[Missouri-l] Fw: [acb-l] u m statement on google agreement library digitalization

[Jeanne Fike]

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From: "joe harcz" <michiganadapt at peoplepc.com>
To: "blind democracy List" <blind-democracy at octothorp.org>
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Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 1:13 PM
Subject: [acb-l] u m statement on google agreement library digitalization


Google agreement will extend U-M libraries' accessibility



by Paul N. Courant | Dean of Libraries, University of Michigan

Sunday June 07, 2009, 11:53 AM



On May 20, the University of Michigan became the first library to amend its 
partnership with Google in response to the expanded terms of Google's 
settlement

agreement with authors and publishers. We expect that in the weeks and 
months ahead other academic libraries will sign similar amendments.



The result will be ubiquitous online access to a collection unparalleled in 
size and scope, preservation of the scholarly and cultural record embodied 
in

the collections of great research libraries, new lines of research, and 
greatly expanded access to the world's printed work for persons with print 
disabilities.



When the university began its digitization project with Google, our 
principal interests were preservation of our collections; instant 
accessibility for

patrons with print disabilities; the ability to index, search, and conduct 
linguistic analysis of the works; and the ability to make available works in

the public domain - works not protected by copyright - to any and all who 
wanted to read them.



The project has been successful. Even as the physical condition of our print 
collections deteriorates with age, we now have digital versions of nearly 3

million works, and the number grows every week. These digitized works assure 
that the collections that the University has developed over the past 192 
years

will never be lost. And works in the public domain, about a quarter of our 
collections, roughly 2 million works - will be freely available to be read,

downloaded, and copied from our library's Web site.



Currently, the ability to use copyrighted works digitized from our library 
is limited by the law. We can index them, search them, and determine whether

a particular topic or phrase is discussed in a particular book. But to read 
the book a user must visit the library. The cost in time and effort of 
traveling

to the library to look at the relevant text will be an even more powerful 
deterrent. Most books published after 1922 are protected by copyright, and 
hence

not available to be read online. Thus, most of the digitized literature of 
the 20th century - millions of volumes - is not readily usable.



The Google settlement changes all that. Under the settlement, Google will 
provide access to a huge digital collection on behalf of the authors and 
publishers

who hold United States copyright to works digitized from participating 
libraries.



The public will be able to read up to 20 percent of each of the works free 
and buy online access if they wish to read more. Academic libraries will 
have

the opportunity to purchase site licenses so all of their students and staff 
will have access to the works. And both academic and public libraries will

receive free access on a limited basis (generally one terminal per library 
building).



The works of all participating libraries will be available in this product. 
Thus, Michigan's superb collections will be augmented by those of other 
great

libraries, with the result that all of our students, and the general public, 
will have more works available to them than any single library can provide.

Moreover, because these are digital works, users who have print disabilities 
will have unprecedented access to the written literary record.



As a participating library under the settlement, the U-M will provide books 
for a commercial product that will produce revenue for copyright holders and

for Google. I am comfortable with this outcome. We collected these works so 
that they could be used, and it is completely consistent with our mission 
and

our values that they will be made easily and widely available to readers 
across the country. Terms in the settlement and the participation agreement 
make

me confident that access to these works will be broad and affordable.



The settlement agreement specifically states among its objectives "the 
realization of broad access to the books by the public, including 
institutions of

higher education." The agreement we signed today allows libraries to 
initiate an arbitration procedure with respect to unreasonable prices for 
institutional

licenses. Nothing in the settlement prevents rights holders or participating 
libraries from digitizing works and disseminating them through other means.



Finally, large parts of the works will be available for free online, and the 
originals will still be available in libraries. There will be many ways to

look at parts of each book, and some ways (going to the library) to look at 
all of each book. These conditions are not favorable to the production of 
monopoly

profits.



U-M's continued amended agreement with Google allows the university to 
achieve our original digitization objectives: to preserve the content in our 
collections,

to provide collections of extraordinary richness and usability to our 
faculty and students, and to make the collections available to a far larger 
population

than anyone would have thought possible just a few years ago.



Paul N. Courant is university librarian and dean of libraries at the 
University of Michigan.



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at 734-994-6825 or bneedham at annarbornews.com.

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