Google Books
Google Books is such an interesting development. When I talk to colleagues or publishing partners about Google Books, my sense is that few of us really have an understanding for the significance of this program. Sergey Brin, co-founder & president of technology at Google recently said “We love books at Google, and our fondest dream is that Book Search will evolve into a service that ensures that books, along with their authors and publishers, will flourish for many years into the future”
To imagine the vast amounts of book content which will be available at the tip of your finger is inspiring. By 2008 Google had over 7 million books in the program. Current figures show that Google would have well over 12million in the program today. Is this a Monopoly in the making or just the newest form of a dynamic Dewey Decimal system? I suspect a little of both but clearly it will have a historic impact to our industry which we cannot fully comprehend today. Threat or Opportunity …