journal of digital research & publishing - The Sydney eScholarship ...

1 P M J O U R N A L O F D I G I T A L R ESEARCH & P UBLISHING
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allure and dangers of online texts
Leila Chacko
UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
Abstract
Through its development of Google Books, Google is acquiring a position of power over older media and it
is important for digital research and publishing to be aware of the potential implications of the privatising
of information previously held in the public domain through public libraries. The article neither seeks to
portray Google as an evil empire nor a utopian force for good, but rather to explore some issues associated
with the Google Books project that should inform the user’s experience.
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is that of copyright, and how it is addressed in America through the Google Books Settlement Agreement.
Secondly the article looks at how, despite the utopian language surrounding digitised book projects,
Google Books cannot really claim greatly increased accessibility until the problem of the digital divide
can be overcome. The article also hopes to examine how Google does not provide equal representation
of texts from around the world, this is primarily due to the copyright restrictions imposed, which are
resolved for American texts due to the settlement, however this creates a bias in origin of texts provided
online. Finally the contentious issue of censorship is discussed, Google does not actively censor itself,
however like all companies it is required to work within the laws of the country in which it operates, in
this point the article also discusses the library as a public good, and the potential concerns associated
with this good being privatised.
Keywords
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Google Books: The New Library of Alexandria?
The world has been ‘Googled’, we have created a place for Google in our lives which can
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in a way, the complete online knowledge available to any one person, the knowledge of
the world redirected by one company to the user. Google has always asserted that its role
is one of service to the masses, informed by ‘dedication to our users and our belief in
the possibilities of the Internet itself’ (Google 2010). In recent years however, Google has
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amount of information on the internet, the development of Google Books has challenged
our most basic ideas about ownership and authors rights. It is time to question to what
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