Google, The Big Ten and Digital Escrow June 19, 2007

In on fell swoop Google has significantly increased the number of libraries they have under contract and has introduced a new species of digitization; digital escrow. By corralling the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), a consortium of the libraries of the Big Ten and the University of Chicago, Goggle brings the number of partner libraries to 25 and add over 78,000,000 potential items to their digi-mix. Some of terms of the agreement:-The CIC makes at…

Google the Bookseller May 4, 2007

It was bound to happen. Word from the London Book Fair is that Google is going into the book business. By year’s end they will launch two book related initiatives that will further alter the book landscape. What’s in store: A book rental program that will let you rent the content of a book on a weekly basis. and A book retail program that will allow users lifetime access to the texts they purchase. They…

The First Cracks in Google’s Attempt to Digitize the World March 22, 2007

Peter Brantley is the director of strategic technology for academic information systems at the University of California, one of the premier libraries that have entered into a relationship with Google to digitize their holdings. Here is some of what he had to say about the initiative: -it was mistake-The goal is undeniably grand, and good.The means have left much to be desired.-We poisoned our hand before we played it-For the love of selfish confidence, we…

The Digital Battle For Our Literary Heritage: The Internet Archive vs. Google January 26, 2007

“Libraries exist to preserve society’s cultural artifacts and to provide access to them. If libraries are to continue to foster education and scholarship in this era of digital technology, it’s essential for them to extend those functions into the digital world.” One of the most important battles in the book world today is the fight for who gets to digitally archive our literary heritage. From the leading university libraries to the great collections housed in…

A Couple from the Google Monster December 19, 2006

There has been much hoopla over the launch of Google’s new patent search tool. I am pretty certain all the info was already easily available at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) but hey this is a Google world.I had to dig deep to find this book related one. A patent for the “Slanted Book” designed in 1974 by Richard A. Kjarsgaard. Here is the diagram:From what I can make out it looks…