News Report #5

“Revised Google Books Settlement Tackles Foreign Titles, Orphans”

Gordon Flagg, American Libraries Online

November 18, 2009 http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2009/november2009/revisedgoogle111809.cfm?persistent=&expy_dt=

On November 13, Google, the Authors Guild, and the Association of American Publishers filed a revised version of their proposed settlement that had been reached in October of last year. The revised settlement limits the Google Book Search project to works registered with the U.S. Copyright Office or published in the United Kingdom, Australia, or Canada, and addresses the treatment of orphan works, or works where a copyright holder cannot be located. The new proposal also permits rights holders to let their works be distributed at no cost. However, the new settlement seems to have failed to address the antitrust and privacy concerns that drew the largest criticism in the first place, and the concerns of writers and writer’s organizations, who fear that the Google Books program will interfere with author-publisher contractual relationships.

Every time I see an article about the Google Books settlement, the situation has grown more complicated. Looking at the timetable for when the final hearing will take place, I start to glaze over a little. I realize all of these changes are policy, but it’s hard now to visualize the ramifications of an amended agreement that “permits Google to increase the number of terminals that can be used at public libraries to access the database of books”. It’s weird because I forget very quickly that this is a settlement of lawsuits filed against Google for the project, but at the same time I have no clear idea of where the settlement stands in relation to the scope of policy that allows Google to move forward on the Book Search project. I’m not sure what happened between the beginning of the semester when I wrote on the subject, and now. However, I feel like Google has a very profitable plan in mind to keep fighting for it.

News Report #4

“Hawaiian Librarians Aid in Tsunami Recovery in American Samoa”

Gordon Flagg, American Libraries Online

November 11, 2009 http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2009/november2009/amsamoarecovery111109.cfm?persistent=&expy_dt=

In the aftermath of the tsunami that struck American Samoa, Samoa, and Tonga on September 29, two librarians traveled from Hawai`i to Pago Pago to lead salvage efforts of vital records and other documents from the country’s demolished libraries. Lynn Davis and Jane Barnwell, head of preservation at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and director of Pacific Resources for Education and Learning in Honolulu, respectively, went to American Samoa from October 14-29 as part of a document recovery taskforce sponsored by the Western States and Territories Preservation Assistance Service (WESTPAS). Ms. Davis had previously conducted disaster-preparedness workshops for government agencies in Pago Pago a year earlier, which involved the development of disaster plans and aided in the recovery and loss-prevention of essential documents. The tsunami destroyed four school libraries and killed over 190 people in the three countries.

News about the tsunami in American Samoa was very scary. I have family in Western Samoa and the tsunami caused so much destruction. However, I’ve never thought about the possibility of the destruction of government and historical documents through a natural disaster. The article notes the long recovery time it takes for such documents to go through conservation treatment, citing the flash flood at the University of Hawaii in 2004 that destroyed a large portion of the library’s rape map and government documents collection. Five years later, thousands of documents still wait to be treated. I am glad this article has come to my attention. I’ve never thought about it until now, but to lose a piece of the past, especially when it comes to the comparatively relegated past from Polynesia, makes me glad for the work of these librarians and makes me more aware of the importance of libraries and conservation.

Reading Report #5

"Information Navigation 101"

Andrea L. Foster, Chronicle of Higher Education

3/9/2007, Vol. 53 Issue 27

This article discusses the disconnect between the way college students use technology to text, manipulate music files, and customize their MySpace pages, and the way they perform research. It seems that college students are sadly inept at performing academic research. Forster argues that the sheer volume of information is giving student’s an overload, and that they are unable to distinguish between scholarly sources and what is spit out to them by Google. In response, many universities are implementing “information literacy” programs and adding it to the required graduation curricula as accrediting agencies look to them as a new measure of an institution’s performance. These programs are being spearheaded by librarians and aim to teach students how to locate and evaluate data on the Internet. The article then discusses the history of the term and its development in the academic community. Foster also presents an alternate view that some librarians share – that information seeking is going to become easier over time, citing the almost obsolete Boolean qualifiers as an example. She goes on to describe some of the standardized tests that have been developed in order to measure students’ information literacy skills, and their relative effectiveness.

I think that Andrea Foster and other strong supporters of the information literacy movement don’t give students enough credit. I have previously thought that most students are in fact information literate, and any problems with their research practices stem from laziness rather than ignorance. If indeed that be the case, then I believe that providing greater motivation for the student to learn how to access scholarly information would be more beneficial. Perhaps my own case is singular, but when I given a research paper assignment by a professor that told me to find information through the library catalogue, I quickly learned how to navigate the catalogue and online databases. Like most technology, all it takes is the time to play around with the software. However, I do not think that the growing information literacy programs are a bad thing – they can only be beneficial. I am also intrigued by these standardized tests that Foster describes, in particular the EST one. I believe myself to be decently information literate, in whatever sense of the word one chooses, and I would be interested in the opportunity to test myself.

Reading Report #4

"The Infodiet: How Libraries Can Offer an Appetizing Alternative to Google"
Steven Bell, Chronicle of Higher Education
2/20/2004, Vol.50 Issue 24

In this article, Steven Bell, library director at Philadelphia University, addresses the concerns of libraries and librarians nation-wide about the decline in the ability of students to perform research adequately and in their desire to decrease the time and effort it takes to find the material they want. In this sense, Bell argues that libraries are torn between following the search system and interface of Google, which produces a vast amount of low-quality material, or rejecting it and facing the prospect of losing students to the internet search engine. He states that the problem lies not only with students in the library, but also with database producers, who for too long have competed in a consumer-market mentality that has focused on gaining business than on improving interface interaction, and faculty members, who haven’t used their considerable power and influence to change students’ research behavior. Fortunately, Bell discusses two recent releases from database producers with improved interfaces and other features that make navigation easier, and he offers suggestions on how librarians can involve faculty members to improve the research of students.

