Found this via the ever-interesting BoingBoing: http://edition.cnn.com/2006/BUSINESS/12/19/google.books.ap/
"The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is funding the Internet Archive to scan rare, unusual and culturally significant books and artworks at a bunch of major institutions, including the Boston Public Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Getty Research Institute. The grant comes out of Sloan's concern that commercial entities are becoming the default repositories of the world's cultural heritage, and that the restrictions corporations impose on access to the works they display don't serve the public good." I have to wonder what will happen to those non-copyrighted books already scanned by Google and others. I admit to some curiosity about any agreements between Google and those libraries it had contracted with to scan their collections. Will those libraries be allowed to hand over scans of the non-copyrighted books to the Internet Archive? (my gut feeling is "no" and a different copy will have to be scanned again). "The works to be scanned include the personal library of John Adams, America's second president, and thousands of images from the Metropolitan Museum." I also wonder at that images they're going to scanning. So could this grant turn into a huge ARTstor/AMICO-like digital library for libraries, archives, AND museums? I have to admit - I like the sound of that. -- Perian Sully Collection Database and Records Administrator Judah L. Magnes Museum 2911 Russell St. Berkeley, CA 94705 510-549-6950 x 335
