Library Journal on Google
A couple interesting articles on Google from Library Journal:
The first, Google Out of Print by Roy Tennant, takes a critical look at the copyright restrictions of the service, speculating that there will be an overrepresentation of text from the pre-1923 books.
The second, The Google Opportunity by Stephen Abram, lists some ways that libraries can keep relevant in a post-Google Print world. A couple of the good points he makes:
Get on the bandwagon early When you experiment, you become expert as innovations hit their stride. We should experiment more with pilots in specific areas—such as the adoption of new browsers like Firefox or Opera that offer some hope for browser “biological” diversity and will reduce our exposure to the spam, virus, and spyware wars. I’d love to see libraries riding the crest of the e-learning wave; there’s development money here, and libraries are integrally tied to continuous and institutional learning. We should also experiment with ethical P2P file sharing and streaming media architectures in preparation for the new generation of files that hold information and cultural objects.
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Make the library discoverable What happens when you search for your library on Yahoo!, MSN, and Google? Your web site is there, right? … If we want to survive we must place our messages where the users are seeking answers and will trip over them. Today, that usually means at Yahoo!, MSN, and Google.