Here’s Wired.com’s guide through the thicket of the Google Book Search Settlement.
[...] Google is a search engine, right? What do words printed on dead trees have to do with it?
Google claims its mission is to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.†If that’s your goal, then a library full of books makes you salivate in hunger for the knowledge held inside. So in partnership with major university libraries, Google began scanning and digitizing millions of books in 2002, from ones like Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales that are no longer copyrighted to the Harry Potter series to books whose authors and publishers cannot be located. The idea is simple, and audacious. Make the library of all libraries by converting every book ever published into an e-book that can be indexed, searched, read — and sold — online.
That’s cool! Where can I find this?
Go to Google Book Search, for one. You might also see book snippets in Google’s Web search results.
How many books are in there already?
Google has scanned more than 7 million books as of April 2009.
Can I download or buy old books through Google right now?
Yes and no. Google lets you download any book it has scanned that is not in copyright in the U.S. anymore – books that have fallen into the public domain. For other books, it shows up to 20 percent of the text, and usually includes links to places to buy it online.
What about new books? Are they included?
Most are, but that’s through Google’s Partner project that lets publishers and authors decide how much or how little of their books go into Google’s index, as well as letting them get a portion of the money from ads shown next to their book pages.
How did Google get away with scanning 7 million library books?
Well, there’s no problem with scanning millions of public domain books so long as you have the cash, cool technology and cachet to convince some of the world’s best libraries to work with you. As for in-copyright books, Google says it has the right to scan and index them, and show snippets online, under the Fair Use doctrine, which carves out exceptions to copyright holders’ rights. Being a massive company, mostly loved by users, also helps.
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