The Google Books Settlement:
A Partner Library Perspective
Ivy Anderson
California Digital Library
ivy.anderson@ucop.edu
Library Journal Virtual E-Book Summit
September 29, 2010
Why Are Libraries Digitizing
Their Books with Google?
UC Library Circulation Transactions
1998 – 1999
1999 – 2000
2000 – 2001
2001 – 2002
2002 – 2003
2003 – 2004
2004 – 2005
2005 – 2006
2006 – 2007
2007 – 2008
5,899,588
5,001,955*
6,191,228
3,769,016
3,830,020
3,831,546
3,326,110
3,473,855
3,624,662
2,993,659
* 1999-2000 Santa Barbara statistics not available
Usage of Library Materials at UC
(2007)
45,000,000
40,000,000
39,293,150
35,000,000
30,000,000
25,000,000
20,000,000
15,000,000
10,000,000
3,624,662
5,000,000
225,690
0
E-Resource Usage,
2007 (partial data)
Circulation
Transactions
ILL Borrowing
Transactions
Six Goals of Mass Digitization
1. Improve discovery
–
full text indexing via Internet search engines makes relevant book content easier to find
2. Improve access
–
Books available in full view can be delivered wherever users are working – home, office,
laptops, mobile devices, ebook readers…
3. Enable new modes of scholarship
–
Text mining and other forms of sophisticated textual or computational analysis can unlock the
knowledge contained in books in new ways
4. Preserve and protect our collections
–
Whether from normal or catastrophic loss, preserving our books digitally will safeguard the
intellectual record for future generations
5. Manage our print collections more effectively
–
By making our collections available in digital form, libraries can adopt more efficient strategies
for managing and providing access to the corresponding print volumes when needed
6. Fulfill our public service mission
–
Many books of enduring general interest in the public domain can now be read by anyone,
anywhere, anytime.
Could we digitize our
collections ourselves on this
scale?
Book digitization without Google
COST
15 million UC books:
TIME
$495 million / 144 years*
* Based on mass digitization throughput of 2,000 volumes / week for a 20-scanner facility
working two shifts @ $.10 per page
Library partnerships with
commercial firms are not new
What Is Changed by the
Settlement?
GBS Pre-Settlement
1923
Full View (Public Domain) || Discovery Only + Snippets (In-Copyright) ------------
• Full view for pre-1923 public domain only
• Full text search + snippets for in-copyright material
GBS Post-Settlement
199-?
Full View (Public Domain + Out-of-Print) --------------------------- Preview (In-Print)
• Full access to ‘millions’ more books
– including most of the 20th century
•
•
•
•
Previews for in-print material
Research corpus for advanced research
Access for print-disabled users
Will support more efficient print collection management
Criticism has improved the
Settlement
• Most Favored Nation clause removed
• Better treatment of orphan works
– Eliminates conflict of interest with known
rightsholders
• Explicit provisions enabling rightsholders
to make their books available without
restriction or cost
Some responses to the
Settlement controversy
Pricing
Monopoly
Orphan Works
Charging high prices for
subscriptions
– The Settlement’s broad distribution requirement will work against
this
– Pricing is subject to a formal challenge process including binding
arbitration
– Libraries are experienced in negotiating access to ebook content
and will assess the Institutional Subscription critically
– Under the ASA, Google can offer discounted pricing indefinitely
– There will be a more level playing field if orphan works legislation
passes
Giving Google a monopoly
– Amazon and Microsoft protesting Google’s monopoly???
– The book market is large and diverse
• $24 billion in the US alone
• Most book sales are for very current materials; out of print books are a
minor factor
• Many out of print works are in the public domain with no barriers to
competition (1.8M free ebooks are available for the Kindle today)
• Microsoft and others had the same opportunity, but withdrew
– Under the ASA, 3rd party resellers can sell access to Google
books (including orphans) under the Consumer Purchase Model
and receive most of Google’s 37% revenue share
– The Book Rights Registry and individual rights holders can strike
deals with other providers, and are expected to do so
• The Registry will have an incentive to work with other distribution channels
to demonstrate its relevance to rights holders
• Most Favored Nation clause no longer a factor
Locking up orphan works
– Google’s competitors will be motivated to join the push for
orphan works legislation
• If successful, orphan works legislation will override the Settlement
terms, making Google’s privileged position short-lived
– Meanwhile, the ASA removes the conflict of interest between
registered rights holders and rights holders of unclaimed works
– As rights holders surface via the Settlement claims process, the
true scope of orphan works will be better known
• Once that happens, providing access to remaining unclaimed works
will entail less risk than it does currently, making the legal
protections offered to Google under the Settlement less of an
advantage
The Bottom Line
• As one commentator has written:
– “The settlement is not what you would come up with if you
began with a blank piece of paper and designed the optimal
system for all the interested parties.”
•
Nonetheless, the Settlement will:
– Make millions of books in research library collections more accessible to users
and the general public than ever before – more accessible than they are now via
Google Book Search
– Provide a significant corpus of material for advanced computational research
– Allow individual rights holders to convey broader use rights if they wish
– Allow participating libraries to retain their copies of Google in-copyright scans for
replacement purposes, for the creation of additional services, and for long-term
preservation of the intellectual record
– Create additional opportunities for management of library print collections
– Potentially, spur a more rational legislative solution for orphan works
Finally…
Libraries, not Google, are in
charge of their own future
http://catalog.hathitrust.org
Currently digitized:
• 6.6 million volumes
• 1.3 million public domain
• Projected: 12 million by 2014