Re: "Limited" Google Books Search ?

Quoting "Walker, David" <dwalker_at_CALSTATE.EDU>:

> Thanks, Ed.  I guess it helps to read the "Definitions" section of   
> the document. :-P
>
> Section 4.1 (c) says that "Google may work through intermediaries to  
>  sell Institutional Subscriptions."  I wonder, then, if maybe   
> libraries will be able to license smaller sets of Google Book Search  
>  though one of these "intermediaries," maybe like how we are   
> licensing Safari books through Proquest?

I've been at meetings where Dan Clancy of Google Books has been asked  
this question and his answer has been: We are not ruling it out.

I am of the impression that they haven't yet much of an idea of what  
the Institution Subscription will look like. They have 5 years from  
the effective date of the agreement to come out with it. In my  
opinion, they would do well to find a library-experienced vendor to be  
the provider -- I just can't see Google providing the kind of service  
support that libraries are accustomed to. (Plus, there was the choice  
comment by Dan Clancy in the first ALA meeting on the topic when  
someone asked him if they'd consider working with consortia for the  
subscriptions, and his reply was something like: "Yes, there's no way  
we want to deal with getting $5,000 checks from a lot of little  
libraries." Which made me think that he has no idea of the reality of  
doing business with libraries, and will probably be better off not  
finding out. )

kc


>
> --Dave
>
> ==================
> David Walker
> Library Web Services Manager
> California State University
> http://xerxes.calstate.edu
> ________________________________________
> From: Next generation catalogs for libraries   
> [NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Ed Jones [ejones_at_NU.EDU]
> Sent: Monday, November 02, 2009 12:19 PM
> To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
> Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] "Limited" Google Books Search ?
>
> Limited Subscription is defined in 1.83 as "an Institutional   
> Subscription offered to a library that allows the subscribing   
> library access only to the Books Digitized from that library, or   
> only to the Books held by that library."
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Next generation catalogs for libraries   
> [mailto:NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Walker, David
> Sent: Monday, November 02, 2009 11:30 AM
> To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
> Subject: [NGC4LIB] "Limited" Google Books Search ?
>
> Section 4.1 (a)(vi)(1)(b) of the proposed Google Book Search   
> settlement [1], in talking about "institutional subscriptions,"  says:
>
>     Subscription for each of the classes of institutions identified in
>     Section 4.1(a)(iv) (Pricing Bands), including Institutional
>     Subscriptions for each of the discipline-based collections that may
>     be offered, Institutional Subscriptions that provide access to the
>     entire Institutional Subscription Database, and any Limited
>     Subscriptions.
>
> As far as I can tell, "Limited Subscriptions" is nowhere else   
> defined in the document.  I'm curious is if anyone has any insight   
> into this?
>
> I ask because, the document says in an earlier section that   
> institutional subscriptions will be based on "prices for comparable   
> products and services."  Based on what we're paying now for, say,   
> Safari, I'm guessing a 10-million (or so) volume e-book collection   
> is going to be VERY expensive.
>
> Further, the document says that Google can (only?) offer two   
> "versions" of subscriptions: (1) the entire database, or (2)   
> "discipline-based collections."
>
> It seems to me, though, that if an undergraduate institution cannot   
> afford the entire GBS database -- which I think may be entirely   
> likely -- "discipline-based" collections won't be a suitable   
> alternative.  It's not like we would only buy a Sociology GBS   
> collection, for example, and tell everyone else they're out of luck.
>
> So I think there is a need for a version of Google Book Search that   
> would span all disciplines, but not include all books.  A kind of   
> Google Book Search Elite (compared to Premiere or Complete), to   
> borrow an Ebsco naming convention.
>
> I wonder, then, if the "Limited Subscription" is just such a thing?
>
> --Dave
>
> [1] http://books.google.com/booksrightsholders/Settlement-Agreement.zip
>
> ==================
> David Walker
> Library Web Services Manager
> California State University
> http://xerxes.calstate.edu
>

-- 
Karen Coyle
kcoyle@kcoyle.net http://kcoyle.net
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m: 1-510-435-8234
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