This article was unsettling. I personally have never had any problems with research, but then again, research in my major is mostly viewing movies and reading essays by film critics and theorists, not scientific research. With that, I still feel like I perform research fairly adequately. Basically, students are getting so lazy that librarians and database producers have to change their systems and interfaces to emulate Google in order to persuade students to do research properly. Perhaps this is the way of the future, though my first feeling is embarrassment. However, I’m most glad that the database producers are stepping up to the challenge instead of increasing the divide between the proper resources for academic research and easy to use internet search engines.

Reading Report #3

"The Future of Libraries"
Thomas Frey, FuturistSpeaker.com
November 2006
http://www.futuristspeaker.com/2006/11/the-future-of-libraries/

This article discusses the future of libraries, beginning with an anecdote about Leonardo da Vinci's collection of paintings and libraries roll in maintaining his great body of work. Then Frey gives a short history of the development of libraries. The transition that libraries face is one of information access and availability. Whereas before information was scarce and hard to find, today information is often in abundance to the point of overload, and free. Frey gives ten trends that outline the what lies in store for libraries across the world, and how they can adapt to this new world.

In my Disney class today we were talking about how Disney represents foreign cultures, and something I continue to see in many of our discussions is a general lack of perspective from non-Western cultures. In the class, our textbooks talk about the amount of power Disney wields over the shaping of popular culture and children's culture, which I do not ignore. However, they also almost completely disregard the input of demographics other than white, middle America into the development of "culture". Indeed, I open with this because I feel like the beginning sections of this article gloss over the fact that the idea of libraries goes much further back than the book "jails" of backward medieval Europe. The idea of libraries has been alive since we first painted on cave walls, like the documentary we watched showed. Before paper was invented, our elders were our libraries, filled with a wealth of knowledge about the world and free to any with an ear to listen. I feel like the article approaches the subject from a distinctly European perspective, and that is something that should be acknowledged.

With that, the trends presented in the article are very interesting. The first five trends were very applicable to today for an essay that was written in 2006. Trend 6 - transitioning to a verbal society - was something that I've never thought about but makes me excited. It's interesting to note that there are people who think that the technology today (videogames, instant messaging, social networking sites, etc.) will lead to a breakdown in face-to-face communication. It was exciting to see an argument for the other side. Trend 9 was also interesting - I imagine movies like "Minority Report" (but again, hopefully not as sinister) when I think of an interactive, keyboard-less world. I think that these last trends almost make up for the emissions of the opening sections. The future of libraries is indeed bright and optimistic.

News Report #3

“Giving Away Academic Books Online Can Actually Help Print Sales” David Wiley, The Wired Campus
July 21, 2009 http://chronicle.com/blogPost/David-Wiley-Giving-Away/7278


In this article, Associate Professor of Instructional Psychology & Technology at Brigham Young University David Wiley and his doctoral student John Hilton present some of their findings on the impact of free, digital, academic book distribution versus print sales. What they’ve found is that, for the most part, print sales actually increase when copies are freely accessible online. What accounts for this apparent reversal of market economics is that, specifically for texts with a much narrower market, such as academic texts, increased access equals a broader distribution and therefore a greater chance for sales. He also points out the case that people may not read the book on their computer, but through online access decide whether or not it is worth buying.


As a student who pays for books, I wholeheartedly support this idea. Especially for academic texts, i.e. classes that I’m taking but do not necessarily need the book or want to buy it for my library, a free online copy would be an (eagerly) accepted solution. I also feel that if I were allowed access to free books, I would be more open to looking and purchasing them. For example, if I was in a screenwriting class and the book was offered free online, I would be more likely to look for other screenwriting books as well, and I might buy one of them. I did in fact buy a screenwriting textbook for a class I was not registered for because I thought it was a better book than the one I originally had. I found the new book a semester later, and if I had never found it on the off chance, sitting on a shelf in the bookstore, I wouldn’t have the book now. To clarify, I am willing to buy books that apply to my major and my interests beyond my class book list, and free copies of books would be a great way to open up the market for these books. I am pleasantly surprised that this works, and understand how it could. I hope it catches on.

News Report #2

“Copyright Head Tells House She Opposes Google Books Settlement”

Gordon Flagg, American Libraries Online

September 16, 2009

http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2009/september2009/petersopposesgooglebooks091609.cfm

On September 10, Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters testified before the House Judiciary Committee in opposition of the Google settlement on its Google Book Search project. The settlement allows Google to display up to 20% of a copyrighted book to users free of charge. Google plans to sell access to individual books and offer subscriptions to large collections for libraries and universities. In her testimony, Mrs. Peters called parts of the settlement “fundamentally at odds with the law”. Google asserts that the project is “fully compliant with copyright law” and contends that the project will provide users with choice and competition. Most of the committee members seemed to support the settlement, with Committee Chair and Representative from Michigan John Conyers Jr. saying that Google has “built a better mousetrap in the eyes of the mousetrap purchasers.”

It seems there are many facets to this debate, but the ones I can see most clearly are those of copyright infringement and monopoly over the market. I understand the indignation of authors that their work is in part free to view, but as a consumer, I like the idea of being able to look at a book before I buy it. I have a feeling that the consumer is going to win. However, the monopolistic tendency that the settlement has the ability to create is a little disturbing. The Register of Copyrights is a governmental position, so I would think that the Congress would be more receptive to her testimony, but that is not the case. A certain amount of weight goes with the fact that the Register of Copyrights thinks this is a bad idea, but then again, I think that people could have made the same opposition (generally) when books first became mass-produced instead of handwritten.