Google Abandons Another No Brainer Database
June 9, 2011
In “Google Kills Google News Archive,” Techspot’s reporting the end of the Internet giant’s newspaper archiving project. We learned:
“Newspapers that have their own digital archives can still add material to Google’s news archive via sitemaps, but the search giant will no longer spend its own money toward the cause.” Users can continue to search digitized newspapers in the archive, but, the company isn’t going “to introduce any further features or functionality to the Google News Archive.”
Seems like Google now understands what commercial database publishers have known for some time–searchable newspaper databases are commodity products with thin profit margins.
It’s no surprise that the company has retreated from the market. Google’s threat to commercial online services, seemingly so real several years ago, has yet to materialize.
What does Google’s pull out mean for ProQuest and similar outfits? First, Google is going after bigger fish. Second, consolidation may be the path to stabilizing revenues from what is a shrinking library market.
There are other options, but the goose is not honking.
Stephen E Arnold, June 9, 2011
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, the resource for enterprise search information and current news about data fusion
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