The Google Digitization Project

What it is, what it isn't, and what does it mean?

Thomas H. Teper

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What does Google say it is?

• "Even before we started Google, we dreamed of making the incredible breadth of information that librarians so lovingly organize searchable online…. Our work with libraries… enables users to find matches within the full text of books, while publishers and authors monetize that information,"

• Google's Press Release about the project:

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What are info. professionals saying?

• Daniel Greenstein (California Digital Library)

• Paul LeClerc (President and Chief Executive, NYPL)

• Randall C. Jimerson (President, Society of American Archivists)

• Paul Courant (Provost; Exec. VP for Academic Affairs – U. Michigan

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So, what is it?

• A cooperative scanning project involving Google and:

• Harvard

• Stanford

• University of Michigan

• University of Oxford

• New York Public Library

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The Google/UM Collaboration

• Who's paying for this?

• What is the scope of the project?

• What will not be scanned?

• How will they scan the materials?

• What scanning technology is being used?

• How will materials be made accessible?

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Discussion…

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What are non-librarians saying?

• [Google's idea of] making books available online is not new, but this plan represents an enormous shift in scale, so enormous that if it is carried out successfully, it may redefine the nature of the Internet and the university….

• Another crucial concern is the well-being of the books themselves…. It is an illusion to think that the digital versions of scanned books can replace the books themselves….

• …each library will… get a digital backup…, but it will be critical to remember that printed books are a stable medium, one that has persisted for hundreds of years…. Digital technology is only a few years old, and even in that brief time, the digital world has produced dozens of incompatible, and often unreadable, media formats. The Google project will enhance the usefulness of the books it encompasses, but it in no way will render them obsolete.
  

- New York Times editorial (12/21/2004)

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…and the public's response.

• [This reminds me] of a science fiction story I read more than half a century ago. The story told of mankind's effort to put all the information available in the world into a gargantuan computer and then ask the computer a single question: ''What is the meaning of life?''
  
  The machine huffed and puffed for days and finally answered, ''Life has no meaning.'' And the human race lived happily ever after.
  

- NYT Letter to the editor (12/16/2004)

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…and the public's response.

• A digital version of a book -- especially a rare one, printed centuries ago -- is not a replacement for the hard copy.
  
  Not only has printed paper proved a durable technology, but there is also much to be gained by visiting the libraries, examining the actual books and entering into discussions with librarians and other researchers.
  
  Gaining access to a digital reproduction of an older text makes it easier to take a first step, but little good research will be done simply sitting alone in front of a computer screen.
  

- NYT Letter to the editor (12/16/2004)

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…and the public's response.

• In a world in which so few people call the shots, it is soul-restoring to learn that we may soon have a new Alexandria library -- but one that won't burn down or benefit just the lucky few. Knowledge is power.
  

- NYT Letter to the editor (12/16/2004)

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…and the public's response.

• The statement … that in two decades most of the world's knowledge will be digitized and available is unrealistic.
  
  While Google's inclusion of major library collections in its search engine is a small step toward digitizing the world's knowledge, a major portion of the small research libraries in the United States [do] not even have online catalogs, let alone digitized collections.
  
  The world outside of the United States is full of libraries and collections where a computer is considered a luxury item….
  
  We can truly say the world's knowledge is being made accessible only when the small have-not library collections are digitized around the world, and not just the Harvards, the Stanfords and the Michigans.
  

- NYT Letter to the editor (12/16/2004)