Books

Faculty as Authors, Faculty as Researchers: What You Need to Know About the Google Book Search Settlement

Note: This is a longer version of an article that appeared in the Libraries’ most recent faculty newsletter. Google Book Search started in 2004 as a project to digitize and make available online millions of books held by a group of major university libraries. The plan was to digitize everything but only make fully available those books that were in the public domain, that is, no longer protected by copyright law. The books that were still under copyright would be presented in “snippets” – a few sentences displaying a user’s search terms in context, but the entire work would not be made available online. Copyright holders would also be given the option of granting permission for their work to be made freely available in its entirety, or for a limited preview (more extensive than the “snippet” view) to be made available online. In 2008, a group of authors and publishers initiated a class action lawsuit against Google, who they claim violated their copyrights by scanning and digitizing published works without permission. Google denied any wrongdoing, claiming that its actions are covered by the concept of “fair use” in U.S. copyright law; however, it decided to offer a settlement to the group of authors and publishers rather than having the suit go to trial. If you are the author of a book published in the United States (or a chapter in such a book) before January 5, 2009, you need to know how the Google Book Search Settlement affects you. First, determine whether you or your publisher holds the copyright to your book. If you hold the copyright and want to receive payment for the inclusion of your work in Google Book Search, or exclude your work entirely from Google Book Search, then you must “claim” your work or works at the Google Book Search Settlement administration website by June 5, 2010. If your publisher owns the copyright to your book, then the publisher gets to decide if it will be included in Google Book Search, and it will be entitled to the rights holder’s financial compensation. Some argue that the Google Book Search settlement, if approved, sets a dangerous precedent in its handling of what are called “orphan works” – books still in copyright and for which the rights holders cannot be identified or located. The Department of Justice submitted a “statement of concern” that Google would have the potential to monopolize the commercial market for these works. Google submitted a revision of the proposed settlement on November 13, 2009, which contained provisions for an independent trustee to represent the missing rights holders and removing some of the barriers to other companies licensing content digitized by Google. However, the fact remains that access to these works may change over time. This affects you as a researcher, as do the provisions of the settlement that limit full-text access and printing capabilities. Google’s mission is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” – but in the case of Google Book Search, just how that will happen is still uncertain. Recommended Reading “About Google Books” http://www.google.com/googlebooks/about.html “Google Book Search” http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/google_inc/google_book_search/index.html “Google Book Search and the Future of Books in Cyberspace” http://ssrn.com/abstract=1535067 “The Google Book Search Settlement: A New Orphan-Works Monopoly?” http://uchicagolaw.typepad.com/faculty/2009/04/the-google-book-search-settlement-a-new-orphanworks-monopoly.html “Google Book Settlement” http://www.googlebooksettlement.com/ “Google Books Settlement: Key Players Comment” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/23/google-books-settlement-k_n_361393.html “Will Your Book Be in Google?” http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/will-your-book-be-in-google-final.pdf

Boston Book Festival – Saturday, 10/24 in Copley Square

I’ll be volunteering at the first annual Boston Book Festival being held this Saturday (10/24) in Copley Square.  The festival features 90 authors reading from their works and signing books, and 40 exhibitors. Events will be taking place at the Boston Public Library, Trinity Church, and the Old South Church. And, it’s free! The keynote speaker will be Pulitzer Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk. However, I admit I’m most intrigued by the session called “Writer Idol,” in which an actor will read the first pages of unpublished manuscripts submitted by audience members, and a panel of judges (editors and literary agents) will offer their opinions on what works and what doesn’t. Get more info at http://www.bostonbookfest.org/.

Environmentalism Books and more – at your finger tips

Books Do you want to keep up on the latest new and upcoming books on a specific aspect of Environmentalism? Then every Wednesday check out The Green Life, or subscribe to their RSS feed and receive it on your computer. If your interest is Food Politics, then maybe Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal is a book for you. This is written by Tristram Stuart who has become so dedicated to reducing food waste that he has become a FREEGAN (some one who lives off discarded or self-produced food).  Through his investigations he finds out that it is not underproduction but waste  that is at the cause of world’s food problems. Or maybe it is Building Green Communities, then how about looking at Change the World for ten Bucks: small actions x lots of people = Big Change. This is by a London-based nonprofit We Are What We Do which has put together 50 actions that can lead to more sustainable communities. Each week they cover a different subject, such as: Forests, Building Green Communities and making craft projects from recycled or eco-friendly materials. You never know what you will find. It could be something new that you might just become passionate about. If you see a book that you think the Library should invest in, you can recommend it here.

Recommendations

As far as blog posts go, this is most likely my last for a while. I will not be around in the summer or fall of this year. In the spring of 2009, I should be back at work. Provided that this blog is still operational, I will be back to posting then. I will continue to post on the Facebook page and continue to leave comments. This is my opening disclaimer for this post.

I have decided to make this a comment–oriented post. There are numerous books that I want to read in the upcoming months, but it seems that I can never get around to them. Sometimes I feel that I am being too ambitious and trying to read books that are too weighty for this time in my life, when I have a lot of things going on. But I think I will get around to reading Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. I have heard generally good things about this book, and it seems to be very popular for a work of ‘literary fiction.’ It has been made in to a movie starring Viggo Mortensen that will premiere at Cannes in May. Before I see that film I will try to read this book and try not to picture Viggo Mortensen as the main character. Perhaps this will add another dimension of difficulty to the book.

I also want to get around to reading, at least partly, some of Pauline Kael’s writings in her various collections of Film Criticism. Trash, Art and the Movies is her most famous essay; I don’t think I’ve ever gotten around to reading all thirty-something pages. I would like to read The Citizen Kane Book: Raising Kane, where she argues that Orson Welles deserves more credit than is necessary for revolutionizing cinema with Citizen Kane, and even in the creation of certain aspects of the movie itself. I have read with interest other writings by Pauline Kael that I’ve read (what fan of movies hasn’t?) and feel the need to dig in to more.

But I need some recommendations as well. What are other good books that Snell Library has which are worth reading? What about movies? What is a good summer read. i.e something that is sort of silly but interesting? I still have two and a half more months in Boston (before I go to New York for a spell) and still need to spend some time in the Snell stacks.

Is reading on the Web really reading?

Here I go again on the subject of the Internet and our changing reading habits. I just finished reading a New York Times article (yes, I read it online) (also, be warned, it’s LONG for a web article) focusing on children and teenagers and whether the reading they do on the Internet is as valuable for their intellectual development as reading books. It reports that the number of teens who read books for pleasure is down, according to surveys — but does that matter, if they are still reading for pleasure but now primarily from online sources? The article discusses both sides of the issue and doesn’t draw any conclusions one way or the other, but it’s interesting food for thought. Do you think kids get the same value from reading blogs, online fan fiction, and so on, as they do from reading novels or nonfiction books?