A great response/criticism of my Google Library article
aTypical Joe: A gay New Yorker living in the rural south has much more faith in Google to do the right thing than I do.
He believes in corporations to do what they say. I believe in them to do what is best for their shareholders, regardless of what they say. Joe does not believe libraries will jump in and do something cool. I believe they were and would have continued to, if not for Google.
Let's be clear about something though: Libraries have not offered a full-text search service for books. And neither has Google. Google has merely announced it would. Libraries actually have a head start but less momentum. In fact, their projects are in danger of being crowded out and defunded now.
Joe does not have much to say about the copyright conundrum: that Google is jumping the fair use shark and will turn of the lights on this fun party. But that's OK. The rest of his post is worth considering.
Joe is a super-sharp dude. I hope everyone is checking his blog regularly.