I found this gem while researching a recent acquisition.
This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world’s literature
Forget the fact that the book in question is certainly not rare and arguably not scarce; if it was so “culturally important” you would think that their “commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting” such a work would require a method void of reproduction issues.
Another great argument for why the Google-type approach of quantity over quality has little to do with the true preservation of our material culture.
On a happier note – UCLA just landed a $750,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The monies will be used to digitize over 55,000 items including a backlog of some 30,000 items that have been acquired since 1977 and have been sitting in boxes unprocessed due to lack of funds.
Previously on Book Patrol:
The “No Information Left Behind” Act, where I talk about the need to come up with a strategy to deal with all the backlog of material that sits in libraries across this country.
The Digital Battle For Our Literary Heritage: The Internet Archive vs. Google – posted in January, 2007 – I mentioned that Google’s next battle will be with the wiki world and lo and behold Google unleashed Knoll earlier this month.
More on the Digital Battle for Our Literary Heritage
The First Cracks in Google’s Attempt to Digitize the World
Google, The Big Ten and Digital Escrow
Libraries Resist Google. Is the Tide Turning?
The Hands of Google