[Web4lib] A Delicious Future for Libraries?

[Maurice York]

Rose-colored glasses are undesirable in any context. By the same
token, perhaps we can forego the uniformly cynical and combative
stance towards this undertaking by Google and the five libraries, and
find a more moderate and balanced center for discussion. The language
of "us versus them" is at least as counterproductive as the uncritical
praise.

To speak specifically to the "anglophone bent", we should not be so
derisive to the collection policies of Michigan, Stanford, et al as to
imagine that they have only collected books from Western countries
over the last several centuries. A significant portion of their
holdings are in non-Western languages and scripts, and they will be
scanned along with everything else. Now, granted, some search tools
for indexing and retrieving non-Roman characters and scripts would be
immensely valuable and important.

-Maurice

--
************************************
Maurice York
Team Leader, Circulation and Reserves
Woodruff Library
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322
mcyork at emory.edu

On 11/3/05, Dale Askey <daskey at ksu.edu> wrote:
> I have to second Karen's objection to the statement she quotes from
> Peter's article. Such uncritical hyperbolic statements about Google's
> undertaking really need to stop. One wishes that people both on this
> list and elsewhere were so uncritically enthusiastic about libraries'
> efforts to tackle large projects. We flagellate ourselves bloody picking
> on our own shortcomings, yet some choose to greet Google with the
> rose-colored specs firmly placed on their noses.
>
> Google already restricts the ability of users in other countries to see
> certain texts in Google Print, and their recent "launch" of
> international Google Print sites just puts some fancy window dressing on
> an ugly rights problem. Moreover, Google Print clearly has an anglophone
> bent, ignoring the fact that many of the "world's greatest works" have
> appeared in languages that currently can't easily be dealt with in a
> project such as Google's (Fraktur or Arabic, anyone?).
>
> Google Print is not "amazing" (except in the sense that it's amazingly
> frustrating in its inconsistency), it's an interesting start into
> something much larger and complex than even mighty Google can imagine.
> In a few years we'll laugh at such megalomaniacal designs when a more
> realistic and workable reality emerges.
>
> Dale
>
>
> Karen Coyle wrote:
> > I think that this statement is not true:
> >
> > "The collections of the University of Michigan, Harvard University,
> > Stanford University, the New York Public Library, and Oxford University
> > will be accessible to anyone, anytime, anywhere. This is amazing. The
> > world's greatest works of art, history, science, engineering, law, and
> > literature are about to join the public Web. "
> >
> > The collections are not joining the web, and the collections are not
> > accessible. You can do *discovery* through Google, but good luck
> > borrowing the book. Public Domain items may be available in their
> > entirety, but in a very degraded form for using or reading. Remember,
> > Google is creating an index, not e-books, and not a library.
> >
> > kc
> >
> > Peter Morville wrote:
> >
> >> Some thoughts about the future of librarianship:
> >>
> >>     Ambient Findability: Libraries at the Crossroads of Ubiquitous
> >> Computing and the Internet
> >>     http://www.infotoday.com/online/nov05/morville.shtml
> >>
> >> I'd love to hear reactions whether positive or critical or both. Thanks!
> >>
> >>
> >> Peter Morville
> >> President, Semantic Studios
> >> http://semanticstudios.com
> >> http://findability.org
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Web4lib mailing list
> >> Web4lib at webjunction.org
> >> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
>
> --
> Dale Askey
> Web Development Librarian
> KSU Libraries
> 118 Hale Library
> Manhattan, KS 66506
> (785) 532-7672
>
> _______________________________________________
> Web4lib mailing list
> Web4lib at webjunction.org
> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
>