NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Here We Go Again: Photographers Group Reportedly to Sue Over Google Books
Here We Go Again: Photographers Group Reportedly to Sue Over Google Books http://bit.ly/ad3PVO (Search Engine Land) We all understand that everyone wants a piece of the action. But what good does it do *anybody* if so many orphan and out-of-print works are trapped in libraries where so relatively few people can see them? Last week for the first time in ages I had occasion to be back on the UCLA campus, and I took the opportunity to visit two of the main libraries that I used to know so well. I headed first to the main Research Library, and just like decades ago, virtually everyone was piling into the elevators at the front (easily accessible stairs only reach the second floor). So I was pleased to find that my "secret" rear elevators were still being ignored (and amused to realize that they had the same stomach-churning acceleration curve that I remembered). Up on my old haunt of the fourth floor, I plopped down at the very same study desk that I used to frequent for endless hours back in the 70s. Except for some new graffiti (that must have replaced generations of old graffiti), and a couple of PCs for accessing online indexes, it was as if no time had passed at all. The sights, the sounds of the air conditioning that I remembered so well and mentioned in "The Joy of Libraries, a Fireman's Flame, and the Google Books Settlement" ( http://bit.ly/e8Cxh ) -- all the same. Let's do the Time Warp again. I searched out a few obscure books that I recalled passing the time with so long ago. They were still there, exactly where I had last left them. Perhaps unmoved since then. In fact, a strip of paper that I had inserted in one book to mark my place and had forgotten about -- something like 35 years ago -- was still there between the pages, dutifully having waited for my return. How much better for everyone if these wonderful books could also be accessed by the world. --Lauren-- NNSquad Moderator