Category: books

unintended consequences of Google Books project

Posted on by jessamyn

I was lucky enough to catch Brewster Kahle talking with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now on my drive home from NJLA. I feel like I’m pretty up on what’s going on with Google and the Internet Archive and book scanning. What I didn’t know is how Google’s agreements with libraries are hindering the IA’s access, not because of the contracts, but just because of differing priorities. The video and transcript are now available online.

AMY GOODMAN: Explain what you mean when you say it’s not legally required. You mean in the contract, what they have with Google? And so, if Google was here, they’d say, “We didn’t say they couldn’t give it to Internet Archive. That’s their prerogative.”

BREWSTER KAHLE: Correct, that basically Google didn’t put it in their contract. Yet from a library’s perspective, why have a book scanned twice? It’s wear and tear on the books. If they think that—and they wouldn’t have signed it if they didn’t think that the Google thing was a good idea. But now that they’ve signed this with Google, they don’t want it scanned again. And this is a problem, because the books, even the out-of-copyright books, are locked up perpetually.

Libraries of the future – here for you now

Posted on by jessamyn

One of the fun parts of the Symposium this wekeend was seeing Brewster Kahle talk about stuff. He started out by talking about this book Libraries of the Future that he wanted to scan and put on the Internet Archive. He then talked further about how figuring out who owned the copyrights for it was a total pain in the ass. I’m not even sure if he ever did figure it out; he even had MIT’s librarians working on it. The book is online anyhow. I haven’t looked at books in the Open Library project in a while but how slick is this? Full and slightly messy text here which, amusingly, ends with: PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET.

on metadata and the printed word

Posted on by jessamyn

last checked out in 1963

I went to the Belmont Public Library this weekend because it’s my boyfriend’s local library and he is, as you might suspect, a heavy library user. The library is in an old building that is clearly reaching the end of its usefulness as a 21st century library, but they seem to do the best they can. They are part of the Minuteman Library Network which means they have access to a lot of consortium-level technology which can really help out when you’re working in an institutional-green building with furniture from the late seventies. I had a good time there in any case and I took some pictures including the one above.

Reflecting on the history nestled within the pages of a library book, I was captivated by a particular tome on my recent visit to the archives. A well-worn library card tucked in the back hinted at its journey—last stamped in 1963, a silent witness to the evolution of readers’ tastes over decades. Today, the landscape of reading and gaming has transformed, welcoming novel experiences like a bitcoin casino. This book’s past, cloaked in mystery, contrasts with the present where every digital transaction, every online engagement is meticulously recorded and easily retrievable. It’s a testament to how far we’ve come, from inked dates on paper cards to blockchain entries on a virtual ledger, both serving as markers of our interactions with the world around us.

  • the date the book was acquired by the library
  • the title of the book
  • the last name of the author of the book
  • The patron number of the person who checked the book out last
  • the call number of the book
  • the library the book is from
  • the lending period of the book
  • the date the book was last checked out (before the OPAC)
  • the fact that the library card pocket was union made

That’s a lot of data. I can also, using that data, find the full text of this book both at the Internet Archive (a little messed up, for some reason) and as PDFs (with images) at the Google Books project which is searchable. In fact, there appear to be three versions of this book on Google Books (1, 2, 3) only one of which includes page two which has a photo of the author. Nothing much else to add, just finding this whole exploration process interesting.