BuzzFeed for thought; Digitize everything, yeah right
BuzzFeed has an interesting poster series on the Power of Books.
And as a librarian who works with digital content, the idea Google has of digitizing ALL the books that every existed, seems a little crazy and far-fetched even for the Great God Google.
So if you want to see some local digitizing efforts from one of our universities t
hat really is spectacular, go to the McCasland Map Collections at Oklahoma State University. It is excellent, and the Great God Google doesn’t have anything to do with it.
I’ve definitely got a soft spot for local digital efforts. I think we know the best stuff, we’re respectful of copyright and we like to focus on local history and culture.
I’m not against the Google efforts, but nothing makes you crazier than finding one of the Google books and you get a smidgen of the entire book and need to find it at a library or through Interlibrary Loan anyway. So we’ll see if Google gives up or just finds a way to be the New Royal Library of Alexandria.
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Comments
More on the Google issue, http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2011/mar/28/six-reasons-google-books-failed/#
Here’s the thing. There are often times I would like to be able to “search” a book to find a particular passage to share with a friend. But I don’t want to “read” a digital book on a computer screen. (I’m still not sure about e-book readers either.)
And another thing… What happens when the electricity goes out? What happens when energy becomes scarce and we have to endure rolling blackouts? The digital stuff is worthless during those times. Books aren’t dependent on electricity during the daytime, and it *is* possible to read them by candlelight in the dark of night.
I’m just an old curmudgeon aren’t I? I’m sounding more and more like my parents! ;-(
I’m ready for my digital implant!