may09c.indd


Jenni Terry W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n e  

Google Book Search 
As the Google Book Search settlement issue 

heats up, the time has come for the library 

community to take their concerns to the judge. 

In late October 2008, a proposed settle­

ment agreement was announced that would 

end the copyright infringement lawsuit that 

the American Association of Publishers (AAP) 

and the Author’s Guild filed against Google 

in 2005. The proposed settlement outlines the 

agreed­upon terms and conditions for Google 

Book Search—the product at the center of the 

lawsuit, which is a searchable index of the full­

text of digitally scanned books. 

Although the proposed settlement is private, 

the result has very real implications for public 

policy and the way libraries of all types will op­

erate. The mission of libraries is to provide the 

broadest public access to information, and the 

library community has a long history of advocat­

ing for laws and policies that protect the rights 

of library users. Because of the complexity of 

the agreement, its potential long­term impact on 

libraries, and the public interest and the enormity 

of the book collection involved, many librarians 

have raised questions about the settlement. 

As such, earlier in the year, ALA, the Asso­

ciation of Research Libraries (ARL), and ACRL 

brought together members of the library commu­

nity to discuss both the library and legal implica­

tions of the proposed settlement to determine the 

most appropriate course of action to take, if any. 

As a result, the three associations decided to fi le 

an amicus curiae, or “friend of the court,” brief 

with the court by the May 5 deadline. The judge 

presiding over the case will then hold a hearing 

on June 11, 2009, and sometime thereafter accept 

or reject the settlement. 

“While the Google Book Search product is a 

great tool for searching the full­text of digitized 

books, we must consider the potential long­term 

impact this private settlement may have on the 

public’s ability to access information,” said Corey 

Jenni Terry is press officer at ALA’s Washington Offi  ce, 
e-mail: jterry@alawash.org 

Williams, associate director of the ALA Offi ce of 

Government Relations. 

Williams also said that some of the key issues 

to consider are as follows: 

• Access. What will the settlement mean 

for protecting the public’s ability to access and 

use digital resources from the nation’s libraries? 

Since the Book Rights Registry, established as a 

condition of the settlement, will represent the 

interests of the authors and publishers, who will 

represent the interests of libraries and the public? 

What are the financial implications, or cost, of 

participation? Could the settlement create a mo­

nopoly that threatens the mission of libraries by 

raising the prices to an unreasonable level that 

limits public access? 

• Privacy. What will reader privacy look 

like in a Google subscription­based world? 

Will the years of hard­fought effort to protect 

library users’ confi dentiality be compromised 

as a for­profit company has new capabilities 

to monitor and track user reading habits under 

this settlement? 

• Intellectual freedom. Are there academic 

freedom issues to consider? What are the impli­

cations of Google’s ability to remove works at 

its discretion? Will there be notification of their 

removal? What are the issues regarding possible 

access and use restrictions on the Research 

Corpus? 

• Equitable treatment. Since not all libraries 

are addressed in the settlement, what impact will 

it have on the diverse landscape of libraries? In 

light of tight economic times, will this negatively 

affect libraries with lean budgets? Will it expand 

the digital divide? 

• Terms of  use. Under the terms of the 

agreement, will library users continue to enjoy 

the same rights to information under copyright 

and other laws? Will the settlement impact the 

legal discussions and interpretations of library 

exceptions that allow for library lending, limited 

copying, and preservation? 

To stay posted on the latest developments 

of the associations’ next steps, see www.ala.org 

/washoff; www.arl.org; and www.ala.org/acrl. 

306C&RL News May 2009

www.ala.org/acrl
http:www.arl.org
http:www.ala.org
mailto:jterry@alawash.org