<div dir="ltr">Gary, the extent to which Google's efforts to digitize every book is in the interest of readers, publishers, authors and.or maybe none of them (and just Google's), is an absolutely worthwhile debate. I would argue that most of its ebook-related efforts to date, being generally DRM-free and open, have been far more preferable to the directions in the same realm taken by Apple, Amazon, and most publishers. Google is most definitely NOT the company with monopoly power in this field. Indeed, most of the areas in which Google is finding conflict are those which Amazon and Apple may not consider profitable enough but have at least the potential to create public good. While doing so certainly serves its interests, Google's ebook efforts have been pushing for a public commons well beyond what Apple, Amazon and publishers would like.<div>
<br></div><div style>BTW, the legal fights with Google have come not from libraries -- who generally applaud its actions -- but from independent authors' collectives who believe they should be paid more for the digitizing of their works (even in cases where the author can't be found). It's a legitimate grievance, but its debate cannot help but bring into focus some of the stupidity of current US copyright policy.</div>
<div style><br></div><div style>In any case, if this is the debate to have, that's fine. Let's just not conflate it with side-issues about airborne access points etc.</div><div style><br></div><div style>- Evan</div>
<div style><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 17 June 2013 16:55, Gary W Kenward <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:garykenward@eastlink.ca" target="_blank">garykenward@eastlink.ca</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div style="word-wrap:break-word"><div>Some references:</div><div><br></div>Harvard librarian Robert Darnton apparently initiated the backlash in 2009 with his New York Review of Books article "<a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/feb/12/google-the-future-of-books/" target="_blank">Google & the Future of Books</a>". <div>
<br></div><div>Pamela Samuelson (Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley) also published an article in 2009 on Huffington Post, "<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pamela-samuelson/google-books-is-not-a-lib_b_317518.html" target="_blank">Google Books is Not a Library</a>" (there are a series of articles on Huffington Post concerning the Google Books saga from Prof. Samuelson on the Huffington Post site).<br>
<div><div><br></div><div>Darnton wrote a summary of the struggle around Google Books in his 2011 article <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/apr/28/googles-loss-publics-gain/" target="_blank">Google’s Loss: The Public’s Gain</a>. The turn point for many was the issue of "fair use" being determined by a sole commercial entity, namely Google. </div>
<div><br></div><div>Darnton went on to foster the creation of the <a href="http://dp.la/" target="_blank">Digital Public Library of America</a>, launched April 18th of this year. So, for the moment, the American public is ahead.</div>
<div><br></div><div>I also found one book on the Google Books saga. I haven't read it, but the on-line reviews appear good.</div><div><br></div><div>"The Battle for the Books: Inside Google’s Gambit to Create the World’s Biggest Library", by Jeff John Roberts. It's vailable on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Apple. The Amazon price is currently $2.90.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Cheers,</div><div>Gary</div><div><div><div style="text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-variant:normal;text-align:-webkit-auto;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:normal;text-transform:none;font-size:medium;white-space:normal;font-family:Arial;word-spacing:0px">
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<br><div><div>On 2013.06.16, at 8:13 PM, Joly MacFie <<a href="mailto:joly@punkcast.com" target="_blank">joly@punkcast.com</a>> wrote:</div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">
On Sun, Jun 16, 2013 at 6:56 PM, Gary W Kenward <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:garykenward@eastlink.ca" target="_blank">garykenward@eastlink.ca</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">The only groups of people who have expressed a concern over Google's growing acquisition of information, as far as I know, are the various library associations around the world</blockquote>
</div><br><br>Source? I had thought libraries quite keen on the book scanning project. Any resistance has been from publishers and authors.</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">j</div><div class="gmail_extra">
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