Re: Question about Google Print

["Penny Lochner" <plochner@muhlenberg.edu>]

They have a few pages of explanation on their web site. Info on the
Library Project is at http://print.google.com/googleprint/library.html.
They say they are working within copyright, but also note that "Whether a
book is in the public domain is a complex legal determination..." There is
more clarification of what they are doing on the web page. They also
mention a Publisher Program which I believe refers to digitizing books
from publishers with which they have a specific agreement. They talk about
displaying bibliographic information and "snippets" of things under
copyright. Perhaps the plan is to digitize everything, but if it's a
copyrighted work, it will be indexed to make it searchable but the full
text won't be viewable. A search would just show you the "snippet"
relevant to your search. Is that permissible under copyright?
 
Penny Lochner
Serials Librarian 
Trexler Library
Muhlenberg College
email: plochner@muhlenberg.edu