<$BlogRSDUrl$> Marcus P. Zillman, M.S., A.M.H.A. Author/Speaker/Consultant
Marcus P. Zillman, M.S., A.M.H.A. Author/Speaker/Consultant
Internet Happenings, Events and Sources


Monday, January 17, 2005  

Google's Big Plans - Are Libraries Doomed?
http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb041227-2.shtml

The Internet doesn't scare Carol Brey-Casin, president of the American Library Association, and neither does Google. As part of its effort to make offline information searchable online, Google announced in December that it is working with the libraries of Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan, and the University of Oxford as well as The New York Public Library to digitally scan books from their collections so that users worldwide can search them in Google. Asked if librarians should feel threatened by Google's initiative, Brey-Casin responds, "We had this conversation when the Internet began to get popular, and what's happened is that library visits have doubled in the last decade to 1.2 billion." Outsell, a research and advisory firm for the information industry, agrees, stating that, "This isn't a death knell for libraries; it's another shove to get librarians out from behind the stacks and harness their expertise, including subject-matter expertise, and to enhance users' ability to find, use and access information in any format. Getting out of the business of simply storing books should be a welcome goal."

posted by Marcus Zillman | 4:00 AM
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