Google Co-Founder Proposes “A Library to Last Forever”
Well, he doesn’t seem to have a thorough knowledge of interlibrary loan, but Sergey Brin, Google co-founder and technology president, does make some interesting points about the Google Books project in an Op-Ed for the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/opinion/09brin.html
Nylink’s position is expressed in a joint objection from Lyrasis, NYLINK, and the Bibliographical Center for Research (BCR), which states that, while the settlement “has the potential to provide unprecedented public access to a digital library containing millions of books,” if not modified, it could lead to “unwarranted exclusion of library consortia.”
They said that the term “Institutional Consortium” is defined as including members of the International Coalition of Library Consortia with the exception of OCLC-affiliated networks. They said that there’s no consensus as to the definition of OCLC-affiliated network and that, even if there were, the understanding became moot because of recent changes in OCLC business arrangements.
Because of the many objections received by the court, the Google Book Settlement has been delayed. An amended version must be submitted by November 9th. Significant amendments were suggested by the Open Book Alliance, a group opposing the settlement that represents companies like Microsoft and Amazon (and NYLA), the nonprofit Internet Archive, and trade groups like American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), but the revision will most likely address Justice Department concerns regarding specific clauses.
