(Redirected from Google Books)
'Google Book Search' is a tool from
Google that searches the full text of books that Google scans and stores in its digital database. The service was formerly known as 'Google Print' when it was introduced at the
Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2004. When relevant to a user's keyword search, up to three results from the Google Book Search index are displayed above search results in the Google Web Search service (google.com). A user may also search just for books at the dedicated Google Book Search service. Clicking a result from Google Book Search opens an interface in which the user may view pages from the book as well as content-related advertisements and links to the publisher's website and booksellers. Through a variety of access limitations and security measures, some based on user-tracking, Google limits the number of viewable pages and attempts to prevent page printing and text copying of material under copyright protection.
[1]
The Google Book Search service
remains in a
beta stage but the underlying database continues to grow, with more than a hundred thousand titles added by publishers and authors and some 10,000 works in the
public domain now indexed and included in search results. Google Book Search allows public-domain works and other out-of-copyright material to be downloaded in
PDF format. For users outside the
United States, though, Google must be sure that the work in question is indeed out of copyright under local laws. Says a member of the Google Book Search Support Team, "Since whether a book is in the public domain can often be a tricky legal question, we err on the side of caution and display at most a few snippets until we have determined that the book has entered the public domain."
[2]
Many of the books are scanned using Google's undisclosed proprietary method. The most likely method is through a use of digital cameras in a setting not too different from a commercially available solution known as
Atiz DIY Scanner. Another option is through the use of a
robotic book scanner. Books are placed into the machine by a human operator and "scanned" (in practice, a digital camera is used at a distance) at a rate of 1,000 pages per hour.
[3] The rapidity of the scanning precludes checking the pages. Hence, some pages are not scanned or are scanned in such a fashion as to make them unreadable.
[4][5][6] [7]
As of 2006, neither Google nor Microsoft would reveal how many books they have already scanned.
[8] Google did say that it is scanning more than 3,000 books per day, a rate that translates into more than 1 million annually.
[ The entire project may exceed $US 100 million dollars.[9]. As of March 2007, the New York Times reported that Google has already digitized one million volumes at an estimated cost of US$5 million][New York Times; March 11, 2007; History, Digitized (and Abridged)[1]].
Timeline
★ In December 2004, Google signaled an extension to its Google Print initiative known as the Google Print Library Project.[10] Google announced partnerships with several high-profile university and public libraries, including the University of Michigan, Harvard (Widener Library), Stanford (Green Library), Oxford (Bodleian Library), and the New York Public Library. According to press releases and university librarians, Google plans to digitize and make available through its Google Book Search service approximately 15 million volumes within a decade. The announcement soon triggered controversy, as publisher and author associations challenged Google's plans to digitize, not just books in the public domain, but also titles still under copyright.
★ On November 17, 2005, Google changed the name of this service from Google Print to Google Book Search.[11] Its program enabling publishers and authors to include their books in the service was renamed Google Books Partner Program and the partnership with libraries became Google Books Library Project.
★ On August 10, 2006 the University of California System announced that it will also join the Book Search digitization project. This includes a portion of the 34 million volumes within the approximately 100 libraries managed by the System.
★ On October 12, 2006 the University of Wisconsin-Madison announced that it would join the Book Search digitization project along with the Wisconsin Historical Society Library. Combined, the libraries have 7.2 million holdings.[12]
★ On January 19, 2007 the University of Texas at Austin announced that it will also join the Book Search digitization project. At least one million volumes will be digitized from the University's 13 library locations.
★ On March 6, 2007 the Bavarian State Library announced a partnership with Google to scan more than a million public domain and out-of-print works in German as well as English, French, Italian, Latin, and Spanish.[13]
★ On May 17, 2007, a partnership was announced with the Cantonal and University Library of Lausanne ["La Bibliothèque, C'est Google" by Brock Read. 'Wired Campus Newsletter', Chronicle of Higher Education, [2] ]
★ On May 21, 2007 The University of Mysore announced an agreement to digitize 800,000 books and other documents, both those on paper and ancient ones on palm leaves [14]
★ May 2007: The Boekentoren-library of Ghent University will participate with 19th century books in the French and Dutch language.[15]
★ June 2007: The Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) announced that its twelve member libraries would participate in scanning 10 million books over the course of the next six years.[16]
★ On July 10, 2007 Keio University became Google's first library partner in Japan with the announcement that they would digitize at least 120,000 public domain books.[17]
★ On August 8, 2007 Google announced that it would digitize up to 500,000 both copyrighted and public domain items from Cornell University Library. Google will also provide a digital copy of all works scanned to be incorporated into the university’s own library system.[18]
★ On September 6, 2007 Google added a feature that allows one to share snippets of books that are in the public domain. The snippets may appear exactly as they do in the scan of the book or as plain text.[19]
★ On September 6, 2007 A feature called My Library was added that allows the creation of personalized libraries so that one can label, review, rate, or full-text search, a customized selection of books.[20]
Library Participants
★ Princeton University [21]
★ Harvard University [22]
★ University of Michigan [23]
★ Stanford University [24]
★ University of Texas at Austin [25]
★ University of Virginia [26]
★ University of Wisconsin - Madison [27]
★ New York Public Library [28]
★ University of California California Digital Library [29]
★ Bavarian State Library [30]
★ University of Oxford [31]
★ National Library of Catalonia
★ Complutense University of Madrid [32]
★ Cantonal and University Library of Lausanne [33]
★ University of Mysore
★ Ghent University
★ Committee on Institutional Cooperation[34]
★ Keio University
★ Cornell University
Opposition
Google Book Search remains controversial. While librarians hail the initiative for its potential to offer unprecedented access to what may become the largest online corpus of human knowledge,[35][36] the publishing industry and writers' groups have criticized the project's inclusion of snippets of copyrighted works as infringement. The Authors Guild of America[37] and Association of American Publishers[38] have separately sued Google, citing "massive copyright infringement." Google claims its project represents a fair use, and is the digital age equivalent of a card catalog with every word in the publication indexed.
