Google’s grand project to digitize every single book
ran into a snag when authors and publishers objected and sued. Google prevailed
in court, but the project stalled and left a digital database of 25 million books that “nobody is allowed to
read,” according to author and programmer James Somer.
But he’s not entirely correct.
Libraries that partnered with Google for the project
kept digital copies of their scanned work, which now make up about 95% of the
content in the HathiTrust Digital Library, based at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The
database is used to conduct research without the fear of copyright infringement,
while students with disabilities can access the scanned work through the use of
assistive technology.
“We couldn’t have done it without Google,” Mary Sue
Coleman, current president of the Association of American Universities, said of
HathiTrust. “The fact that Google did it made things happen much more rapidly,
I believe, than it would have happened if universities had been doing it without
a central driving force.”
The HathiTrust Research Center (HTRC) makes computational
analysis of public-domain and copyrighted works from the collection possible. Work
on copyrighted materials is done on Data Capsules,
a service created by HTRC that allows for “nonconsumptive” research without
violating copyright restrictions.
“I’m not a fan of everything Google, by any means,”
said Paul Courant, interim provost and executive vice president for academic
affairs and the University of Michigan. “But I think this was an amazing effort
that has had lasting consequences, most of them positive.”
