Thursday, March 24, 2011

Robert Darnton on a National Digital Library

Robert Darnton on the Google decision, in the Times:

ON Tuesday, Denny Chin, a federal judge in Manhattan, rejected the settlement between Google, which aims to digitize every book ever published, and a group of authors and publishers who had sued the company for copyright infringement. This decision is a victory for the public good, preventing one company from monopolizing access to our common cultural heritage.

Nonetheless, we should not abandon Google’s dream of making all the books in the world available to everyone. Instead, we should build a digital public library, which would provide these digital copies free of charge to readers. Yes, many problems — legal, financial, technological, political — stand in the way. All can be solved. . . . [read more]

Robert Darnton, "A Digital Library Better Than Google's," New York Times, 24 March 2011.

No comments: