[Web4lib] RE: Google Allows Downloads of out-of-copyright Books

[Karen Coyle]

Note that the Google watermark on each page reads: "Hosted by Google."  
For some reason it really bothers me that they would watermark a digital 
book that they didn't even scan themselves. I feel like there's an 
element of taking possession going on, which is particularly 
inappropriate since these are public domain books. If it weren't for the 
metadata page with the statement about having been scanned by (etc.) for 
U Mich you wouldn't know it's a Michigan book at all. If there's a 
watermark, it seems that it should be giving credit to Michigan for the 
cost and effort of scanning, not to Google for hosting the file.

Oh, maybe I'm just pre-annoyed at this point.

kc

Riley, Jenn wrote:
> Wow, this is a new wrinkle! This is the first I've heard of books *not*
> digitized by Google but by the partner libraries themselves showing up
> in the Google service. Something to look into further, I suppose.
>
> Jenn
>
> ========================
> Jenn Riley
> Metadata Librarian
> Digital Library Program
> Indiana University - Bloomington
> Wells Library E170
> (812) 856-5759
> www.dlib.indiana.edu
>
> Inquiring Librarian blog: www.inquiringlibrarian.blogspot.com
>
>
>
>   
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Brian Sheppard [mailto:bsheppard at library.wisc.edu] 
>> Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2006 1:20 PM
>> To: Riley, Jenn
>> Cc: web4lib at webjunction.org
>> Subject: Re: [Web4lib] RE: Google Allows Downloads of 
>> out-of-copyright Books
>>
>> Jenn, it's from Michigan, scanned as part of ongoing 
>> preservation efforts. I gather Google gets a copy of these.
>> http://name.umdl.umich.edu/ABR0624.0001.001
>>
>> Here, you can't very easily download the whole book, but you 
>> can view the full text (dirty OCR).
>> And you can order a print-on-demand copy.
>>
>> -Brian
>>
>> On August 30, at 11:55 AM, Riley, Jenn wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> I'm wondering about the specific book Leslie linked to below 
>>> (Flatland).
>>> On p. 2 of the downloaded PDF, it says "Scanned by Imagenes 
>>>       
>> Digitales, 
>>     
>>> Nogales, AZ. On behalf of Preservation Division, The University of 
>>> Michigan Libraries." This whole page looks like something Michigan 
>>> would include in their own digitization. Is this a Google scan or a 
>>> Michigan scan? Does anyone know what's up?
>>>
>>> Jenn
>>>
>>>
>>>       
>>>> Message: 23
>>>> Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2006 11:02:11 -0400
>>>> From: Leslie Johnston <johnston at virginia.edu>
>>>> Subject: [Web4lib] Google Allows Downloads of 
>>>>         
>> out-of-copyright Books
>>     
>>>> To: web4lib at webjunction.org
>>>> Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.0.20060830110110.02d52520 at virginia.edu>
>>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
>>>>
>>>> All,
>>>>
>>>>         
>>>>> Google is adding a feature to its Google Book Search 
>>>>>           
>> service today 
>>     
>>>>> to allow PDF downloads of out-of-copyright books.
>>>>>           
>>>> http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/08/30/google-allows-downloads-o
>>>>         
>>> f-out-of-copyright-books/
>>>       
>>>> It's definitely not consistently available yet, but here's an
>>>> example:
>>>>
>>>> http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC18938030&id=HKackp-vG-YC
>>>>         
>>> &pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=abbott+flatland
>>>       
>>>> Sometimes it's full view only, sometimes it's download only, and 
>>>> sometimes there are both options.  The service is 
>>>>         
>> launching today, so 
>>     
>>>> I don't know if this is a bug or a feature ...
>>>>
>>>> Leslie
>>>>
>>>> ------------
>>>> Leslie Johnston
>>>> Head, Digital Access Services
>>>> University of Virginia Library
>>>> http://lib.virginia.edu/digital/
>>>> http://lib.virginia.edu/digital/das/
>>>> johnston at virginia.edu
>>>>
>>>>         
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Web4lib mailing list
>>> Web4lib at webjunction.org
>>> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
>>>       
>> --------------------------------------------------
>> Brian Sheppard
>> University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center
>> bsheppard at library.wisc.edu    (608) 262-3349
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>     
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>   

-- 
-----------------------------------
Karen Coyle / Digital Library Consultant
kcoyle at kcoyle.net http://www.kcoyle.net
ph.: 510-540-7596
fx.: 510-848-3913
mo.: 510-435-8234
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