UNL libraries unlikely to obtain Google Books terminals

For years, the music industry has grappled with issues of digitized media – how to profit from it, how to control access and how it can be used to an advantage. Now literature faces the same issues with the pending Google Books settlement.

Google Books is a proposed online feature that will allow access to hundreds of thousands of copyrighted published texts, each available for a set fee. The Authors Guild, Inc., has begun a class action settlement against Google, with complaints ranging from copyright infringement to encouraged price collusion to unpermitted use of non-American authors' works. The settlement's final hearing, originally slated to be held Oct. 7, has recently been moved to an undetermined future date as the settlement agreement is modified.

The implications for bookstores and publishers are uncertain and largely depend on the outcome of the settlement and setup of the final project. What is certain, however, is the effect it will have on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's library system, at least in the near future.

Easy access to an online database of books, even if they remain reasonably priced, may seem daunting for libraries. As a Reasearch-1 institution, UNL would be granted two terminals – one per every 10,000 students – which would provide free access to the Google Books database. Revising sentiments of one year ago, the libraries currently say they would not be likely to use the terminals.

"We weren't planning on getting (the terminals) because we have a tremendous amount of access already for students to electronic books. With those terminals, only two people can use them at a time," said Joan Barnes, an assistant professor of practice development and outreach librarian at UNL.

"We're more interested in products we can put on our servers that every student, registered staff and faculty can use."

Those products include the second-ranked academic digital repository behind the University of Michigan, offering free access to a multitude of journals and academic texts. The libraries are also in the process of uploading several music databases.

Still, the Google Books terminals are not entirely off the table, and there is some reception to other Google features.

"The Google agreement has not gone through the courts yet, and so the access to the database is not available at this time because they're still negotiating legal settlement. But we do have access to Google Scholar which provides all scholarly articles," said Joan Giesecke, dean of university libraries.

Whatever the settlement brings, and whether or not UNL chooses to install the Google Books terminals, Barnes made clear that technology would be a boon to libraries, not an obstacle.

"All technology is great for libraries, and certainly UNL is interested in developing the capacity to access information," she said.

The only question is what form it will take.

iansacks@dailynebraskan.com