Google Print and Small Libraries
Gary Price posted yesterday about copyright concerns and the Google Print project… Some Publishers Not Happy With Google's Library Digitization Program. This project has been discussed ad nauseum in library circles, of course, but there's one possible implication that I haven't heard about, what is the implication here for small libraries? I think that this project has the potential to do to library diversity what has happened in the corporate world. No one goes to the independent bookstores, music stores, and, even coffee shops anymore. Some of the reason is that these organizations are ubiquitous, they provide services that the little guy can't afford… searching online, listening stations, a double fudge cappucino grasshopper vaguely caffeinated concoction.
My concern is that after awhile, people don't even remember that there's an alternative. So, they search for a book in Google Print- it's under copyright, so they only get a few lines and a link to a library who owns it. Presumably a Worldcat library… sounds great right? And it is. BUT A worldcat search in Google for Dan Brown shows only the 18 libraries holding the title. There are over 200 libraries in NH, most of them small and rural. So, say there's a user in Colebrook (northern NH) looking for Da Vinci Code- they use Google and see that there are only 18 copies, all in the state's academic and school libraries (which are all southern). What do they do? They go to Barnes and Noble and buy it. I guess it's related to the age-old library concern with exhaustivity (yup, the exhaustivity that I said no one cares about the other day) this type of searching is not providing exhaustive holdings results.
I know, I know, we're moving mountains here and this is a small concern. And I'm in no way suggesting that it's an arguement for or against Google Print- it's just another perspective.