revenues from ad displays.
