Google Books Explained by Japanese News Service
September 30, 2009
I am puzzled by Google Books. To try and grasp the project, I try to look at and read many of the write ups. One of the more interesting explanations appeared in The Mainichi Daily News in the story “Why the Controversy over Google Books and How Does It Work?” The link is to the English version of the write up. The article is in question and answer form, brief, and to the point. The most interesting comment in the article in my opinion was this question and answer:
Q: If Google Books goes into full swing in the future, books wouldn’t sell any more, would they?
A: Google has pledged to only include a commercial service on out of print books. However, “out of print” isn’t clearly defined, and in any case, we should avoid a situation where the demand for free books destroys mankind’s publishing culture.
I quite like the phrase “avoid a situation where the demand for free books destroys mankind’s publishing culture.” The hitch is that many publishers are struggling to stay afloat. Libraries are strapped for cash. Commercial database companies have not rushed to build competitive services. Governments, at least in the US, have not had much of an appetite for scanning, OCRing, and making searchable book content. Short write ups are good, but Google Books is a complicated beastie which I don’t understand despite my best efforts.
Stephen Arnold, September 29, 2009
Comments
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
