[Web4lib] RE: More on the Open Content Alliance

[Richard Wiggins]

Roy and I debated the merits of the Google Print project at Internet
Librarian yesterday.  I took the "pro" side -- that the project is
worthwhile and something to celebrate.  Roy raised some very valid
cautionary issues.  (The product manager for Google Print, Adam Smith,
joined us for Q&A time.)

Thus Roy is far better equipped to represent why he finds Google's
secrecy as to technology a concern, but let me take a stab at it:

Google is trying to have it both ways: the Google Print project will
make it possible to search the full text of book collections held by
some of the leading research libraries on the planet. It sounds almost
pro bono.  Publishers are terrified of IP implications, but now we
learn that the technology for doing the digitization is also secret
and presumably IP that will be proprietary to Google.  A cynic might
conclude that the University of Michigan et all are really serving the
role of subsidiaries of Google -- granting the company access not only
to intellectual property that libraries do not own, but also letting
Google hide any details of the tools and techniques the project
entails. .

Try a thought experiment: if, say, the NSF gave a major research
library a $200M grant to do its own book digitization project,
wouldn't you expect that tools and techniques developed as part of the
project would be shared in scholarly papers and conferences, to the
benefit of any other library that wants to do likewise?

/rich

On 10/27/05, Perry Willett <pwillett at umich.edu> wrote:
> Others have commented on the OCA website itself, but I'd like to respond to
> an issue in Roy's message:
>
> >         Meanwhile, Google representatives still refuse to
> > answer any questions as to their procedures for scanning books in
> > the Google Library project, despite direct questions at Internet
> > Librarian today.
> > Roy
>
> Obviously, I'm not an objective observer here, but I don't see what
> difference it makes how Google scans the materials. The salient points are
> a) we're convinced that it poses no risks to our collection and b) the
> resulting digital objects meet the standards of the digital library
> community. For more on b), see our FAQ (especially Q16):
> <http://www.lib.umich.edu/staff/google/public/faq.pdf>
>
> (Bravo OCA!)
>
> Perry Willett
> Head, Digital Library Production Service
> 300 Hatcher North
> University of Michigan
> Ann Arbor MI 48109-1205
> Ph: 734-764-8074
> Fax: 734-647-6897
> Email: pwillett at umich.edu
>
>
>
>
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