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
2010). As with all companies, Google is bound by the laws of the state in which it is
operating, so while it does not actively censor through its own volition, the results it
produces in each country will vary.
So with a Google that is more aware of censorship issues, and more willing to be open
about where and when requests for censorship occur; should we stop worrying about
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percent of the web search business in the United States’ (Ferguson 2005, p. 13), it is one
of the most powerful companies in the world. However it remains just that, a private
company, but it is increasingly taking on public responsibilities. The library has been
a public good for decades, despite what Kelly (2006) argues, the public library, at least
in the western world is not really an elite form, indeed it is no more elitist than Google
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that the public library, as an extension of the state, is responsible for the ‘public good’
and insists that libraries must serve the needs of the whole community in which they
are situated. Almost thirty years later, it seems the largest public library will not even
be created by a state entity, rather a private company will make decisions about what
books can and cannot be included in it, a company with shareholders and subject to the
whims of the states in which it operates.
Conclusion
Where then, does all this leave us, the user? Realistically, all the discussion of censorship,
copyright and the ethics of a private company making choices for the public cannot deny the
power and allure of Google. ‘Google plays a peculiar and powerful role in our information
culture. It is a ubiquitous brand, used as a noun and a verb everywhere from adolescent
conversations to scripts for Sex and the City’ (Vaidhyanathan 2006, p. 14), Google makes
our lives easier, by giving us a portal through which to view the internet, and increasingly
through its other services, of which Google Books is only one. Google Books has overcome
many hurdles standing in the way of its vision, altering our perception of copyright law
and of the rights of the author, changing its role from content provider to content creator
and changing the place of the public library in society by putting it in the hands of a private
company delivering it to the world. It must be hoped that the utopian view of Google Books
can be realised, but it is at the cost of authors, publishers and the traditions of property
rights. Users should maintain an understanding of where their information comes from,
including unpleasant concerns about censorship and text choice, while using Google Books.
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