It seems that York University has joined the Univeristy of Toronto in the Internet Archive’s out-of-copyright book digitization project. This came to my attention via Michael Geist’s twitter feed.
Having been on boths sides of the Canadian Libraries project (scanning these 685 books on the evening shift at Robarts, and as grateful user of digitized materials like this), I’m very glad to hear that their electronic collection will continue to grow apace.
From Google settles landmark lawsuit over book scanning [Library Journal] :
If approved by a federal judge, the settlement would end a class-action suit filed September 20, 2005 by the AG and certain authors, and another suit filed October 19, 2005 by five major AAP members. It would transform Google Book Search into a major online bookstore, creating a one-stop experience for users who wishing to search, access, print or buy copies of books. The announcement comes just weeks after LJ reported reported on October 10 that a settlement was imminent… [read more]
A settlement is good, but a verdict confirming Google’s approach as fair use would have been better. For more information on what this will mean for Google Book Search product, there’s more detailed information from Google.
This paves the way for some seriously innovative offerings that will be particularly relevant to special libraries. When trying to find titles for ILL I have frequently come up empty at local libraries but found exactly what I need on Google. Depending on the price point, this could be a real lifesaver.
From Publishers Sue Georgia State University Over E-Reserves [Library Journal] :
The federal lawsuit was filed against Georgia State University (GSU) in Atlanta by Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and SAGE Publications, and supported by the Association of American Publishers(AAP). It charges GSU with “pervasive, flagrant, and ongoing unauthorized distribution of copyrighted materials” via its “electronic course reserves service, its Blackboard/WebCT Vista electronic course management system, and its departmental web pages and hyperlinked online syllabi available on websites and computer servers controlled by GSU. [read more]
Kottke’s guest blogger has posted a fantastic interview with Cory Doctorow on copyright, 21st century literature, and appropriately compensating artists for the indexing and public availability of their work :
“You know, the fact that Amazon or Google want to show quotes from your book alongside search results for people who are trying to find out which books contain which string, I think it’s just crazy to say that you deserve to be compensated for that even if they could figure out a way to make money off of it. Indexing books is just not in the realm of things that we deserve to get compensated for, any more than library lending is.
And I know that in Europe they do have a library right, and you actually do get compensated for library use. I actually think that’s kind of gross. I don’t think that’s good public policy. If we want to subsidize writers with public money, don’t take it out of the budget of the library. What a disaster for public policy, for good stewardship, to take money out the hands of the public libraries. What a disaster that writers have actually endorsed this plan.”
If that doesn’t provide a clear enough picture of his position on digital re-distribution of copyright works, here’s what he says in the bio on his personal website:
“I believe that we live in an era where anything that can be expressed as bits will be. I believe that bits exist to be copied. Therefore, I believe that any business-model that depends on your bits not being copied is just dumb, and that lawmakers who try to prop these up are like governments that sink fortunes into protecting people who insist on living on the sides of active volcanoes.”
At the risk of violating my personal prohibition against bandwagon-jumping and/or endorsing unabashed declarations of historical inevitability… can I get an amen, brothers and sisters?
In any case, I think the “library right” to which he refers in the first quote above may be the “rental and lending right” established in Directive 1992/100/EEC (since replaced by Directive 2006/115/EC), although my familiarity with law there is not sufficient for me to say so with any great degree of certainty.
In Canada we have the Public Lending Right Commission. According to it’s FAQ, the Commission disbributes payment to authors of registered “works of fiction, poetry, drama, children’s books, scholarly books, and general non-fiction” that meet certain criteria, with compensation being based on their presence in the catalogues of a representative sample of Canadian public libraries rather than tied to circulation statistics or any other measure of use.
In February of this year, $9 million in public funds were distributed among some 15,000 authors (an average payment of $588 per author). Given that compensation was capped at a maximum of $281.05 per title, I guess that means the ‘average’ compensated author has 2.09 works in the registry; however, compensation is calculated using a sliding scale whereby recent works are worth more than older ones.
I can’t help but wonder if Cory, an ex-pat Canadian, has registered any of his numerous titles?
Libraries rebuff Google and Microsoft on offers to place books on Web [Int’l Herald Tribune] : “The[se] research libraries, including a large consortium in the Boston area, are instead signing on with the Open Content Alliance, a nonprofit effort to make digital material as widely accessible as possible.”
Google’s approach is to scan everything in a collection order to create an unparalleled full-text finding aid that leads users toward purchasing access to a title (or locating a hard copy at a nearby library), whereas OCA only scans out-of-copyright works so as to post titles in their entirety without onerous restrictions.
Library of Congress Advances 2 Digital Projects Abroad [New York Times] : “The world library started two years ago with a $3 million grant from Google and technical assistance by Apple. Initially, five other libraries contributed material for the prototype, including the national libraries of Egypt, Brazil and Russia.”
World Digital Library’s prototype unveiled [AP / Int’l Herald Tribune] : “The digital library’s five other partner institutions are Egypt’s Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the National Library [and Archives] of Egypt, the National Library of Brazil, the National Library of Russia and the Russian State Library.”
According to the Tribune, the World Digital Library will be “modeled on the Library of Congress’ American Memory project”, which I think is excellent news.
A brief streaming video outlining the project is available at the WDL’s website, along with a PowerPoint deck from the 2006 IFLA World Library and Information Conference.
While the initiative itself is not new — it was announced back in November of 2005 — having six national libraries formally on board and actually producing content means that might not remain in the prototype stage for too much longer.
Microsoft’s Live Search Books, which indexes texts digitized by the Internet Archive, is now out in beta. [CNet]
Some sample searches:Robert Louis Stevenson, Shakespeare, poetical works, Toronto, ontology.
The Tech Museum’s Tech Awards have named the Internet Archive a 2006 Prize Laureate in the education category in recognition of Archive.org’s Wayback Machine and book scanning technologies.
Here’s a quick round-up of articles on the rival book scanning partnership involving (among others) Yahoo!, Microsoft, and The Internet Archive:
Of course, the Internet Archive has been scanning books since before Google Print came to light; however, Google’s aggressive expansion appears to have spurred the tag-teaming with Yahoo! and MSN. For a taste of what the Open Content Alliance is producing, check out The Open Library; this document lays out founder Brewster Kahle’s vision for the project.
Legal action against Google by copyright holders has taken an interesting twist, too, with Google subpeonaing Yahoo! and Microsoft (among others) for documents meant to bolster its defence.
From Cyril Davenport’s English Emobroidered Bookbindings:
“The application of needlework to the embellishment of the bindings of books has hitherto almost escaped special notice…”
The PDF version of this wonderfully illustrated and typeset 1899 work is fabulous. More proof of the brilliance of The Internet Archive’s mass digitization project. Here’s a ton of items recently scanned at U of T. I really wish I could be a part of this, given that it’s so close by…
my del.icio.us/library
Recent Comments