Google opens library

2005-11-04 10:59

Washington - Google on Thursday launched its controversial effort to digitize millions of books for online viewing - but said it would limit access to any copyrighted material for now.

The internet search giant said the initial collection will include "public domain" works - those without current copyright protection - in an apparent effort to ease concerns that have led to legal challenges.

Google said in a statement: "Because they're out of copyright, these cultural artifacts can be read in their entirety online at http://print.google.com, where anyone can search and browse every page.

"They are fully searchable and users can save individual page images."

Those available include US Civil War regimental histories and early American writings from the University of Michigan; congressional acts and other government documents from Stanford; works of Henry James from Harvard; and biographies of New York citizens and other collected biographies from the New York Public Library.

The material being offered represents "just a small fraction of the information that will eventually be made available as a result of Google Print."

They did not say how they would respond to copyright issues if they goes ahead with plans to offer online versions of current books. Google said in its online blog this week it would resume scanning copyrighted works.

In the initial version users can search the full text books and view a "card catalogue-like entry with brief excerpts of their search term in context."

It added, "Users can only see more of any book they find if the book is out of copyright or if the publisher has given explicit permission to show full pages of a limited portion of the book."

Susan Wojcicki, vice president of product management at Google said: "Any researcher, whether in New York or New Delhi can research and learn from these books that previously were only available in a library. This underscores the value of Google Print and the work we're undertaking with our library partners."

The plan has prompted at least two lawsuits, from groups representing authors and publishers.

Google Print has two separate components, including the "library project" in cooperation with several key US and British libraries, and the "publisher project" programme that aims to offer additional books.

Adam Smith, a product manager for Google Print said that the company hoped to work with publishers to get permission for displaying their works. <--

"We've already had great success working with publishers directly to add their works to our index through our Publisher Programme, and when we add books with publisher permission, we can offer more information and a much richer user experience," he said. -->

After the announcement, Yahoo and Microsoft announced similar plans but have said they would not violate rights of copyright holders.

Amazon.com said on Thursday it was launching a programme allowing consumers to purchase "online access" to books or to "any page, section, or chapter" of a book.

The service, called Amazon Pages, enables users to "simply and inexpensively purchase and read online just the pages they need" of a book, the online commerce giant said.

- AFP