WSJ.com - Google Donates To U.S. Database Of Cultural Works
Google Inc. has contributed $3 million to a Library of Congress initiative to make print and multimedia works related to the culture of other nations available online.... Its contribution, which will primarily go toward planning the initiative known as the World Digital Library, is separate from Google's own program for scanning books held in several university and public libraries.The Library of Congress “project is aligned with our mission in general that bringing more books online and making them available and searchable is good,” said Adam Smith, a Google senior business-product manager.
The Library of Congress has made about 10 million U.S. works available online since the 1990s under a drive known as the American Memory initiative. It views the World Digital Library project as a way to tackle works related to cultures outside the U.S., including some found in its own collections and in those of other libraries. The works primarily won't be books, but manuscripts and multimedia content.
Google is going to control the entire world soon enough: how could we get some of that sweet, sweet action? Anyway, kudos to the Library of Congress for their forward-looking plan to digitize all 'public domain' works.
Tags: fair_use, /Technology
