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The Implications of Google's Digital Library

Posted by Zonk on from the shaking-things-up dept.

Connectmc wrote to mention a CNN article discussing Google's Digital Library project. From the article: "Tony Sanfilippo is of two minds when it comes to Google's ambitious program to scan millions of books and make their text fully searchable on the Internet. On the one hand, Sanfilippo credits the program for boosting sales of obscure titles at Penn State University Press, where he works. On the other, he's worried that Google's plans to create digital copies of books obtained directly from libraries could hurt his industry's long-term revenues."

7 of 310 comments (clear)

  1. Same article 100 years ago... by dougman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    would sound like this: "Buggy-whip makers concerned that new automobile may hurt industry revenues".

    The more things change, the more they stay the same.

  2. Industry Revenues... by lordsony · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maybe we shouldn't worry so much about the lost profits, but more about the knowledge we made avaible to the world...

    1. Re:Industry Revenues... by notasheep · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Easy to say when they're not your profits... Why don't you donate your next year's salary to your local library so you can increase the amount of knowledge available to your community?

      --
      Your mind looks a little cramped. Why don't you stretch it a little?
  3. Longterm revenues... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Isn't anyone bothered by the fact that companies trying to secure "longterm revenues" are constantly preventing society from progressing as a whole? If a new idea or technology emerges that is going to put you out of business, it's time to do something else. Perpetuating the same crap year after year after year serves no purpose other than hindering progress.

  4. Imagine that! by EraserMouseMan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    . . . he's worried that Google's plans to create digital copies of books obtained directly from libraries could hurt his industry's long-term revenues.

    Innovation usually reduces demand for the obsolete version. The fact is, books are a pain in the tail to search through any way you look at it. It's about time a serious effort is made to make printed material electronically searchable.

  5. Libraries by COMON$ · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Isnt this the whole purpose of libraries anyway? To make knowledge available to the public that would normally only be available to the rich or well connected?

    A man should be no more afraid of google's attempt to digitize information than a library's ability to purchase and distribute books for free.

    On a side note, I am more likely to buy the paper version of a book than sitting and reading it off of a LCD display. Which I assume the average person would do the same.

    --
    CS: It is all sink or swim...oh and did I mention there are sharks in that water?
  6. Googutenberg by timeToy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just like Gutenberg disrupted the Copyist Monk industry few century ago, Google library has the potential to completely change the way people find books, is it bad ? is it good ? I think it's just different and easier for the book's end user: us.