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Major Google Books Agreement with AAP

Big news day! This will have a huge impact on libraries as we know them.
Authors, Publishers, and Google Reach Landmark Settlement
Copyright Accord Would Make Millions More Books Available Online

“NEW YORK, NY (October 28, 2008) – The Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers (AAP), and Google today announced a groundbreaking settlement agreement on behalf of a broad class of authors and publishers worldwide that would expand online access to millions of in-copyright books and other written materials in the U.S. from the collections of a number of major U.S. libraries participating in Google Book Search.. . . ”
For more information check out these postings:
New chapter for Google Book Search
Google Book Search pays authors $125M and opens up access to books in the US
Reaction to Google Book Search Settlement
Googlezon: good or bad?
Google/Authors Guild Settlement reached; possible sea change for online books?
“approved by the court, the agreement would provide:
MORE ACCESS TO OUT-OF-PRINT BOOKS — Generating greater exposure for millions of in-copyright works, including hard-to-find out-of-print books, by enabling readers in the U.S. to search these works and preview them online;
ADDITIONAL WAYS TO PURCHASE COPYRIGHTED BOOKS — Building off publishers’ and authors’ current efforts and further expanding the electronic market for copyrighted books in the U.S., by offering users the ability to purchase online access to many in-copyright books;
INSTITUTIONAL SUBSCRIPTIONS TO MILLIONS OF BOOKS ONLINE — Offering a means for U.S. colleges, universities and other organizations to obtain subscriptions for online access to collections from some of the world’s most renowned libraries;
FREE ACCESS FROM U.S. LIBRARIES — Providing free, full-text, online viewing of millions of out-of-print books at designated computers in U.S. public and university libraries; and
COMPENSATION TO AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS AND CONTROL OVER ACCESS TO THEIR WORKS — Distributing payments earned from online access provided by Google and, prospectively, from similar programs that may be established by other providers, through a newly created independent, not-for-profit Book Rights Registry that will also locate rightsholders, collect and maintain accurate rightsholder information, and provide a way for rightsholders to request inclusion in or exclusion from the project.”
And then there’s always trhe libraries angle:
“The End of Snippet View: Google Settles Lawsuit with Book Publishers – ReadWriteWeb
Licenses for Libraries
Libraries, universities, and other organizations will also be able to purchase an institutional subscription, which will give users the ability to access the full text of all the titles in the Google Books index. This, depending on the pricing, could turn out to be a revolutionary development for libraries.
Google Books is already changing the way many of us are doing our research, and having access to even more books is only going to move this trend forward even faster.
It is important to note that this settlement only applies to U.S. copyright holders. Users outside of the U.S. will not see any changes to Google Books yet.”
Amazing changes. This goes so much farther than the Tasini decision. It’ll be interesting it see how it all plays out. Read up on it. It’s important.
Of course, this just applies to the U.S. . . .
There’s the thin edge off the wedge though. Can I say that I hope Canada comes in next? Hmmm, add this to the Google books API and things get really interesting…
Stephen

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Posted on: October 28, 2008, 7:01 pm Category: Uncategorized

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