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July 10, 2008, 09:30 AM ET
Librarians Accuse Google of Using and Discarding Them
Is Google casting aside the library community? That’s the recent conclusion of some librarians. The giant technology company once courted librarians to back its controversial project that digitizes books from academic libraries and makes all or parts of the texts available online. Now it seems Google no longer needs them, the librarians say.
Steven M. Cohen, a senior librarian at Law Library Management Inc., notes on his blog that Google last updated its “Librarian Central” blog a year ago. And he and Roy Tennant, a librarian with the Online Computer Library Center, say that, atypically, Google wasn’t present at the American Library Association’s annual conference last month, even though it was held in Anaheim, Calif. “only one short plane ride away from the Googleplex” also in California, writes Mr. Tennant.
“So, Google will continue to use librarians, scan their books, profit from it, and then leave us in the information dust to rot like an old microfilm machine,” writes Mr. Cohen. “It’s sad really. But then again, we fell for it.”
Sara Houghton-Jan, digital futures manager for the San Jose Public Library, writes that Google has left librarians feeling like “chumps.”
Bill Drew, a librarian at Tompkins Courtland Community College in New York, reports today that he received a response to the librarians’ complaints on his blog—albeit not from Google. Pam Saenger, who helped run Librarian Central, says she is no longer employed by Google. “I think they’re planning on sending out a librarian newsletter imminently,” she writes of the company.—Andrea L. Foster
Categories: Libraries
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