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Alternative Approaches to Open Digital Libraries in the Shadow of the Google Book Search Settlement
An Open Workshop at Harvard Law School
July 31, 2009
Sponsored by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, the Harvard Law School Library, and Professors Charles Nesson, John Palfrey and Phil Malone
Registration for in-person attendance is closed for this event, but we will be webcasting portions of the program and encourage those who are interested and unable to attend to participate remotely. Information on logistics, directions, etc., is at the bottom of this page. Social / remote participation tools are listed here. Plenary sessions for this event will be webcast live here. **Please note, the link will only be active and available during the scheduled Live broadcast.**
Scope and Goals
The proposed Google Book Search settlement creates the opportunity for unprecedented access by the public, scholars, libraries and others to a digital library containing millions of books assembled by major research libraries. But the settlement is controversial, in large part because this access is limited in major ways: instead of being truly open, this new digital library will be controlled by a single company, Google, and a newly created Book Rights Registry consisting of representatives of authors and publishers; it will include millions of so-called “orphan works” that cannot legally be included in any competing digitization and access effort, and it will be available to readers only in the United States. It need not have been this way.
This workshop seeks to bring a fresh, unique perspective to a complex and widely debated topic. It will focus not on the specific merits and demerits of the settlement itself, or the particular antitrust and privacy and other objections that have been raised. Instead, it will examine the idea of possible alternative universes and offer specific proposals for scenarios that may arise whether or not the settlement is approved. What can libraries, or universities, or non-profits, or Congress, do in the current landscape? And how might these possibilities help us to define a better world than the one that we have today and, more importantly, than the one that will exist if the Google settlement is approved in its current form? Regardless of what happens with respect to the Settlement, what alternative possibilities could lead to a richer, more open and better information ecosystem than the one we have today or might have tomorrow with the Settlement?
By exploring these alternatives, this workshop seeks, in the end, to help inform the debate over the Settlement and its terms and to illuminate some of the key policy considerations that are at stake. Its ultimate goal is to develop a series of options and proposals that could improve on the status quo in novel ways.
Harvard Law School Roundup and Summation of the Workshop: http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/spotlight/intellectual-property/google-book.html
Agenda
8:00 a.m. – Registration and refreshments
8:30 a.m. – 8:45 a.m. -- Opening Remarks – Professor John Palfrey Webcast. **Please note, the link will only be active and available during the scheduled Live broadcast.**
8:45 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. – Session 1: Webcast. **Please note, the link will only be active and available during the scheduled Live broadcast.**
What opportunities are we missing with the GBS settlement? What might a truly “open” digital collection look like? What might it be if it were created or run by major libraries? What can we learn from the Open Content Alliance project/Internet Archive, the Human Knowledge Project, Project Gutenberg and others? What are the prospects for alternative digital library efforts in the shadow of the Google settlement, if it is approved? If it is modified? If it is not approved?
- John Palfrey, Harvard Law School Library & Berkman Center
- Siva Vaidhyanathan, University of Virginia
- Maura Marx, Open Knowledge Commons
10:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. – Break
10:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. - Perspective Webcast. **Please note, the link will only be active and available during the scheduled Live broadcast.**
- Professor Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law School, "Settlements: Static goods, dynamic bads"
11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. – Session 2: Webcast. **Please note, the link will only be active and available during the scheduled Live broadcast.**
What might truly open access to orphan works look like? Would it be a public domain claim to open, fair and free use of orphan works? Orphan works legislation that lets other digital libraries offer access to orphan works? Opportunities for orphan works to move into the public domain or to be offered with Creative Commons or similar open licenses? What should be done with any revenues generated by orphan works under the Settlement or any equivalent? How well does the Settlement serve these goals, and what does it not do? What is the role of Congress in shaping this critical aspect of copyright policy? What would be the impact of the Settlement on the likelihood of orphan works legislation?
