December 18, 2004

The New York Times > Books > Questions and Praise for Google Web Library

Google and the others who are digitizing all or parts of various major library collections at no cost to the libraries are performing an enormous public service, whether there are ads associated with the online search or not. Now the librarians of the world need to think through their best value added for consumers and researchers of information.

libraries shouldn't and won't disappear, but now its time for the major world libraries to give their particular expertise to the online reality.

From the article:

"Many university leaders realize that for most people, information does not exist unless it is online, said Paul Courant, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of Michigan.

He said many universities wanted to digitize their holdings and wondered about collaborating on buying books to avoid redundancy in an increasingly digital world. Google's plan answered their needs, he said."

It's the publishers of print material that have most to lose here. But they will sort through this, too, either continuing to make a profit with different products/services or go out of business.

There's little question that Google and other software companies are having an enormous impact on libraries.

I'm surprised that James Billington of the Librarian of Congress was not tapped for a comment.

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