The Google Books Settlement and the Future of Information Access August 28, 2009

It is important that everyone, including academics, commercial information services, librarians, policy makers, and the public at large, understand both the opportunities and the risks that may flow from the October scheduled US District Court's fairness hearing in what has become known as the “Google Books Settlement”. The proposed settlement agreement between Google and a group of publishers and authors will allow Google to provide greater access to even more books than at present and to offer some new services. Yet such a settlement will also have a profound influence on such things as future digitization efforts, the marketplace for books, the role of libraries, scholarly research, and the general user's right to access information and maintain privacy.

Towards greater understanding, the School of Information is hosting a one-day conference on August 28th to address major issues arising from the proposed settlement. A series of panels will discuss:

* the right of the public to have access to works embraced by such a settlement
* the questions of privacy inevitably arising from creating and controlling access to such a collection
* the potential for and restrictions on research into the content and use of such a collection
* the quality of the content and the metadata surrounding it

This one-day conference will bring together a range of voices and opinions and will, it is hoped, lead to a more informed debate both before and following the court's decision.

Due to space limitations, the conference is by invitation only. For more information, please contact GBS@ischool .

Official Website: http://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/newsandevents/events/20090828googlebooksconference