Google Book Search, Google’s ambitious project to scan or index all books in existence, has caused a lot of controversy. The most common argument against it is that Google could get a monopoly on access to a large part of our common cultural heritage.

Others say that indexing books and making them available online — even as excerpts — could be construed as copyright enfringement.

If you are a librarian, if you are interested in intellectual propety rights or if you just have a keen interest in books, you might want to dig deeper to make up your own mind about this. Google Book Search Bibliography is a good place to start.

Google Book Search Bibliography

Google Book Search Bibliography is the work of Charles W. Bailey, Jr. It presents selected articles and other works that are useful in understanding Google Book Search, all in English.

You will find books on the evolution of Google Book Search and issues associated with it concerning legal, library, and social issues.

This is more than a mere list. Often, links are provided to works that are freely available on the Internet.

See the Google Book Search Library Partners page for a list of libraries collaborating with Google on the book scanning project.

If you want to start with some easy introductory articles to the subject, you can do so right here at Pandia:

Why Google’s book deal is such a big deal
The long term plans for Google world domination
The end of Google Catalogs, a useless product that helps Google conquer the world

See also: About Google Books

photo credit: zsíta