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.
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.
my del.icio.us/library
Recent Comments