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Google and the Myth of Universal Knowledge: A View... |
The recent announcement that Google will digitize the holdings of several major libraries sent shock waves through the book industry and academe. Google presented this digital repository as a first step towards a long-dreamed-of universal library, but skeptics were quick to raise a number of concerns about the potential for copyright infringement and unanticipated effects on the business of research and publishing.
Jean-Noe l Jeanneney, president of France's Bibliothe que nationale, here takes aim at what he sees as a far more troubling aspect of Google's Library Project: its potential to misrepresent-- and even damage-- the world's cultural heritage. In this impassioned work, Jeanneney argues that Google's unsystematic digitization of books from a few partner libraries and its reliance on works written mostly in English constitute acts of selection that can only extend the dominance of American culture abroad. This danger is made evident by a Google book search the author discusses here-- one run on Hugo, Cervantes, Dante, and Goethe that resulted in just "one" non-English edition, and a German translation of Hugo at that. An archive that can so easily slight the masters of European literature-- and whose development is driven by commercial interests-- cannot provide the foundation for a universal library.
As a leading librarian, Jeanneney remains enthusiastic about the archival potential of the Web. But he argues that the short-term thinking characterized by Google's digital repository must be countered by long-term planning on the part of cultural and governmental institutionsworldwide-- a serious effort to create a truly comprehensive library, one based on the politics of inclusion and multiculturalism.
| Indice e argomenti trattati |
| Foreword | | vii | | | | Acknowledgments | | xv | | | Introduction | | 3 | | | A Resounding Announcement |
| | 3 | | | | 5 | | | | 8 | | | | 9 | | | Meanwhile, in the United States... |
| | 11 | | | | 13 | | | | 15 | | | | 17 | | | | 17 | | | | 20 | | | The Need for Librarians and Booksellers |
| | 23 | | | At the Mercy of the Market |
| | 25 | | | | 26 | | | | 27 | | | | 30 | | | | 35 | | | India, China, the Arab World, Africa |
| | 37 | | | Europe---the Courage to Be Different |
| | 39 | | | | 44 | | | The Difficulties of a Response |
| | 47 | | | Cooperatives: Strengths and Limitations |
| | 49 | | | | 52 | | | Image Mode, Text Mode, Metadata |
| | 54 | | | One European Search Engine-or Several? |
| | 59 | | | | 59 | | | | 61 | | | Longevity as an Obsession |
| | 63 | | | | 67 | | | The Harvest and the Display |
| | 68 | | | Disorganized Bulk---an Absolute Danger |
| | 70 | | | Transparency, Flexibility, and Rigor |
| | 72 | | | A Cultural Project, an Industrial Project |
| | 75 | | | Two Facets of the Same Aspiration |
| | 76 | | | | 79 | | | What Structure? What Budget? |
| | 80 | | | Conclusion A Broader Perspective | | 85 | | | Translator's Afterword | | 91 | |
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