The US Google Book Settlement and its potential implications, has captured the attention and imagination of a range of people- from those working within higher and further education to publishers, authors, libraries, museums and archives. They have  been watching with growing interest as developments unfold, which has seen approximately seven million books digitised by Google through partnerships with libraries, publishers and authors.

As a result of this, JISC has created this space to keep the higher and further education communities abreast of news and events as they happen in an arena which is fast-moving and ever changing. It is not only aimed at offering up-to-date developments, but also offers the opportunity to comment on issues which encroach on surrounding debates such as the use and re-use of digital content and Intellectual Property Rights more broadly, as well as issues around digitisation and the moneterisation of digital content.

JISC’s original summary, written prior to the Settlement being amended, spawned some excellent comments and points of interest. This site has been been updated to chart responses from Dec 2009 until before, during and after the final fairness hearing on 18th February 2010.

OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Google Books Settlement pages: http://www.googlebooksettlement.com/

Google Books FAQs: http://www.googlebooksettlement.com/help/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=118704

IFLA: http://www.ifla.org/en/news/update-on-google-books-statement

Google Public Policy Blog: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2009/11/modifications-to-google-books.html

Google Book Search Settlement Agreement: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Book_Search