[Leica] Google Library Article

[jshul at comcast.net (Jim Shulman)]

Last week's issue of The New Yorker had a fascinating article about the
Google book scanning project.  I'd urge all who have an interest to read it
(it's online at http://tinyurl.com/2t6lmw )

I'm currently working with a local library on a promotion/expansion project.
One of the first questions the community asks is "how big should it be?"  If
we're considering the needs of 2012, and if Google does achieve something
like a universal online library, how would that affect the community
library?  Perhaps the community shouldn't build a bigger paper warehouse,
but instead invest in more computers, high speed data lines, and limit paper
to high-circulation books and childrens books.  It may also require
retraining librarians in web search techniques.

One of my greatest irritations from my college years (which were decidedly
pre-PC, in every regard) was the dreaded reserve room.  Invariably three or
four books per course were not available in the bookstore, either because
they were out of print or that the professor only thought a chapter or two
were important.  So that meant I had to read the books (or photocopy like
mad) in the first week or so of the semester; invariably after that point
they because unavailable, either though use or theft.  Today, a student with
access to a universal library wouldn't have to leave the comfort of the dorm
commode (assuming that virtually all have laptops these days.)

Jim Shulman
Bryn Mawr, PA