Leave it to the libraries to remind us of what's really important:
Several major research libraries have rebuffed offers from Google and Microsoft to scan their books into computer databases, saying they are put off by restrictions these companies want to place on the new digital collections.
…
Although Google is making public-domain books readily available to individuals who wish to download them, Mr. Kahle and others worry about the possible implications of having one company store and distribute so much public-domain content.
“Scanning the great libraries is a wonderful idea, but if only one corporation controls access to this digital collection, we’ll have handed too much control to a private entity,” Mr. Kahle said.
The Open Content Alliance, he said, “is fundamentally different, coming from a community project to build joint collections that can be used by everyone in different ways.”
(emph. mine)
Several libraries are working with Google and the Open Content Alliance, but many more, such as the Boston Library, Smithsonian, Library of Congress, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are going with the Open Alliance.
(via MetaFilter)
