Google Grabs a Handful of French Élan
August 20, 2009
A gaggle of goslings are on our way to a meeting. We just learned that the Google has grabbed a handful of France. We received an email that the estimable Times of London’s article “Google Bruises Gallic Pride as National Library Does Deal with Search Giant” said:
The shift was explained by economics, said Denis Bruckmann, director of collections at the BNF, which joins 29 other major world libraries in opening its shelves to Google’s project (including Oxford’s Bodleian). France provides only €5 million (£4.3 million) a year for digitizing books for Gallica, the national digital library, yet the BNF needs up to €80 million just for its works from 1870 to 1940, said Mr Bruckman. “We will not stop our own digitizing programme, but if Google can enable us to go faster and farther, then why not?”
The two most important words in this write up are economics and Google. Without the Google, digitization projects are likely to be little more than modest subsets. What’s up with the Library of Congress’ digitization projects? Why did the French library overlook French technology? Answers anyone?
Stephen Arnold, August 19, 2009
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