Alexander Johannesen wrote:
>
> I say; let Google buy the library world. *Then* we'll get some serious
> action, both in terms of "better" and in terms of "reliable". They'll
> get better, and you'll get funding and to prove your worth forever.
> Win-win. :)
>
A joke, of course. They know much better than that, obtaining the
collective results of a century of library work for free. Not just
the catalog data from OCLC (without which they couldn't be as good as
they are with the known-item search), but it is obvious that to get
carefully built and maintained collections for scanning is worth
immensely more than using just any stuff found in the vaults of
antiquarian bookstores or wherever.
They are welcome to do all this as long as the searching is free
and much of the stuff itself too, as far as copyright allows.
Theoretically, the whole operation might result in more transparent
tools and be more sustainable and trustworthy had it been done by
public entities, but they would have had to sacrifice a new aircraft
carrier or something. An unrealistic idea for any number of reasons,
even less so than your's.
B.Eversberg
Received on Thu Apr 29 2010 - 03:55:22 EDT