-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        Re: Paper vs. Digital post
Date:   Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:46:57 -0400
From:   Scott Hanley <[log in to unmask]>
To:     [log in to unmask]
References:     <[log in to unmask]>




On Thu, Mar 12, 2009 at 11:47 AM, Maps-L Moderator for Craig Haggit
<[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:



    Like most projects, Google Books is merely going after its main goal -
    the mass market (emphasis on mass).



I have to argue with that part.  Google's mass scanning project is not
aimed at the mass market - exactly the opposite, in fact.  As an example
of the (are you tired of hearing about it yet?) Long Tail principle
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Tail>, how much demand could
there be for a 1907 master's thesis on poor-relief in Wisconsin?  Yet
here it is <http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89085966919>,
thanks to Google's scanning at the University of Michigan Libraries.
You only aim for the mass market when you/ don't/ want to deal with a
massive number of titles.

As for the inadequacies of Google's scanning: consider it as the
equivalent of an early explorer's map -- say, William Clark's map of the
West.  It's great that someone's scouting the territory, but this won't
be the last word on the subject.


Scott Hanley
Bruce T. Halle Library
Eastern Michigan University
  &
Health Sciences Libraries
University of Michigan