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

[Elizabeth McAulay]

Well said, Karen. It's fascinating to see how much latitude Google gets as
opposed to Microsoft, but it's really just a public relations victory in my
mind. It's that old story about the scorpion riding across the river, "it's
in his nature" to sting.


-------------------------------------------
Elizabeth ³Lisa² McAulay
Librarian for Digital Collection Development
UCLA Digital Library Program
web: http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/
email: emcaulay[at]library.ucla.edu
phone: 310-825-7657




On 10/13/09 4:31 AM, "K.G. Schneider" <kgs at bluehighways.com> wrote:

>> 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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