Europe split on Google book plans; BBC News, 11/13/09

David Reid, BBC News; Europe split on Google book plans:

Google plans to put millions of the world's books online and create the world's largest virtual library by 2010.

"The European Union has its own project to digitise library collections which was first mooted as a counter to Google.

The Europeana project aims to keep art, culture and out-of-print books free from commercial control.

Not everyone is opposed to Google's plans - some libraries view the firm's commercial ambitions as a chance to get their collections digitised for free.

Patrick Bazin, director of the library in the French city of Lyon, explained that if libraries do not digitize their collections, they run the risk of disappearing from the cultural landscape.
He added that Google's investment could be used to his library's advantage.

"Our aim is not to supply a private company with digital versions of our books, but to have digital versions so we can build a digital library.

"We estimated that to digitise the 500,000 books we are going to would cost us 60m euros. We don't have 60m euros," he explained."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/8357773.stm

New European online library to remain down until January, Sydney Morning Herald, 12/10/08

Via Sydney Morning Herald: New European online library to remain down until January:

"With 14 staff members and at an annual cost put at around 2.5 million euros (3.2 million US dollars), Europeana -- which can be found at www.europeana.eu -- has more humble beginnings, despite the massive interest.

The prototype which was launched, briefly, last month contains around two million digital items, all of them already in the public domain, as the most recent items are plagued by problems linked to copyright and their use online."

http://news.smh.com.au/technology/new-european-online-library-to-remain-down-until-january-20081210-6v42.html