Confessions of a Mad Librarian

First, there was a letter from the American Association of University Presses, raising concerns about Google's interpretation of fair use to digitize copyrighted works without clearing permissions first.

Now, the Association of American Publishers has requested that Google stop scanning books by AAP members for 6 months while copyright issues are worked out.

The Association of American Publishers has asked Google to stop scanning copyrighted books published by the association's members for at least six months while the company answers questions about whether its plan to scan millions of volumes in five major research libraries complies with copyright law.

Allan R. Adler, vice president for legal and governmental affairs at the publishing group, said in an interview on Monday that the association made its request in a letter, sent June 10, that stopped short of calling for a "cease and desist" of Google's Library Project.

"We've simply asked for a six-month moratorium to facilitate discussion" in an environment "where there isn't going to be the tension of ongoing practices that some of our members may object to."

As of Monday, Google had not directly answered AAP, but according to the Chron, the company believes its activities fall within fair use for the material from UMich and Stanford that is still under copyright. Right now, these requests have called for voluntary action (or inaction) on Google's part. Are cease&desist letters next? Are the publishers' associations building a paper trail for formal (i.e. legal) action?

I don't think I risk too much by admitting that I think the associations are covering all the bases in case they want to take Google to court. But I have two questions in mind for the future:

1) Before calls of injunctions or infringement are made, what sort of compromise can/might be worked out between the content owners (and their reps) and Google?

and

2) What will the role of libraries (especially UMich and Stanford, but including the full force of the library community) be in intermediating or negotiating a possible compromise?

I'm sure there will be much, much more to watch and listen and consider as the project moves forward.