Wonder if Google realized its contracts with public universities could be disclosed under state open records laws? Publishers already unhappy with some of the public details about Google Print for Libraries now can see the actual plans outlined in the Univeristy of Michigan contract and it hasn’t done anything to ease their concerns. (For instance, the contract allows Google to make two digital copies of books still under copyright — one for Google and one for the school.) Now Pat Schroeder, president of the Association of American Publishers, is asking Google for a six-month moratorium on digitizing copyrighted books, according to Business Week — and Google will meet with publishers and others to discuss the possibility. Susan Wojcicki, Google Print’s director of product development: “We are in constant discussions with all of our partners, and welcome their feedback.”
Against this backdrop, the libraries are dealing with the digitized copyright issue in a variety of ways. Some are avoiding books under copyright. Michigan will put its digital copies in a “dark achive” while Harvard won’t allow them to be viewed at all. That doesn’t matter to those who say intent aside, Google and the libraries don’t have the right to digitize copyrighted work.
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