Google Book Search

Introduction
 Google Book Search

Introduction
 Google Book Search

Introduction

’
 Google Book Search

Table of Contents
 Google Book Search

History and Background

Google Book Search Overview

• Tool for searching full text of scanned books in digital database
• Limited view of pages that contain searched keyword and relevant info
• Free PDF downloads of public-domain works and non-copyright material
• Over one million volumes in database
• Publishers can promote books for free by making them searchable online
• Content is protected; only limited preview allowed
• Publishers can use AdWords to run targeted ad campaigns
• Links to retailers allows users to buy books
 Google Book Search

History and Background

Google Books Promo Video

• Dr. Joshua Schwimmer talks about using Google Book Search as a
teaching tool for patient care.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8rlJZDOef8
 Google Book Search

History and Background

Library Project
• Working w/ several major libraries to digitize books and build a
comprehensive, searchable virtual catalog
• Stanford University
• New York Public Library
• Keio University in Japan
• National Library of Catalonia
• SULAIR staff undertaking tasks from physical handling of books to
database management
• Many items from Stanford collections, such as government docs from US
Congress, available online
• Over 8 million collections at Stanford
 Google Book Search

History and Background

Interview with Andrew Herkovic

• How did Google first pitch the Google Books Project to Stanford Libraries?

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 Google Book Search

Table of Contents
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Copyright

• Google only places the full text of books that are not copyrighted.

• All other books can be searched within.

• Google has an opt-out policy, where books will be removed upon

the copyright owner’s request.

• Google does not have to get the copyright owner’s permission because

of “fair use.”
 Google Book Search

Copyright

• Google has been sued by The Author’s Guild and the Association of
American Publishers.

• They argue:
• Google Book Search does not get the publisher’s permission to use a
book.
• Google is profiting on a derivative, which is not fair use
• Google Argues:
• Google Book Search does not need the publisher’s permission because
it falls under fair use.
• Fair use does not imply non-profit
 Google Book Search

Copyright

• Google’s argument relies on an analogy to Internet image searches.

• In the US court case Kelly vs Arriba Soft, a commercial photographer
sued the image search engine for displaying his copyrighted image
without his permission.
• The court judged that the thumbnail was protected by fair use because
it is a representation of the image, not the image itself. The low-quality
version is not a replacement for the original and does not affect its
market.
• Google makes the same argument about the pages shown from a
copyrighted book that surround the searched the keyword.
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Table of Contents
 Google Book Search

Censorship
Book Censorship in the US
• 1st Amendment guarantees freedom of speech and press
• Obscenity and defamation restricted in major media outlets by government
• Contents of books regulated by publishers
• Censorship of children’s books
• Harry Potter (witchcraft and wizardry)
• Books w/ obscene and profane contents
• Google’s policy on censorship in the US
 Google Book Search

Censorship
Censorship in China
• Notorious for censorship
• Tight government regulations on print and online publications
• In 2006, Google launched a censored version of its site in China
• Restricts access to sensitive terms and web sites
• Taiwanese independence
• Tiananmen Square massacre
• Dalai Lama
• Falun Gong spiritual movement
• July 2006, Google Book Search made deal with four Chinese publishing
houses
• Chinese version of Google Book Search only includes works from
Mainland China
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Table of Contents
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Globalization

April 2005:
October
January 22,
2004:
Expanded
2005:
Google
Google
ideas
Printcomes
Introduced
under published
attackatby
Frankfurt
as
thea President
bookBook Fair
of the
French National Library

“Quand Google Defie l‘Europe”

l‘Europe:
- Jean-Noël
Plaidoyer Jeanneney
Pour un Sursaut”
- Jean-Noël Jeanneney

“When Google Defies Europe”

Europe:
- Jean-Noël
a Call Jeanneney
to Wake up”
- Jean-Noël Jeanneney
 Google Book Search

Globalization

• Google will favor books written in English.

• Google Book Search decontextualizes books

from their cultures.

• The search results rank books in a way that

is in conflict with the way literary scholars
rank them.

• The world should not entrust its literary

cultural heritage to a for-profit, American
corporation.

• Google’s aggressive stance on copyright issues

may lead to legislation which hampers existing
digitization efforts by libraries.
 Google Book Search

Globalization

• Google will favor books written in English.

University
University
Keio
Ghent
TheBavarianComplutense
University
Library
National University
State of
Library of Madrid
Library
Lausanne
of Library
LibraryCatalonia
 Google Book Search

Globalization

• Google will favor books written in English.

 Google Book Search

Globalization

• Google book search decontextualizes books

from their cultures.

• The search results rank books in a way that

is in conflict with the way literary scholars
rank them.
• Who should be the arbiters of culture is an
opinion?
 Google Book Search

Globalization

• The world should not entrust its literary

cultural heritage to a for-profit, American
corporation.

• Public libraries in the US have expressed

similar concerns in the New York Times
 Google Book Search

Globalization

• The world should not entrust its literary

cultural heritage to a for-profit, American
corporation.

• Public libraries in the US have expressed

similar concerns in the New York Times.

• This has led to the creation of non-profit book

digitization projects.
• Open Content Alliance
• European Digital Library Project
 Google Book Search

Globalization

• Google’s aggressive stance on copyright issues

may lead to legislation which hampers existing
digitization efforts by libraries.
• A Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
for books?
 Google Book Search

Conclusion
Do you think that Google Book Search will become a global library?
What are your views on the future of the library filled with hardcover books?

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 Google Book Search

Website

http://www.stanford.edu/~gaxiola/Google%20Books/Home.html
 Google Book Search

Members
 Google Book Search

Appendix: Copyright

• Fair Use is as the right set forth in Section 107 of the United States
Copyright Act, to use copyrighted materials without the copyright
holder’s permission1:

• Section 107 sets out four factors to be considered in determining

whether or not a particular use is fair:
1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of
commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes
2. The nature of the copyrighted work
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the
copyrighted work as a whole
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the
copyrighted work

1
Definition of “fair use” from the Yale Library
 Google Book Search

Copyright

• Google also argues that it would be impossible to obtain the copyright

owner’s permission for every copyrighted article, since many copyrights
have exchanged owners over time with no central record.

• Therefore, it is common sense that they should be protected by fair

use, since the project would be impossible otherwise.

• Supreme Court case, farmers sue so planes cannot fly over their land,
defined from the earth to "an indefinite extent, upwards."

• “Common sense revolts at the idea.”

• Similarly, it is common sense that Google would have to scan a book in

order to provide a book search.