[bookshare-discuss] Re: Fw: Google to scan library books
- From: Cindy <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 16:59:10 -0800 (PST)
Very interesting article. But re the last
paragragraph,I would think they'll put the books in a
special section, as they do with Google News, Google
Local, catalogs, Froogle, Images, etc. Call it Google
Library. That would make the most sense.
Cindy
--- Louise <lougou@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> >
> > Google to scan books from major libraries
> > New York library, Harvard, Oxford among
> participants
> >
> > The Associated Press
> >
> > Updated: 11:58 p.m. ET Dec. 13, 2004
> >
> >
> > SAN FRANCISCO - Google Inc. is trying to establish
> an online reading room
> > for five major libraries by scanning stacks of
> hard-to-find books into its
> > widely used Internet search engine.
> >
> > The ambitious initiative announced late Monday
> gives Mountain View,
> > Calif.-based Google the right to index material
> from the New York public
> > library as well as libraries at four universities
> - Harvard, Stanford,
> > Michigan and Oxford in England.
> >
> > The Michigan and Stanford libraries are the only
> two so far to agree to
> > submit all their material to Google's scanners.
> >
> > The New York library is allowing Google to include
> a small portion of its
> > books no longer covered by copyright while Harvard
> is confining its
> > participation to 40,000 volumes so it can gauge
> how well the process
> works.
> > Oxford wants Google to scan all its books
> originally published before
> 1901.
> >
> > Scanning books so they can be read through
> computers isn't new. Both
> Google
> > and Amazon.com already have programs that offer
> online glimpses of new
> > books while an assortment of other sites for
> several years have provide
> > digital access to some material in libraries
> scattered around the country.
> >
> > But Google's latest commitment could have the
> biggest impact yet, given
> the
> > breadth of material that the company hopes to put
> into its search engine,
> > which has become renowned for its processing
> speed, ease of use and
> accuracy.
> >
> > 'This is the day the world changes'
> > "It's a significant opportunity to bring our
> material to the rest of the
> > world," said Paul LeClerc, president of the New
> York Public Library. "It
> > could solve an old problem: If people can't get to
> us, how can we get to
> them?"
> >
> > Librarians are also excited about the prospect of
> creating a digital
> record
> > for the reams of valuable material written long
> before computers were
> > conceived.
> >
> > "This is the day the world changes," said John
> Wilkin, a University of
> > Michigan librarian working with Google. "It will
> be disruptive because
> some
> > people will worry that this is the beginning of
> the end of libraries. But
> > this is something we have to do to revitalize the
> profession and make it
> > more meaningful."
> >
> > The project gives Google's search engine another
> potential drawing card as
> > it faces stiffening competition for Yahoo Inc. and
> Microsoft Corp.'s MSN.
> > Attracting visitor traffic is crucial to Google's
> financial health because
> > the company depends on revenue generated by people
> clicking on advertising
> > links posted next to the main body of search
> results.
> >
> > Scanning the library books figures to be a
> daunting task, even for a
> > cutting edge company such as Google, whose online
> index of 8 billion Web
> > pages already has revolutionized the way people
> look for information.
> >
> >
> > Work will take years
> > Michigan's library alone contains 7 million of its
> library volumes - about
> > 132 miles of books. Google hopes to get the job
> done at Michigan within
> six
> > years, Wilkin said.
> >
> > Harvard's library is even larger with 15 million
> volumes. Virtually all of
> > that material will be off limits until Google
> shows it can scan the
> > material without losing or damaging anything, said
> Harvard professor
> Sidney
> > Verba, who also is director of the university's
> library.
> >
> > "The librarians at Harvard are very punctilious
> about protecting their
> > great treasures," Verba said.
> >
> > The project also poses other prickly issues, such
> as how to convert
> > material written in foreign languages, and the
> issue of protecting
> > copyrighted books.
> >
> > As it does with new books already included in its
> search engine, Google
> > will only allow its users to view the
> bibliographies or other snippets of
> > copyrighted books scanned from the libraries. The
> search engine will
> > provide unrestricted access to all material in the
> public domain - work no
> > longer covered by copyrights.
> >
> > The books scanned from libraries will be included
> in the same Google index
> > the spans the Web.
> >
> > By throwing everything into the same pot, Google
> risks burying the library
> > book results far below the Web documents
> containing the same search terms
> > term, reducing the usefulness of the feature, said
> Danny Sullivan, editor
> > of Search Engine Watch, an industry newsletter.
> >
> > Find this article at
> > URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6709342/
> >
>
>
>
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