Libraries Shun Deals to Place Books on Web
By: Katie Hefner
Published October 22nd, 2007
New York Times: Technology
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/22/technology/22library.html

With the new age of computers becoming the center of technology and information, people are looking for more ways to increase the uses of the internet. A new idea that could be very beneficial to education of people is having books available in full-text online for anyone to access. The Open Content Alliance is a nonprofit group effort aimed at making their materials broadly available. The OCA makes books available for any search service, but Google and Microsoft and others place certain restrictions on access to their books in order to help them and not make it free for any one to access. The OCA uses its group members and benefactors to pay the $30 per book to scan unto the databases. Google however covers the costs of scanning the books and donate money to the libraries; however some libraries are still choosing not to join Google stating, “Many in the academic and nonprofit world are intent on pursuing a vision of the Web as a global repository of knowledge that is free of business interests or restrictions.” Meaning if the information should be available on the internet, then it should be available to anyone wanting to access it. After talking to some libraries about why they chose not to go with Google it seemed evident that they did not want restrictions on the materials access but rather the opportunity for any person who chooses to be able to access the book with no inconvenience or cost.
My personal opinion of this article is a feeling of happiness knowing that there are people that are fighting for information to be available to anyone who so chooses. Too much of our world is revolving around the monetary value of things. I am happy that Google is at least making books more available, however the OCA seems to be more concerned with anyone accessing the books then only a paying customer. With books and knowledge available worldwide, humanity will move farther into the future. Now people in the entire world can gain access to poems written by Edgar Allen Poe or books by J.K. Rowling. This can only be a step forward for our society, and if something happens to the books, and then we can still access the material. My only hope is that this stays away from a money issue and they figure out faster ways to place these books on the internet to begin a new transition into ways of accessing knowledge.
Brad Ingold