The Volokh Conspiracy - I'll Likely Be on KPCC-FM (89.3) in L.A. at a Little After 2 PM Today,

talking about UC's likely joining the google library scanning project:

In a move with major significance for the worlds of academic research and publishing, the University of California is in talks to join Google's controversial project to digitize great libraries and offer books online.

Google is keen to have access to UC's 34 million volumes from 100 libraries on 10 campuses, which is described as collectively the largest academic research library in the world. UC wants to delve more deeply into the Internet revolution with a deep-pockets partner like Google paying the costs of scanning books....

Last year, a group of U.S. publishers and the Authors Guild filed suits in federal court in New York against Google, contending that scanning copyrighted books without permission is copyright infringement, even if the books are not posted online or only tiny excerpts are shown....

Under agreements with libraries, Google makes two copies of books, keeps one and gives one to the campuses. To avoid trouble, some of the libraries now allow scanning of only public domain books. But the University of Michigan and Google have said they do not need permission to allow a few sentences from copyrighted works online; such "fair use" quotation, they said, can help authors by boosting sales.

UC probably would follow the Michigan model in scanning works both in and out of copyright, Greenstein said....

UC would not receive any payments under the proposed contract. It potentially could save millions of dollars a year if libraries could buy fewer copies of books and journals and instead direct students and scholars to the digital versions. Plus, it could avoid scanning costs, which some estimate can be as much as $35 a book....

The station also provides streaming audio at the KPCC Web site.

	[Eugene Volokh, August 2, 2006 at 1:18pm] Trackbacks I'll Likely Be on KPCC-FM (89.3) in L.A. at a Little After 2 PM Today, talking about UC's likely joining the google library scanning project: In a move with major significance for the worlds of academic research and publishing, the University of California is in talks to join Google's controversial project to digitize great libraries and offer books online. Google is keen to have access to UC's 34 million volumes from 100 libraries on 10 campuses, which is described as collectively the largest academic research library in the world. UC wants to delve more deeply into the Internet revolution with a deep-pockets partner like Google paying the costs of scanning books.... Last year, a group of U.S. publishers and the Authors Guild filed suits in federal court in New York against Google, contending that scanning copyrighted books without permission is copyright infringement, even if the books are not posted online or only tiny excerpts are shown.... Under agreements with libraries, Google makes two copies of books, keeps one and gives one to the campuses. To avoid trouble, some of the libraries now allow scanning of only public domain books. But the University of Michigan and Google have said they do not need permission to allow a few sentences from copyrighted works online; such "fair use" quotation, they said, can help authors by boosting sales. UC probably would follow the Michigan model in scanning works both in and out of copyright, Greenstein said.... UC would not receive any payments under the proposed contract. It potentially could save millions of dollars a year if libraries could buy fewer copies of books and journals and instead direct students and scholars to the digital versions. Plus, it could avoid scanning costs, which some estimate can be as much as $35 a book.... The station also provides streaming audio at the KPCC Web site.