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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>
  • To: pcplantdb@lists.ibiblio.org, permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
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  • Subject: [pcplantdb] BBC NEWS | Technology | Google to scan famous libraries
  • Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2004 03:09:03 -0800


<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4094271.stm>

The libraries of five of the world's most important academic institutions are
to be digitised by Google.
Scanned pages from books in the public domain will then be made available for
search and reading online.

The full libraries of Michigan and Stanford universities, as well as archives
at Harvard,
Oxford and the New York Public Library are included.
Online pages from scanned books will not have adverts
but will have links to online store Amazon, Google said.
Lengthy project
"The goal of the project is to unlock the wealth of information that is offline
and bring it online,"
said Susan Wojcicki, director of product management at Google.
This is the day the world changes
John Wilkin, University of Michigan
There will also be links to public libraries so that the books can be
borrowed. Google will not be
paid for providing for the links.
It will take six years to digitise the full collection at Michigan, which
contains seven million volumes.
Users will only have access to extracts and bibliographies of copyrighted
works.
The New York library is allowing Google to include a small portion of books
no longer covered by copyright.
Thousands of Oxford's rare books will be made available online
Harvard is limiting its participation to 40,000 books, while Oxford wants
Google to scan books originally
published in the 19th Century and held in the Bodleian Library.
A spokeswoman for Oxford University said the digitised books would include
novels, poetry, political
tracts and art books.
"Important works that are out of print or only available in a few libraries
around the world will be
made available to everyone," she said.
About one million books will be scanned by Google, less than 15% of the total
collection held in the Bodleian.
"We hope that Oxford's contribution to this project will be of scholarly use,
as well as general interest,
to people around the world," said Reg Carr, director of Oxford University
Library Services.
Impact on libraries
"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?"
"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 revitalise the profession and make it more
meaningful."




  • [pcplantdb] BBC NEWS | Technology | Google to scan famous libraries, Lawrence F. London, Jr., 12/15/2004

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