- Phil Malone, Berkman Center
- Jule Sigall, Microsoft (formerly U.S. Copyright Office, principal drafter "Report on Orphan Works")
- James Grimmelman, New York Law School
- Eric Saltzman, Creative Commons
- Lewis Hyde, Berkman Center
12:15 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. – Group Lunch on your own at Harkness Commons (informal discussions continue)
1:30 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. – Pitches for attendee-proposed breakout sessions *not webcast*
1:45 – 3:00 p.m. –Breakout Sessions *not webcast*
Breakout 1 (Pound 200) – Privacy and censorship. How can we ensure that digital libraries maintain the same privacy norms and protections that non-digital libraries have worked so hard to build and preserve? What would be the necessary technological features for an online library to be able to replicate the anonymous reading and browsing that patrons largely enjoy in physical libraries? How do we ensure the combination of unrestricted access to information and no monitoring of use that characterize libraries today?
- Marc Rotenberg, EPIC
Breakout 2 (Pound 204) – Open access for research and innovation: What might truly open access to an online digital library look like? What would be the most productive and open scenarios for researchers using an online research corpus for computational “non-consumptive” purposes? How might we best allow non-profit and for-profit rivals to build and offer innovative viewers, search functions, and other applications on top of an “open” database of scanned works?
- Ethan Zuckerman, Berkman Center
- Peter Suber, Berkman Center
Breakout 3 (Pound 102) – Libraries as consumers of the online digital library. How do we deal with concerns about pricing of content, and about the durability of digital content that is “rented” rather than owned?
- John Palfrey, Harvard Law School Library & Berkman Center
- Robert Darnton, Harvard University Library
Breakout 4 (Pound 101) - Google
- Jon Orwant, Google Book Search Project
Additional breakout sessions to be determined by attendee proposals and interest. Additional space available in the lounge areas of Pound Hall, Harkness Commons, and Hauser Room 104.
3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. – Meet as a group to hear and discuss summaries of Breakout sessions Webcast. **Please note, the link will only be active and available during the scheduled Live broadcast.**
3:30 – 3:40 – Wrap-up and Concluding Remarks
Proposed Topics
Listed below are some of the topics that have been narrowed down into the final agenda. Any topic that not listed in the formal agenda is still open for proposing as an additional breakout session in the afternoon. To edit this wiki, you must register for an account via the link in the upper right hand corner of this page). For suggestions, please be sure to include your name and email address on the page so that others may contact you with similar ideas/further questions/suggestions.
- What might truly open access to orphan works look like
- What might a truly “open” digital collection created by major libraries look like
- What might a truly “open” global library look like
- What would a truly “open” digital library look like
- What might truly open access to and use of an online digital library look like
- What might online, digital publishing and access look like going forward
- Are all of these the same? Within the open environment what is closed?
- Intellectual Freedom = Unrestricted Access to Information + No Monitoring of Use (MarcEPIC)
- Payment of processing (author) fees to publishers of journals and monographs
- How could the proposed Google Books settlement change the landscape for alternative projects like the Internet Archive? How should such projects adapt so as to remain a viable alternative?
- How can we ensure that digital libraries maintain the same privacy protections that non-digital libraries have worked hard to build and preserve?
- Google’s Exclusion of Books (section 3.7(e) of the proposed settlement agreement)
Resources
Please add links to papers, articles, blogposts, and other items related to GBS and of interest to workshop participants to this page.
