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UC, Google Talk About Digitizing Library Books

Posted on: Sunday, 6 August 2006, 09:00 CDT

By Michelle Maitre, STAFF WRITER

The University of California is mulling a partnership with Google that would turn millions of university library holdings into a digitally searchable feast available over the Internet.

If the plan is ultimately approved, the university would become the latest partner in the Google Books Library Project, which is working to digitize books and post at least snippets of them in an online database searchable by keyword.

If works are out of copyright, the entire book is available to search and view on your computer. "The announcement of the library project shook our world hard," said University Librarian Daniel Greenstein during a briefing for UC regents last month. "It ushers in a new, exciting -- and for many, a very unsettling -- era."

The digital database would revolutionize the way students, researchers, faculty and the public use library holdings, Greenstein said, although he acknowledged that the library project has critics.

A consortium of publishing houses and the Authors Guild have filed lawsuits against Google, saying the company infringes on copyrights when it scans and posts books without permission.

"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 by freeloading on the talent and property of authors and publishers," said Patricia Schroeder, president of the Association of American Publishers, in a statement.

Google, however, counters that searchers can see only excerpts of books under copyright and the Web site includes links where the public can purchase the book.

Stanford, Harvard and Oxford universities, the University of Michigan, and the New York Public Library are already partners in the Library Project and works can be searched at

books.google.com.

UC's library holdings include 34 million volumes at 100 different libraries. A university spokeswoman said officials haven't yet determined how many volumes would be included, although Greenstein indicated it would likely number in the millions.

Officials at UC and Google declined to comment on negotiations, saying a contract has not yet been signed.

UC President Robert Dynes, who holds ultimate authority over the deal, told regents he supports the plan, which would provide a "marvelous amount of data" for students and researchers.

"We're on the edge of a transformation here," said Dynes, a physicist who said he conducts all his research through digital holdings.

"I have not set foot in a library in five years," he said.

Greenstein said Google makes two digital copies of each work. One copy is indexed on the Web site, and the second remains with the university, which can then make the digital work available on its own servers.

Digital searches often turn up far more information than is revealed through a traditional card-catalog search, Greenstein said.

"Research will be conducted against the full text," he said, which can "help people find what they need and map out and exploit patterns of information that are hidden to the human eye and now only stumbled upon by serendipity."

UC would also save money through the partnership, Greenstein said. It costs UC about $38 per book to digitize its holdings, he told regents, whereas it would cost around $2 per book in tandem with Google. But he said UC would have to invest between $1 million and $5 million for additional disk space for the digital holdings, plus an additional $300,000 to $500,000 a year to manage the collection.

Regents were cautiously supportive of the plan, although several questioned whether Google ultimately stands to profit handsomely from the deal. Regent Norm Pattiz said the agreement should allow UC to share in future profits.

"Move forward with caution," advised regents Chairman Gerald Parsky, "and be able to defend for the next 30 years that the arrangement is fair for the university."

The Google partnership wouldn't be UC's first foray into publicly available online holdings.

Last year, the university inked a deal with Yahoo Inc. to provide the full text of as many as 20,000 out-of-copyright books by great American authors to an online library.

Contact Michelle Maitre at mmaitre@angnewspapers.com.

Source: Oakland Tribune

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