Press Mentions
Press Mentions
Triangulation 1: Google [Book Search] (audio file)
This Week in Tech – December 5, 2005
"On this episode, Lawrence Lessig, John C. Dvorak, and I discuss the furor over Google [Book Search] - Google's attempt to create a search service for books."
Google's Digital Page-Turner
The Financial Times – November 16, 2005
"Speaking as the author of a long-forgotten, but still copyrighted, book that would likely be included in the Google [Book Search] project, I cannot imagine a reason why my publisher would turn down this form of free advertising...[Google's] project has the potential to revolutionise the way that we search for information online. Google may make money doing that – but authors and publishers will almost certainly make money too. That sounds like the classic win-win bargain that underlies American capitalism – and American innovation."
Critics Should Grasp Google Projects Before Blasting Them
USA Today – November 8, 2005
"The idea that Google [Book Search] or Google Library threatens book sales doesn't ring true...This is a clever technological middle ground between the utopia of free access to the world's best libraries and the hard fact that authors must be paid or they'll stop writing books...By exposing books this way, Google will most likely help publishers and authors make more money from their work."
Ingram: Let Google Scan
The Globe and Mail – November 1, 2005
"What is the biggest single problem confronting a new or non-blockbuster author? Finding an audience...What better way could there be of connecting authors with interested readers than by having their books be part of a giant searchable archive...? ...We're talking about a company providing a kind of digital card catalogue for every book that has ever been published...It could be the best thing that ever happened to some authors and their works..."
Google [Book Search] Would Benefit the Public
The Hartford Courant – October 27, 2005
"Creative examples of leveraging the fair-use exemptions for the benefit of the public should be encouraged...Potential benefits from a searchable library of books are immense for users, writers and publishers. Everyone wins when people who want to read can find what they're looking for...If Google [Book Search] wins, you will, too."
Google Library is Great for the World
The Wall Street Journal – October 26, 2005
"The Google [Book] Library Project is great for the world. Imagine, for instance, that you want to find out everything ever written about your great-great granduncle, who fought in the Civil War. If he is mentioned in an older book not covered by copyright, Google provides instant access to the entire book. If he is mentioned in a book still covered by copyright, Google provides what Mr. Brin calls a "snippet" that includes the mention, and then offers links to publishers, booksellers, used bookstores or libraries that can provide the full book. That's not only good for the world; it is also good for most publishers and authors. It is unlikely to cause anyone not to buy a book they were otherwise planning to buy. And it could lead many to buy books they never knew existed...One way or another, the Google [Book] Library will get built. The world will be better off."
Riches We Must Share...
The Washington Post – October 22, 2005
"We must not lose sight of the transformative nature of Google's plan or the public good that can come from it...Imagine what this means for scholars and the general public, who, until now, might have discovered only a fraction of the material written on a subject...We must continue to ensure access to the vast intellectual opportunity and knowledge we generate and preserve...this endeavor exemplifies the spirit under which our nation's copyright law was developed: to encourage the free exchange of ideas in the service of innovation and societal progress...At its core is the most important principle of all: to facilitate the sharing of knowledge, not to stifle such exchange."
A Bookworm's Delight
The Guardian – October 21, 2005
"The prospect of having an electronic wonder in the form of a virtual Library of Alexandria, in which anyone anywhere in the world can access almost anything ever written in books (as long as they are online) is just brilliant...It could lead to lots of forgotten books coming back into print...Google's vision could lead to a huge leap in the scope for searchable knowledge...I can't wait to have access to all those lost books. So Google on."
Google Opens 8 Sites in Europe, Widening Its Book Search Effort
The New York Times – October 18, 2005
"The Google [Book Search] sites - for France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and Spain - enable users to search books provided by publishers in each country as well as English-language books in the Google library for which the company has secured local rights."
Leggo my Ego
Slate – October 17, 2005
"There's a key difference between Google "[Book Search]" and the regular Google "Web." On the Web search, if you find something, you can then just click through to the Web page. But using Google[Book Search] is differentmdash;you only get the results. To get the "full" result, you actually have to buy the book...it is a way to search books, not a way to get books for free. That book searches are great for users and researchers is a no-brainer...In the end, it is just a search, not a replacement product...We readers need help finding what exists, and we authors also need help being found."
Authors' Second Chance
The Wall Street Journal – October 10, 2005
"...it's the search engines that tame the Web's terabytes upon terabytes of information by making it all searchable. Google [Book Search] could bring those same advantages to all the book world's frustrated and forgotten authors, putting their ideas before a limitless audience that could then buy their books. That seems like something any author or publisher would want -- and Google is willing to do the work for them..."
Search and Rescue
The New York Times – September
28, 2005
"Google promises an alternative to the obscurity imposed on most books. It makes that great corpus of less-than-bestsellers accessible to all. By pointing to a huge body of [Book Search] works online, Google will offer a way to promote books that publishers have thrown away, creating an opportunity for readers to track them down and buy them...there's
a great likelihood that Google [Book]'s Library Project will create new markets
for forgotten content"
Google [Book Search] Extends, Embraces European Books
Web Pro News – September 1,
2005
"The Mountain View home of Google wants to assemble
the collective works of Europe's cultural centers into an accessible digital
index, available as a reference source to all...Additional content on Google [Book Search] pages in France, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, and Spain tells publishers
in those countries how they can get involved."
Google
Expands Book Option Abroad
Publisher's Weekly – August
31, 2005
"Google has gone international with its book-only
search service on Google [Book Search]... Google introduced the feature in the
U.S. earlier this year, and is now making it available in 14 English-language
speaking countries, including the U.K., Australia, Canada and India..."
Google
book project a boon for publishers
The New Zealand Herald – August
19, 2005
"[Google Books] will be a boon for a publishing industry that faces the
daunting task of trying to get its authors noticed in a crowded and competitive
marketplace."
The
Google [Book] Library Project: A Copyright Analysis
Policybandwidth.com – August,
2005
"The Google [Book] Library Project will make
it easier than ever before for users to locate the wealth of information
buried in books. By limiting the search results to a few sentences before
and after the search term, the program will not conflict with the normal
exploitation of works nor unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests
of rightsholders. To the contrary, it often will increase demand for copyrighted
works."
Presses
Have Little to Fear from Google
Chronicle of Higher Education – July
28, 2005
"Google is offering something marvelous...its
model is more likely to help more people find library resources and publishers'
works than anything else on the horizon."
Don't
Stop Google
Cato Institute – July 23,
2005
"Google [Book Search]'s impact on the book market can
only be positive for authors and publishers..."
The
Web Hits the Stacks
BusinessWeek – July 14,
2005
"As useful as the Web is, Google [Book Search] shows
how much is missing. It's good to see it gradually coming within clicking
distance."
Google [Book Search] Brings Publishers Business
Publish – June
3, 2005
"While some of the publishers encountered early resistance within their
organizations..., all eventually found that the benefits of making their context
searchable and viewable far outweighed any risks."
Google
and Research Libraries Launch Massive Digitization Project
Information Today – December
20, 2004
"For years librarians have bemoaned the failure
of patrons to realize that not everything is on the Web and that there
was life before the Internet. Both problems may now be on the way to a
solution. Holding true to its mission "to organize the world's information
and make it universally accessible and useful," Google has launched
a program with a number of research libraries in the U.S. and the U.K.
aimed at ultimately scanning all the books in their collections." |
