It’s a Complicated History: Libraries and Google Books

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It’s a Complicated History: Libraries and Google Books

by Ashley Roane


It’s undeniable how convenient it is to search a book title these days and see it come up as available on Google Books. Even though I am aware of Google Books, I actually did not know anything about its evolution. While there is an abundance of articles on Google Books in general, I was surprised to find it was a challenge to identify more recent scholarly articles in my search. 


I noted that there are a lot of dated articles that discussed the beginning of digitization of materials on Google Books Project, concerns about cultural bias, copyright issues that ensued, as well as the role Google Books has played in library partnerships-particularly academic libraries. In a quick internet search, one can also easily find information about current Google Book library partners in academia.


Library Director John Adkin’s brief review featured in the Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication (JLSC) of the book, “Along Came Google: A History of Library Digitization,” by Marcum and Schonfeld (2021) provides a summary of the book's outline documenting the complicated history of Google Books. Adkins explains that through the book, authors Marcum and Schonfeld are said to not offer judgment on Google, but rather delve into its history as an example of what libraries have always aimed to do as collectors of information to be made available and accessible.


The brief review by Adkins discusses some of the issues librarians have had with Google Books, noting questions about copyright as well as concerns over quality of some scanned materials. He closes the review with recommending it for anyone interested in learning more about the history of digitization in libraries and the continued efforts made in creating universal libraries.



References:

Along Came Google: A History of Library Digitization


Google Books Library Partners


Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication


Marcum, D., & Schonfeld, R. C. (2022). Along Came Google: A History of Library Digitization. Journal of Librarianship & Scholarly Communication, 10(1), 1–4. https://doi-org.ezproxy.palomar.edu/10.31274/jlsc.13927

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Image: https://images.app.goo.gl/HgcUhLmme7oPkbW36

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