Library Gets Hit By Media

by: Amy Johnson

The world of media is changing constantly. Radios still play a big role in giving people news, but it has been taken over by television that has video and more commentary to go along with it. Newspapers are seeing a decline in sales as more and more readers are getting their news from the Internet.

A change in the way people use the library is also in the works.

Google Book Search searches the full text of books that Google scans and converts to their database. Google has put a limit on the number of viewable pages in an attempt to prevent copying pages that are under copyright.

The publishing industry and writers' groups view this as infringement to copyrighted work. Many publishers and companies have sued Google over this, saying what they are doing is a massive copyright infringement.

A big step was made recently in the struggle Google has faced. A federal judge in Manhattan granted an extension for a revised settlement to legalize Google's plan to create its own library of digital books.

The original agreement arose from a lawsuit filed by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers against Google, also claiming copyright infringement. After a settlement was reached in October 2008, it faced objections from people of every kind: authors were upset, librarians saw problems with the idea, and rivals were upset.

In September, the Justice Department recommended that the court reject the settlement in its current form. The department were hopeful that a new agreement could be reached as it offers many benefits to readers and scholars.

This is a big step in the world of media. People would be able to find the book they are looking for online, pay a small fee for it, and download it right to their computer. It's simple, and readers would not have to leave their home for a bookstore or a library. It would all be at the tips of their fingertips.

(Photo Credit: timetrax23 at flickr)