Megan West(erby)

"It’s estimated that Google is spending upwards of a half-billion dollars in an effort to scan all the books — as many as 20 million — located in top research libraries. Google ran into trouble, though, when, without permission, it scanned books like mine that were still under copyright. The Authors Guild stepped in and sued. After extended negotiations a settlement was reached, one that protects the rights of publishers and authors through a Book Rights Registry while rewarding Google’s investment (the settlement also allows copyright holders to exclude their books or make only parts of them available). I don’t ever expect to make much in royalties from my book, but I feel good about the prospect of seeing it in wider circulation. And I’m cheered that my publishers stand to profit from the settlement and have already made snippets of my book and many others like it available through Google Book Search. Friends and colleagues with whom I have spoken — and I suspect many thousands of academic authors with books in limbo — feel the same way. When you spend a decade or longer writing a book that contributes to the conversation in your field you want the next generation to read it."

~ James Shapiro: Books in Limbo

19 August 2009 ·