The impacts of Google digitization projects on libraries

Slides used for presentation at the Virtual Symposium on Information and Technology in the Arts and Humanities, held April 22 and 23, 2015. The Symposium was co-sponsored by the ASIS&T (Association for Information Science and Technology) Special Interest Group for Arts and Humanities (SIG AH) and the Special Interest Group for Visualization, Images, and Sound (SIG VIS).

In 2003, Google embarked on the largest scale mass-digitization project that has ever been attempted, called Google Print, later re-named Google Books. Some libraries have partnered with Google in the mass digitization process, allowing them to develop their digital collections with an expedience and efficiency that they would unlikely achieve without Google’s collaboration; others are keeping their distance, for fear of legal and copyright issues. All are concerned about quality control issues, and how to determine whether electronic resources are meeting users’ needs. Many librarians fear that Google won’t meet the exacting standards of librarians and archivists to ensure that rare materials are adequately preserved. Some also fear for their livelihoods – if e-books and scholarly materials are so easily accessible via the Internet, who will visit actual libraries and value librarian expertise? What will the digitized library of the future look like, and what role will librarians play? This paper will specifically discuss Google’s mass digitization projects, like Google Books and Google Scholar, their impact on the culture of libraries and the publishing industry, and some of the ongoing legal issues that have affected those projects. Mass digitization is happening, and it may be in the best interests of libraries and publishers to take advantage of such opportunities, in order to maximize the benefits for their organizations, and remain relevant in an era of digitized information.