- EPIC: Google Books Settlement and Privacy
- Go To Hellman post on What the Google Books Settlement says about privacy
- James Grimmelmann's comphrehensive new site, The Public Index -- - browse and annotate the proposed settlement, section-by-section; review other court documents, amicus briefs, objections and opt-outs, etc.;
- Grimmelmann's earlier analyses
- Siva Vaidhyanathan (The Googlization of Everything) talk at UNC on "The Human Knowledge Project" -- a proposal for a truly open, global, universal library system
- The EFF's page on the Google Book Search Settlement and Reader Privacy
- Terry Fisher/Jonathan Zittrain Internet Issues HLS Class Analysis of the Settlement
- "A Discussion Around the Google Book Search Settlement" with Alex MacGillivray and Dan Clancy at the Berkman Center, July 21, 2009
- "Google's Big Plan for Books," New York Times editorial, July 28, 2009
- Digital Scholarship Publications Overview
- Open Access Trust: http://openaccesstrust.org/
- Robert Darnton on " Google and the Future of Books"
- Paul Courant's response
- Harvard University Library about the Harvard-Google Project
- New bibliography on Google Book Search by Bailey (focuses on the evolution of Google Book Search and the legal, library, and social issues associated with it)
- Not about Googlebooks: Biodiversity Heritage Library http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/
- George Dyson on "The Universal Library"
- ALA Office for Information Technology Policy GBS information website: http://wo.ala.org/gbs
- Bobbie Johnson, "The library that never closes," The Guardian, July 1, 2009, a comparison project on the Open Library: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jul/01/internet-open-library
- The Public Index: http://thepublicindex.org/ - browse and annotate the proposed settlement, section-by-section
- Is Google-University of Wisconsin book deal fair to authors? http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/459667
- Settlement Agreement: Concerns of Copyright Holders - A perspective from Colombia: http://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2009/04/article_0004.html
- Articles, blog posts, and other resources about the settlement tagged with oa.google.settlement at Connotea: http://www.connotea.org/tag/oa.google.settlement
- This tag was introduced in April 2009, and this tag library may omit many pieces published before that.
- David Weinberger on Annals of Openness in Peril http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger/2009/07/28/annals-of-openness-in-peril/
- Seth Finkelstein _Guardian_ column (November 6, 2008): Google's copyright war will have open access advocates up in arms
- Walt Crawford "Cites & Insights" (April 2009) Perspective: The Google Books Search Settlement
Upcoming Related Events
- 7/29/09: Equalizing Access to Knowledge: https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dHpJYy1FVVA3RmxCTHhmMEliY0R0dXc6MA / http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2009/07/google-book-search-event-this-wednesday.html
- 7/30/09: Books, Google and the Future of Digital Print: http://www.computerhistory.org/events/index.php?id=1246406058
- 8/28/09: GBS and the Future of Information Access: http://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/newsandevents/events/20090828googlebooksconference
- 10/8-10/10: NYLS Conference: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6656797.html
- 2/1/10-2/12/10 Google Print in Depth http://www.umuc.edu/cip/ipa/workshops.shtml#google
Registration and Participants
Registration is now full, but you can email ashar@cyber.law.harvard.edu to be alerted about any open seats that do open up.
If you wish for your name to be listed on the wiki in this section, please indicate your preference on the registration form. Registration to this event is free.
- John Palfrey, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
- Phil Malone, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
- Charles Nesson, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
- Jennifer Gordon, Harvard Law School Library
- Michelle Pearse, Harvard Law School Library
- Mary Daniels, Francis Loeb Library / GSD
- Joey Mornin, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
- Chris Peterson, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
- Lewis Hyde, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
- Harry Lewis, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
- David Weinberger, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
- Amar Ashar, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
