University of Michigan librarian defends Google scanning deal
- From: J Flenner <varney@[redacted]>
- Subject: University of Michigan librarian defends Google scanning deal
- Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2007 17:16:31 -0500
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http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071126-university-of-michigan-librarian-defends-google-scanning-deal.html
November 26, 2007 | ars technica
University of Michigan librarian defends Google scanning deal
By Nate Anderson
The University of Michigan's head librarian, Paul Courant, started a
blog <http://paulcourant.net/> this November to talk about large-scale
digitization projects. Sounds noncontroversial, right? It was, for all
of one post, and then Courant defended his library's relationship with
Google, saying that "the University of Michigan (and the other partner
libraries) and Google are changing the world for the better." Not
everyone agrees.
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Siva Vaidhyanathan, a professor at the University of Virginia, is
working on a critical book about Google, and he argues that the current
book-scanning program is riddled with problems. Public institutions, he
argued in a response to Courant
<http://www.googlizationofeverything.com/2007/11/paul_courant_of_michigan_addre.php>,
should not be making these sorts of deals with private companies,
especially when those companies are as dominant in their fields as
Google is.
He also wonders how the "library copy" retained by the library is not an
"audacious infringement of copyright? It violates both the copyright
holder's right to copy and right to distribute. Doesn't a university
library have an obligation to explain this?"
(snip)
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