December 3, 2010 – By controlling access to information, Google may represent the ultimate in business plans and is now investing in the control of the information itself. Some thoguhtful insights into what began as Google Book Search, and is fast becoming the largest library and book business in the world, have been presented by Robert Darnton, Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor at Harvard and director of the Harvard University Library.
This interesting article, “How Google Can Save America’s Books,” was found on History News Network. Dr. Darton suggests that though their purposes are different, libraries and Google could become of like mind if Google were willing to contribute some of its data and expertise to the creation of a Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). He suggests building a public digital library composed of all the books in our rich research libraries. Huge project; is it feasible? Darton thinks so.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Data Harmony, a unit of Access Innovations, the world leader in indexing and making content findable.
