Book People Archive

Re: Google and UMich

I'm glad we can have a reasonable discussion of these issues. Some points to
consider:

1) These are early days. This is the most important thing to remember, so
let me repeat it: these are early days. We just released our system. We've
been concentrating entirely on getting everything to work technically, and
haven't had a lot of time for other considerations. We can now step back and
look at other issues. We are not clearing copyright nor soliciting
assistance in correcting MARC records at the moment, but that does not mean
that we never will.

2) Everyone is entitled to their ideas about what copyright laws say or
don't say, but we have developed rules for access in cooperation with our
university legal counsel. That office determines what level of risk is
acceptable for the University of Michigan. No amount of howling from the
sidelines changes that. This doesn't mean that the rules we've developed are
permanent. See #1 above.

3) Our system is based upon machine-processing information from MARC
records. We'll be adding thousands of volumes a day, so can't possibly set
permissions by hand. We can't use author death dates, because they are not
recorded in MARC fixed fields. If you've looked at MARC records, you'll know
that the information in the MARC 100 field is recorded too variably to
process by machine. The fixed fields are the only place that's reliable for
machine processing, and it's no coincidence that in our system, access is
determined by date and place of publication. This doesn't mean that we won't
develop a system to override the status determined from MARC fixed fields.
See #1 above.

4) We would like to develop ways for outside groups to provide input. We
would like to develop systems for using information from other sources, such
as copyright registers. We are just beginning to discuss strategies for how
to get there. See #1 above. But we are ultimately accountable for access to
the collection, so whatever process is developed will have to be approved
locally. See #2 above.

I hope this is helpful. Best wishes,

Perry Willett
Head, Digital Library Production Service
300 Hatcher North
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor MI 48109-1205
Ph: 734-764-8074
Fax: 734-647-6897
Email: pwillett@[redacted]