RE: Libraries criticized for role in Google Book Search

["T Scott Plutchak" <tscott@uab.edu>]

[MOD. Note:  two messages from Scott are combined here]

I first heard Siva raise this issue at a talk he gave in Atlanta 
several years and I think it's valid.  Librarians have long 
viewed our role (along with our colleagues in archives and 
museums) as preserving, protecting and transmitting our 
intellectual cultural heritage.  There is an argument to be made 
that we're losing track of that role and that turning it over to 
a commercial entity which is ultimately subject to commercial 
pressures, is something that hasn't gotten enough scrutiny and 
careful thought.

****

As a follow-up to my note responding to Bernie's question 
regarding Siva Vaidhyanathan and the Google books project, a note 
on the Inside Google Book Search blog this morning announces that 
they are discontinuing "Google Catalog Search" because it "hasn't 
been as popular as some of our other products." 
(http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/farewell-google-catalog-search.html)

This is a perfectly reasonable business decision for them to 
make, but it also highlights the way they look at things - they 
produce products and they will initiate and discontinue products 
depending on how well they fit their ever-evolving business 
priorities.  This is exactly what a business ought to do.  But it 
seems obvious to me that, as a society, we need to base our 
decisions about the "preservation, protection and transmission of 
our cultural heritage" (as I put it in my previous note) on more 
than the business priorities of one particular company.

Scott

T. Scott Plutchak

Director, Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences
University of Alabama at Birmingham
tscott@uab.edu


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
[mailto:owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of B.G. Sloan
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 3:17 PM
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject: Libraries criticized for role in Google Book Search

Last week I ran across some intriguing comments by Siva
Vaidhyanathan. In his initial analysis of the Google settlement
with publishers and authors, Vaidhyanathan briefly discusses the
role of the library partners in Google Book Search. The following
excerpt offers an interesting perspective from a non-librarian:

"My major criticisms of Google Book Seach (sic) have always
concerned the actions of the university libraries that have
participated in this program rather than Google
itself...Libraries at public universities all over this
country...have spent many billions of dollars collecting these
books. Now they are just giving away access to one company that
is cornering the market on on-line access. They did this without
concern for user confidentiality, preservation, image quality,
search prowess, metadata standards, or long-term sustainability.
They chose the expedient way rather than the best way to build
and extend their collections...I am sympathetic to the claim that
something is better than nothing and sooner is better than later.
But sympathy remains mere sympathy...we must reflect on how
complicit some universities have been in centralizing and
commercializing knowledge under a single corporate umbrella."

Just wondering what librarians might think about Vaidhyanathan's
concerns?

The full discussion (with reader comments) is at:
http://tinyurl.com/678e5l

Bernie Sloan
Sora Associates
Bloomington, IN