VINE

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the legal implications presented by the Google Library Project which entails the digitization of the collections of five prominent libraries.

Design/methodology/approach – This paper focuses on knowledge access and the effect digitization will have on the availability of books heretofore available only in analog form and in libraries. This paper does not address “e-books” or similar electronic publishing formats but instead analyzes the process of digitizing hard copy books in their entirety, making the content available for searching online, and the copyright, private property, and antitrust issues that will confront a online commercial library.

Findings – While conducting research for this paper, it was found that the internet space opens up as many problems as opportunities. The copyright laws have been well balanced over the years to reflect the interests of the copyright holder and the public. Commercial entities, in particular, internet search engines, are entering into licensing and other contractual arrangements which may limit public access to works that would otherwise be available for use under the existing fair use, first sale, and library exemption regimes.

Originality/value – What may be considered original is the emphasis on the contract between Google and the University of Michigan's “cooperative agreement.” It is unusual that such a document is available for public scrutiny and provides a window into the thinking of both parties. Google, with extraordinary assets available to it, may be able to unfairly skew knowledge access in a way unimaginable in a traditional library setting. Characterizing the legal relationship between Google, the libraries, and the public may not be new, but the approach should afford additional insight into the ongoing hard copy/electronic copy debate.