[Web4lib] A Library to Last Forever - NY Times OpEd piece on GoogleBook Search

[Campbell, James (jmc)]

While I too have some concerns about the current Google settlement, note that none of the Google library agreements gives Google "hegemonic omnipotence." In each case Google provides the library with copies of everything done from that collection and the libraries can make those works available on their own sites or in other ways (e.g., Hathi Trust).  Their current negotiations with the National Library of France are an interesting case in point.  When concerns were expressed about Google monopolizing French cultural patrimony, Google simply offered the Library copies of all the out of copyright French works they are digitizing to use in Gallica and Europeana.

      - Jim Campbell

      Digital Access Librarian | Librarian for German
      University of Virginia Library | Charlottesville, VA 22904-4112

      513 Alderman | campbell at virginia.edu | 434-924-4985


-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of K.G. Schneider
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 7:31 AM
To: web4lib at webjunction.org
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] A Library to Last Forever - NY Times OpEd piece on GoogleBook Search

> The grizzled man with the fedora is a great image, but Mr. Brin does in
> fact have a point about people needing to travel. Every day people walk
> into our special collections library after travelling across the country
> or across an ocean. The tomes are not long lost, the folks in the Small
> Library know just where to find them, but some of the patrons are grizzled
> and there's the occasional fedora. Whips I haven't seen, I don't know if
> we have a policy on that.

This is absolutely true, but it doesn't negate my original point, which is
of an "editorial" (read: advertisement) that invoked a sense of urgency
through a flawed example. The New York Times was displaying the same
overweening deference I've seen from libraries that rushed into agreements
that may have given Google far more hegemonic omnipotence than is
appropriate for books that are or will be a public good. 

As a (non-STM) author, I'm well aware that long-term, my works are better
off in the Commons. What I am objecting to, as both librarian and author, is
how boldly Brin made an argument that wasn't even factually correct to
defend the construction of a for-profit monopoly by a company known for its
secretive and proprietary ways, and how long a leash he is granted by the
mainstream media and its consumers. I am willing to be labeled as un-hip and
un-cool for questioning our complacency with this arrangement. 

Karen G. Schneider



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