Some European politicians and intellectuals have criticized Google's effort on "language-imperialism" grounds, arguing that because the vast majority of books proposed to be scanned are in English, it will result in disproportionate representation of natural languages in the digital world. German, Russian, and French, for instance, are popular languages in scholarship; the disproportionate online emphasis on English could shape access to historical scholarship, and, ultimately, the growth and direction of future scholarship. Among these critics is Jean-Noël Jeanneney, the president of the ''Bibliothèque nationale de France''[39]
In June 2006, a French publisher announced its intention to sue Google France.[40] In 2006 a previously-filed German lawsuit was withdrawn.[41]
In March 2007, Thomas Rubin, associate general counsel for copyright, trademark, and trade secrets at Microsoft, accused Google of violating copyright law with their book search service. Rubin specifically criticized Google's policy of freely copying any work until notified by the copyright holder to stop.[42]
In addition, there is the matter of quality. Many books currently available through Google have been poorly scanned, often to the point of illegibility. Portions of text are sometimes cut off by poor placement on the surface of the scanner, and the hands and fingers of the scanning personnel are sometimes visible on the scanned page, usually covering text. Google does provide a feedback mechanism for reporting illegible or missing pages.
Google licensing of public domain works is also an area of concern , Google apparently is claiming a restrictive 'No-Commercial use' term in respect of the PDF electronic versions it provides, as well as protecting those PDF with digital watermarking techniques.
References
1. Google's Cookie and Hacking Google Print Greg Duffy
2.
3. Kevin Kelly. "Scan This Book!", ''New York Times Magazine'', May 14, 2006.
4. In ''Species Plantarum'', it is difficult to find early pages (no pagination) and an image of the robotic page turner is seen.
5. In ''The Merry-Go-Round'', there are pages (e.g. 326) blocked by debris on the scanner.
6. In ''The Making of a Saint '', pages (''i.e.'' page 4) are cut in two and unreadable.
7. In ''Italian Villas by Edith Wharton'', some pages cut off, missing, or un-readable.
8. "Microsoft starts online library in challenge to Google Books." AFP Worldwide.
9. CIO Today; December 20, 2006
10. All booked up Joseph O'Sullivan, Adam Smith
11.
12.
13. Bavarian library joins Google book search project CNET News.com March 6, 2007
14. Google to Digitize Ancient Texts at University in India Charles Huckabee
15. [3]
16. [4]
17. http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2007/07/keio-university-joins-googles-library.html
18. http://library.cornell.edu/communications/Google/
19. http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2007/08/share-and-enjoy.html
20. http://books.google.com/googlebooks/mylibrary/
21. [5]
22. [6]
23. [7]
24. [8]
25. [9]
26. [10]
27. [11]
28. [12]
29. [13]
30. [14]
31. [15]
32. [16]
33. [17]
34. [18]
35. Google project promotes public good Kevin Bergquist
36. Is This the Renaissance or the Dark Ages?
37. Authors Guild Sues Google, Citing "Massive Copyright Infringement"
38. Publishers sue Google over book search project Alorie Gilbert
39. Google and the Myth of Universal Knowledge: A View from Europe, Jean-Noël Jeanneney, , , , , ISBN 0-226-39577-4
40. French publisher sues Google
41. Google Book Search Wins Victory In German Challenge Danny Sullivan
42. Microsoft Attorney Accuses Google Of Copyright Violations
See also
★ Questia Online Library
★ Michigan digitization project -University of Michigan's implementation of items scanned by Google
★ Digital library
★ List of digital library projects
★ Open Content Alliance
★ Project Gutenberg
★ Universal library
★ Book scanning
★ A9.com is Amazon.com's book search
★ Live Search Books
★ Domínio Público
External links
★ Google Book Search homepage
★ Google Book Search Information Page
★ Jeffrey Toobin; Google's Moon Shot
★ Malte Herwig; "Putting The World's Books On The Web" (SPIEGEL International Edition)
★ archive.org text search
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