Reading in Cyberspace ?!?

1. The effect google’s library digitization has on its relationship with publishers is not good. According to publishers what google is doing is “copyright infringement” and not following copyright laws about “fair use.” Because of this publishers are suing google for its newly developed book search.

2. Google’s competitors like Yahoo and Microsoft don’t seem to be doing anything in response to the book search, they still have the same options and such on their websites. This may possibly be because google is much more popular and richer and can afford getting sued while they may or may not be able to afford it.

3. The impact this project could have on the access to information is many people will be able to view things that they couldn’t otherwise whether that be because the book is not published any more, they live too far to purchase the book, they want bits of information on a certain subject and can’t find it in their library, and so on.

4. Librarians could be threatened by this new development. If people can find all the book they need online they won’t need to go to the library or ask librarians to help them. If people stop going to the libraries, librarians won’t have anything to do and could lose their jobs while libraries themselves could be shut down or closed because of the lack of public attendance.

5. I think that google’s new development is very good. A wealth of information will be available to the public which wasn’t available before. I however think that to preserve our libraries we should still get some reading material from there such as novels, multicultural books, etc. This new development as said is very good but we don’t want to make so many people lose their jobs and many places end up closed because of it.