- Siva Vaidhyanathan, http://www.googlizationofeverything.com/, University of Virginia
- Ines Zalduendo, Frances Loeb Library / Graduate School of Design
- Bill Comstock, Harvard College Library
- Mansooreh Saboori, Harvard Law School Library
- Dave Davis, Copyright Clearance Center
- Bethaney Henshaw, Millipore
- Abby Clowbridge, Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government Library
- Michael Hemment, Harvard College Library
- Constance Rinaldo, Ernst Mayr Library/MCZ/Harvard
- Martha Creedon, Harvard University Library Office for Information Systems
- James Grimmelmann New York Law School
- Sue Kriegsman, Harvard College Library
- Dee Magnoni Olin College of Engineering
- Wendy Seltzer, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
- Hope Tillman, http://www.hopetillman.com
- Walt Howe, Tillman & Howe
- Alexa McCray, Harvard Medical School
- Eric Saltzman, Creative Commons
- Judy Warnement, Botany Libraries/Harvard University Herbaria
- Noelle Ryan, Harvard University Library
- Patrick Tracy, Western New England College School of Law Library
- Michael Burstein, Harvard Law School
- Eugene Curry
- Douglas Newcomb, Special Libraries Association
- Carolina Rossini, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
- Robert Darnton, Harvard University Library
- Marc Rotenberg, EPIC
- Marguerite Avery, MIT Press
- Meg Kribble, Harvard Law School Library
- Deborah Jackson Weiss, Harvard Law School Library
- Thomas Ma, Countway Library/Harvard Medical School
- Lorraine Lezama, Clarendon Group
- Beardsley Ruml, Consultant
- Monica Schieck, ECO/UFRJ
- Dr. Zulfiquar Ahmed, department of law and justice, university of RAJSHAHI
- Barbara Preece, Boston Library Consortium
- Eric Hellman, Gluejar, Inc
- Hillary Corbett, Northeastern University Libraries
- Liza Daly, Threepress.org
- Corinna Baksik, Harvard University Library
- Maura Marx, Open Knowledge Commons
- Amy Lewontin, Northeastern University Snell Library
- Michael Fisher, Harvard University Press/Editorial Director
- Charles McEnerney, Well-Rounded Radio + ArtsBoston
- Karen Nipps, Houghton Library, HCL
- Tom Demay, Kirtas Technologies
- Kuniko McVey, Harvard-Yenching library
- Leora Kornfield, Harvard Business School
- Randy Stern, Harvard University Library
- Nancy Leon, Suffolk University Law School
- Ozkan Kaya
- Mahat Somane, Harvard Kennedy School
- Nancy George, Salem State College
- Jennifer Casasanto, Harvard SEAS
- Rebecca Tabasky, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
- John Deighton, Harvard Business School
- Mitchell Reich, Harvard Law School/Student
- Adam Holland, Berkman Center / BU School of Law
- Sam Bayard, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
- Antwuan Wallace, New School University
- Rebecca Yadegar
- Andrew Fong
- Sarah Cortes, InmanTechnologyITcom
- Karrie Peterson, Brandeis University
- Mary Murrell, University of California, Berkeley
- Rebecca Curtin, Harvard University, Department of English
- Ellen Duranceau, MIT Libraries
- Timothy Vollmer, American Library Association Office for Information Technology Policy
- Zach Newell, Salem State College
- Bill Nehring, MLIS Student - Simmons College
- Peter Suber, Berkman Center
- Leslie Morris, Houghton Library, Harvard University
- MacKenzie Smith, MIT Libraries
- Megan Sniffin-Marinoff, Harvard University Archives
- Jon Orwant, Google
- Jule Sigall, Microsoft
- Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law School
Location, Directions, Logistical Information, and Remote Participation Options
- Location: Harvard Law School, Pound Hall Room 102 (Map: http://map.harvard.edu/level3.cfm?mapname=camb_allston&tile=F6&quadrant=C&series=N)
- Driving Directions
- Subway Directions
- Bus Directions
- Wireless internet access will be available at the workshop
- Parking is not available through Harvard Law School, but there are several parking garages in Harvard Square
- Remote participation channels (Registration is not required for remote participation).
- Follow the Berkman Center on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/berkmancenter, use the hashtag #gbsworkshop09
- Tag articles and papers on delicious with #gbsworkshop09 - http://delicious.com/tag/gbsworkshop09
- Join the IRC: irc://irc.freenode.net/berkman (requires an IRC Client such as Chatzilla)
- Plenary sessions for this event will be webcast live at http://www.law.harvard.edu/media/2009_07_31_berkman.mov. **Please note, the link will only be active and available during the scheduled Live broadcast.
- Questions? Contact Amar Ashar at ashar@cyber.law.harvard.edu.