Yahoo, European Union Announce Digital Library Projects.

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Author: G. F.

In the wake of Google's plan to digitize books from libraries and provide access to their contents through its search engine. Yahoo has announced that it will join with the University of California, the University of Toronto, and others to digitize large collections of books and make them searchable through any search engine and downloadable for free.

The project, to be run by the newly formed Open Content Alliance (OCA), will scan and digitize only texts in the public domain, except where the copyright holder has expressly given permission. In contrast, the Google Print for Libraries project plans to include works that are under copyright, although copyright holders can choose to withhold their books from the program; ii has met with objections from publishers" and authors' groups, who dispute Google's claim that the digitizing falls under the fair use doctrine.

In addition to the two universities, content for the OCA project wilt come from the United Kingdom's National Archives, O'Reilly Media, and the European Archive. The nonprofit Internet Archive will host the digitized material, scanning technology will be provided by Hewlett-Packard, and Adobe Systems will supply licenses for its Acrobat and Photoshop software.

"Bringing the treasures of our libraries and archives to a worldwide readership is in the interest of many organizations," said Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle. "The Internet Archive along with the other founding members of the OCA invite interested organizations to join the effort and help fulfill this digital dream."

David Greenstein, university librarian for the California Digital Library, said the OCA project differs from Google's in its emphasis on open access and the open availability of the metadata, all of which will be harvestable. The program "takes the approach of information as a public good rather than as a commodity," he told American Libraries, adding that such a course needn't be "anticommerce."

Greenstein called the OCA effort "evolutionary" observing that all the participants in the "three-legged stool"--content providers, technology providers, and the Internet Archive--are working together to shape the project.

Another ambitious digitization project was announced September 30 when the European Commission unveiled a plan to digitize and preserve Europe's books, films, photographs, manuscripts, speeches, and music.

"Without a collective memory; we are nothing, and can achieve nothing. It defines our identity and we use it continuously for education, work, and leisure," said Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding. "The internet is the most powerful new tool we have had for storing and sharing information since the Gutenberg press, so let's use it to make the material in Europe's libraries and archives accessible to all."

The commission acknowledged that digitization projects are already underway in the member states, but called them fragmented, it called for member states and cultural institutions to join the European Union initiative in order to avoid the creation of mutually incompatible systems and duplication of effort.

The announcement follows a proposal in April from six European leaders for what they called a "European digital library" (AL, June/July, p. 20). The commission invited comments, with a January 20, 2006, deadline, that will be considered in formulating a recommendation to be presented the following June.

In the latest manifestation of opposition to Google's digitization plan, the Association of American Publishers announced October 19 that it had filed a lawsuit charging the program with copyright infringement. The move came a month after a similar suit was Bled by the Authors Guild.

The AAP suit, which a seeks a court order preventing Google from scanning entire copyright-protected books without permission of the copyright owner, was tiled on behalf of AAP members McGraw-Hill, Pearson Education, Penguin Group (USA), Simon and Schuster, and John Wiley and Sons. In a statement, AAP said it took the action only after lengthy discussions between the association and Google management broke down.

"The publishing industry is united behind this lawsuit against Google and united in the fight to defend their rights," said AAP President Patricia Schroeder. "While authors and publishers know how useful Google's search engine can be and think the Print Library could be an excellent resource, the bottom line is that under its current plan Google is seeking to make millions of dollars b\' freeloading on the talent and property of authors and publishers."

The lawsuit by the Authors Guild, a professional group representing more than 8,000 writers, was filed September 20 in U.S. District Court in Manhattan

"This is a plain and brazen violation of copyright law," said Authors Guild President Nick Taylor. "It's not up to Google or anyone other than the authors, the rightful owners of these copyrights, to decide whether and how their works will be copied."

The plaintiffs, who also seek class-action status, damages, and an injunction to stop the digitizing, also include former New York Times editorial writer Herbert Mitgang, children's author Betty Miles, and former U.S. Poet Laureate Daniel Hoffman; each owns copyright on al least one book in the collection of the University of Michigan, one of several major research libraries participating in the project,

"We regret that this group chose to sue us over a program that will make millions of books more discoverable to the world--especially since any copyright holder can exclude their books from the program," wrote Susan Wojcicki, Google vice president of product management, on the company's blog. "Google respects copyright. The use we make of all the books we scan through the Library Project is fully consistent with both the fair use doctrine under U.S. copyright law and the principles underlying copyright law itself, which allow everything from parodies to excerpts in book reviews."

University of Michigan Associate Provost and Interim Librarian James Hilton defended the project: "We continue to be enthusiastic about our partnership with Google, and we are confident that this project complies with copyright law. The overarching purpose of copyright law is to promote progress in society. In doing so, it is always a balancing act between the limited rights of the author and the rights of the public."

Google previously announced a suspension of its digitization efforts until November (AL, Sept., p. 17-18).

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By G. F.