[Web4lib] Christian Science Monitor editorial about Google Books project

[Thomas Dowling]

On 08/12/2009 09:46 AM, Chris Strauber wrote:
> For consideration: In what way is the proposed Google Books deal
> different from the monopoly we've given to Proquest on dissertations
> and theses?

I can point to about 800k theses and dissertations freely available online from
non-Proquest sites.  I can point to a few thousand others for sale at
non-Proquest sites.  Proquest has some advantages - they're a one-stop shopping
option and their sales catalog is considered the primary finding tool for the
field - but there's no monopoly there.

> How about Early English Books Online? EEBO is actually a
> better example, in that all the contents are long, long out of
> copyright by definition.

And you're free to go to the public domain print copies and do the same
scanning and markup work Chadwyck-Healey did.

In both cases, there's one prominent commercial vendor in the field, but
nothing stopping any newcomers from setting up shop on equal legal terms.
AIUI, the Google book deal is different because Google alone would have legal
protection from copyright claims related to digitizing and selling orphan works.


-- 
Thomas Dowling
tdowling at ohiolink.edu