LIVE from NYPL: Co-presented with WIRED Magazine THE BATTLE OVER BOOKS: Authors & Publishers Take on the Google Print Library Project
Allan Adler, Association of American Publishers
Chris Anderson, Wired Magazine
David Drummond, Google
Paul LeClerc & David Ferriero, The New York Public Library
Lawrence Lessig, Stanford Law School
Nick Taylor, The Authors Guild
Last December, Google launched its Print Library Project to scan books from the collections of several major libraries: Harvard, Michigan, Stanford, Oxford, and the New York Public Library.
Google explained: "Our ultimate goal is to work with publishers and libraries to create a comprehensive, searchable, virtual card catalog of all books in all languages that helps users discover new books and publishers find new readers."
Sounds like a win-win-win-win for readers, authors, publishers, and libraries alike, right? But as we have seen with other media migrating to the Internet, such a project raises a number of questions about intellectual property rights, fair use, piracy, access, ownership, distribution, compensation, and control. This fall, the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers filed lawsuits against Google, citing massive copyright infringement.
LIVE from the NYPL and WIRED Magazine present a provocative discussion about the competing interests and issues raised by the Google Print Library Project, and whether a universal digital repository of our collective knowledge is in our future.
Allan Adler is Vice President for Legal Governmental Affairs at the Association of American Publishers (AAP), the national trade organization which represents the US book and journal publishing industries.
Chris Anderson is the WIRED Magazine's Editor-in-Chief and is the author of the forthcoming book on his Long Tail theory. WIRED is the recipient of the 2005 National Magazine Award for General Excellence and Anderson was recently named Advertising Age's Editor of the Year.
David Drummond is Google's Vice President, Corporate Development and works with Google's management team to evaluate and drive new strategic business opportunities, including strategic alliances and mergers and acquisitions. He also serves as Google's general counsel.
David Ferriero is the Andrew W. Mellon Director and Chief Executive of the Research Libraries at the New York Public Library and is charged with moving the four world-renowned Research Libraries into the 21st Century.
Paul LeClerc has been President and Chief Executive Officer of The New York Public Library for the past twelve years. He also serves as a trustee of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Book Foundation, and the American Academy of Rome. President Clinton named him to the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.
Lawrence Lessig is a professor at Stanford Law School, the Founder and Chairman of Creative Commons, and the author of Code, The Future of Ideas, and Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity.
Nick Taylor is a best-selling author, the President of the Authors Guild, and an advocate of copyright and fair contracts. In addition, he is a director of the Authors Guild Foundation and a member of the literary organization PEN.