This post comes a bit late relative to our discussions regarding Google, in particular Google books, but I've been having trouble accessing the blog until now.
I have an interesting perspective surrounding the copyright issues surrounding Google Books. I am a volunteer librarian for a library which holds a very valuable collection of magazines, many of which are irreplacable, and in some cases we may have the only existing copy in public hands. (Or the only copy remaining at all...) Many of these magazines are also not in the best condition.
We've had interests in getting them scanned by Google so that they will be preserved. However, some of these magazines are not out of copyright, and a great concern of our library, among many others, is that in entrusting our books to Google, we might also be hit with a legal challenge should a copyright holder decide to come after Google. Our library runs on a tiny budget and most of that goest to aquiring new books and library supplies. We wouldn't be able to fight a lawsuit.
As of writing this the project is at a stalemate, and the magazines we are trying to protect are slowly crumbling. Unless we can get some proof that we would not have lawyers come after us in the event of a lawsuit against Google, we can't proceed.
It presents an interesting problem for libraries everywhere, and is representative of the conflict of traditional copyright law with new forms of information distribution. On the one hand, it would surely be better to preserve the magazines for others to enjoy than to let them be destroyed. But on the other, many copyright holders do have legitimate claims against Google Books. Who will buy a book if they can just get it for free online?
Personally, I think that preservation of information should be held above our somewhat flawed copyright system (Thank you, Disney.), but then I'm just the librarian...
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