Google complains that its controversial Library program has suffered from “mischaracterizations” in the press and sent an e-mail to shore up support among publishers .
“The goal of the Google Print Library Project is to create an electronic, full-text card catalog of books, just as we’ve done with Web pages,” the search firm said in a Sept. 27 e-mail. “Our goal is to help people discover books online, not read them online; a user who finds a copyrighted books that was scanned through the Library Project can’t view even a single page from this book, unless the copyright holder has given us explicit permission through the Publisher Program to show more.”
The Google Library program has been criticized by self-publishers and others as enabling copyright infringement by allowing Web searchers to view entire pages of books. But in yesterday’s message, Google said it would show no more than three examples of where the user’s search term appears in the book’s text, along with bibliographic information and links to Internet booksellers and libraries.
Google also revealed a screenshot of what the search result from a scanned, in-copyright book will appear like.
And Google emphasized that publishers can ask to have their books excluded from the Library program by following these instructions.
But some critics of the program complain that Google will be displaying full pages of books scanned from libraries in some cases.
In a separate Sept. 27 message, Google asked publishers who attended the London Book Fair or Book Expo America and left copies of books with Google for the Print program, that Google still needs book lists in order to process the titles.
Google has posted more information about the Library project on its blog.
Google unveils screen shots of Library program
Google complains that its controversial Library program has suffered from “mischaracterizations” in the press and sent an e-mail to shore up support among publishers .
“The goal of the Google Print Library Project is to create an electronic, full-text card catalog of books, just as we’ve done with Web pages,” the search firm said in a Sept. 27 e-mail. “Our goal is to help people discover books online, not read them online; a user who finds a copyrighted books that was scanned through the Library Project can’t view even a single page from this book, unless the copyright holder has given us explicit permission through the Publisher Program to show more.”
The Google Library program has been criticized by self-publishers and others as enabling copyright infringement by allowing Web searchers to view entire pages of books. But in yesterday’s message, Google said it would show no more than three examples of where the user’s search term appears in the book’s text, along with bibliographic information and links to Internet booksellers and libraries.
Google also revealed a screenshot of what the search result from a scanned, in-copyright book will appear like.
And Google emphasized that publishers can ask to have their books excluded from the Library program by following these instructions.
But some critics of the program complain that Google will be displaying full pages of books scanned from libraries in some cases.
In a separate Sept. 27 message, Google asked publishers who attended the London Book Fair or Book Expo America and left copies of books with Google for the Print program, that Google still needs book lists in order to process the titles.
Google has posted more information about the Library project on its blog.
New in paperback: The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site (by Steve Weber)
Related posts: