[Libs-Or] Fwd: [District Dispatch] Library associations ask judge to assert vigorous oversight of proposed Google Book Search Settlement

[Diedre Conkling]

Library associations ask judge to assert vigorous oversight of proposed
Google Book Search Settlement
<http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=2677> May 04th, 2009
http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=2677

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 4, 2009

CONTACTS:
Jenni Terry, press officer, ALA Washington Office; (202) 628-8410;
jterry at alawash.org
Prudence S. Adler, associate executive director, ARL; (202) 296-2296;
prue at arl.org

WASHINGTON, DC – The American Library Association (ALA), the Association of
College and Research Libraries (ACRL) and the Association of Research
Libraries (ARL) today filed comments with the U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York for the judge to consider in his ruling on the
proposed Google Book Search Settlement.  The associations asked the judge to
exercise vigorous oversight of the interpretation and implementation of the
settlement to ensure the broadest possible benefit from the services the
settlement enables.

Representing over 139,000 libraries and 350,000 librarians, the associations
filed the brief as members of the plaintiff class because they are both
authors and publishers of books.  The associations asserted that although
the settlement has the potential to provide public access to millions of
books, many of the features of the settlement, including the absence of
competition for the new services, could compromise fundamental library
values including equity of access to information, patron privacy and
intellectual freedom.  The court can mitigate these possible negative
effects by regulating the conduct of Google and the Book Rights Registry the
settlement establishes.

“While this settlement agreement could provide unprecedented access to a
digital library of millions of books, we are concerned that the cost of an
institutional subscription may skyrocket, as academic journal subscriptions
have over the past two decades,” Erika Linke, president of ACRL, said.

Under the settlement, Google, the Association of American Publishers and the
Authors Guild resolved their legal dispute over the scanning of millions of
books provided by research libraries.  The library associations are not
asking the judge to reject the settlement.  Instead, they are requesting the
judge to carefully monitor the parties’ behavior once the settlement takes
effect.

Jim Rettig, president of ALA, said the proposed settlement, “offers no
assurances that the privacy of what the public accessed will be protected,
which is in stark contrast to the long-standing patron privacy rights
libraries champion on behalf of the public.”

Although the filing deadline for comments to the judge was recently extended
by four months, the associations moved forward with filing by the original
deadline to help inform the public as it considers this important and
complex matter.

“The filing before the court by the library associations demonstrates that
the associations will be vigilant in highlighting the interests of the
public in this settlement.  We have asked the court to exercise vigorous
oversight to ensure that the powerful groups that control content do not
leave individual researchers, libraries, other cultural organizations and
the public without an effective voice,” Tom Leonard, president of ARL, said.

The library associations filing can be viewed on the ALA
<http://wo.ala.org/gbs/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/googlebrieffinal.pdf>or ARL
<http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/googlebrieffinal.pdf>Web sites.


-- 
Diedre Conkling
diedre08 at gmail.com
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