Association of Research Libraries :: Google Book Search Library Project
http://www.arl.org/pp/ppcopyright/google/index.shtml

Google Book Search Library Project

This is an article on Google Book Search by the Association of Research Libraries

There are more orphans than in a Dickens novel. Google won’t say how many there are. But UC Berkeley Professor Pamela Samuelson estimates that 70 percent of books that are still in copyright have rights holders that can’t be found. Copyright infringement can be expensive – up to $150,000 per violation. So if you scan an old book and start selling copies of it, or displaying chunks of it on the web, and the orphan’s father shows up one day waving a paternity test in your direction, you could face a mean copyright infringement suit. Unless you are Google: Since all U.S. book copyright holders are now plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Google gets liability protection from authors who abandoned their books by not registering in its books database. If they show up later, all they can do is collect a little cash, change their book price or ask Google to stop selling the book.

So in partnership with major university libraries, Google began scanning and digitizing millions of books in 2002, from ones like Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales that are no longer copyrighted to the Harry Potter series to books whose authors and publishers cannot be located. The idea is simple, and audacious. Make the library of all libraries by converting every book ever published into an e-book that can be indexed, searched, read — and sold — online.

"The Google Book Search Settlement has been much in the news recently, with the Internet Archive, Philip K. Dick’s heirs, consumer groups and Microsoft registering their objections to the search giant’s agreement with authors and publishers. And now Justice Department anti-trust lawyers are meeting with Google about the settlement, raising the possibility of a full-blown anti-trust court showdown between the government and the world’s biggest search and advertising company."

Wired article about Google archiving books.

An intersting artical about "orphan" book. Those book out-of-print but still under copyright. Most of which it is impossible to find the appropraite rights holder.

Summary of the legal and commercial implications of Google book search by Pamela Samuelson.

"The Book Search agreement is not really a settlement of a dispute over whether scanning books to index them is fair use. It is a major restructuring of the book industry’s future without meaningful government oversight. The market for digitized orphan books could be competitive, but will not be if this settlement is approved as is."

article

Google and the Book Rights Registery

"Conclusion In the short run, the Google Book Search settlement will unquestionably bring about greater access to books collected by major research libraries over the years. But it is very worrisome that this agreement, which was negotiated in secret by Google and a few lawyers working for the Authors Guild and AAP (who will, by the way, get up to $45.5 million in fees for their work on the settlement--more than all of the authors combined!), will create two complementary monopolies with exclusive rights over a research corpus of this magnitude. Monopolies are prone to engage in many abuses. The Book Search agreement is not really a settlement of a dispute over whether scanning books to index them is fair use. It is a major restructuring of the book industry's future without meaningful government oversight. The market for digitized orphan books could be competitive, but will not be if this settlement is approved as is."

Googles own view on Googlebooks

We denken dat het een geweldig voordeel voor de uitgeversbranche zal zijn om auteurs en uitgevers in staat te stellen geld te verdienen aan boeken waarvan ze dachten dat deze nooit meer op de markt zouden verschijnen.

Three years ago, the Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers and a handful of authors and publishers filed a class action lawsuit against Google Book Search. Today we're delighted to announce that we've settled that lawsuit and will be working closely with these industry partners to bring even more of the world's books online. Together we'll accomplish far more than any of us could have individually, to the enduring benefit of authors, publishers, researchers and readers alike.

- The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Geoffrey Nunberg

also check out the link to google's mis-scannings..

August 31, 2009 article in the Chronicle of Higher Education that points out some endemic errors with the digitized book quality including grossly erroneous dates. Also points out the problem of monopoly.

Windows: Thanks to Google's drive to add more and more books to the Google Books project, including thousands of public domain volumes, you'll find quite a nice selection to choose from. Google Book Downloader helps you download them to PDF.

“The search results are extremely poor,” [...]. “Like nobody cares.” [...] “Google does get a lot of credit for putting it together and making it available,” [...] “But search capabilities are important for such a large collection of data. The archive’s value to the community is considerably reduced if it’s not conveniently searchable.” A year after Slashdot called attention to the bugs, the problems with the archive not only haven’t been fixed, but they aren’t reflected in the Google Groups “known issues” page. Asked if the bugs are documented anywhere, or if Google planned on repairing its library, a company spokesman was noncommittal. “We’re aware of some problems with the way search is working in Google Groups,” said Jason Freidenfelds, in an e-mail. “We’re always working to improve our products.” Templeton, who helped Google compile an index of historically significant Usenet articles when it first launched its archive, thinks Google’s neglect is a simple matter of economics.

"the rusting shell of Google Groups" ABANDONED FOR A REASON?

lessig lays out various problems and plans w/ copyrighting culture, in GREAT detail. i wonder if his ideas would work...

If you care about the future of books, you need to understand the Google Book Settlement. It's a complicated legal document, but we've talked to some of its architects, detractors, and defenders - and break it all down for you.

Understanding Google Books Copyright Settlement

Good, long article.

5 Ways The Google Book Settlement Will Change The Future of Reading: http://bit.ly/cAirab – Evgenia Firsova (diffidence) http://twitter.com/diffidence/statuses/12493469991

10 ways to use Google Books for Lifelong learning and research from makeuseof.com http://ow.ly/27fDf – Manchester Libraries (MancLibraries) http://twitter.com/MancLibraries/statuses/18022651860

Good post on ways to use Google Books

The great thing about Google is that you can take any of its services and extend it to uses that are not so obvious. We have seen the uncounted ways you can use Google Search. Now, take Google Books for instance.

10 ways to use Google Books for Lifelong learning and research from makeuseof.com http://ow.ly/27fDf – Manchester Libraries (MancLibraries) http://twitter.com/MancLibraries/statuses/18022651860