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Points

Create an online E-Library

Start a program scanning the library of congress into an online library where it can be accessed for free.  It would make it so much easier and cheaper for public/ school libraries to offer the people they serve quality access to knowledge.  Going hand in hand with the plan already in place to drastically expand broadband lines and invest in 21st century schools, this would do much to improve American education while making it more cost effective.  It would also save money and the enviornement by reducing the amount of paper purchased by the government when stocking multiple libraries with the same books.
26 Comments  »  Posted by Kevin J. Kauth to Economy, Education, Energy and Environment, Service, Technology, Additional Issues on 1/13/2009 4:52 PM

Comments

 
PeteH
1/13/2009 11:53 PM
Solid.
 
Bob P Alameda
1/14/2009 5:59 AM
Of course the broader issue here is to dampen down the intellectual property laws, and force material into the public domain sooner rather than later.
 
StephenNorthcutt
1/14/2009 1:44 PM
A lot of this is already happening with books.google.com. There are related suggestions to expand libraries, but the era of print may have already peaked. We may not see newspapers printed in many cities within five years. So making good information available online makes sense.

I also agree with Bob Alameda, copyrights should not last for the life of the creator plus 70 years. Five, ten or even twenty years is plenty of protection to encourage creation.
 
SusanW
1/14/2009 1:55 PM
 There is such a site: openlibrary org
 
Harry S
1/14/2009 2:21 PM
Information would be more available and easier to obtain if there were reliable on lien libraries that provide specialized information for free.
 
Kevin J. Kauth
1/14/2009 4:29 PM
openlibrary.org is a good start but it needs allot of help
 
dagfooyo
1/14/2009 6:23 PM
This is a wonderful idea and right in line with the direction we need to take our country.  It encourages education and the freedom of all people to have access to information.  The LOC is a vast resource that is sorely underutilized - only the most devout scholars can take the time to go to Washington and read these books in the LOC, or have books shipped to their local library.  Full internet access to this vast store of knowledge is right in line with what the LOC was created for in the first place.  Only today, we have the technology to spread this knowledge more powerfully and efficiently than our forefathers ever dreamed of.
 
Somebody
1/14/2009 7:00 PM
Copyright issues are the problem.
 
Kevin J. Kauth
1/14/2009 8:44 PM
Most of the Library of Congress is not under copyright
 
DeWayne
1/14/2009 9:44 PM
 
Kevin J. Kauth
1/14/2009 10:29 PM
DeWayne, i checked it out and I found great access to bills and government information but no access too books.  I'm calling for the ability to read any of the books or periodicals in the library online for free as a cost effective replacement for the books/ periodicals in our public/ school libraries.  
 
Pete S.
1/15/2009 12:15 AM
See also <a target="_blank" href="http://redivide.com/">http://redivide.com/</a>
 
JudiElaine
1/15/2009 8:37 AM
 Kevin,

There is a great challenge in determining whether or  not  books published in the US between  1923 and 1977 are in the public domain or are still under copyright. It is not clear whether "most of" the Library of Congress is out of copyright. A good outline of the points to be considered is at  http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/public_domain/ .  Key data elements in determining copyright status are whether the book was first published in the US or another country, whether the book (or later printings) has a copyright statement, and whether the copyright was renewed.  None of these are easily determined from existing digital databases: I'm part of OCLC's effort to build such a database (http://worldcat.org/copyrightevidence/). Similarly, the University of Michigan and partners has the Hathi Trust (http://www.hathitrust.org/)

Google and Open Content Alliance [1] are both separately working to scan in books.  Both have to deal with the penalties of copyright issues.

Google has "solved" the problem, possibly, and just for their own corporate interests, by entering into a settlement with representatives of the book creators. [2] This settlement has not been approved, and may create a monopoly on digital out of print books.

Brewster Kahle of the Internet Library and Open Content Alliance are working on a more open solution. Currently, they only scan out of copyright works, best identified as those published before 1923. They are moving on to think about scanning the out of print works and creating an interface that would allow libraries to loan digital  copies.

What can the federal government do? Re-examine copyright law, fair use, penalties made for nonprofit duplication of media, and work towards a fair "Orphaned Works" solution that helps current creators manage their rights as well as opening up "orphaned" works to the cultural commons.

[1] Related to openlibrary.org and the internet archive; one way to access the repository is at http://www.archive.org/details/texts
[2] See  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Book_Search#Copyright_infringement.2C_fair_use_and_related_issues
f
or details on the settlement.
 
Neva
1/15/2009 8:38 AM
Yes, but we do need books, too - don't forget to support library spending on improving collections. 
 
Minio
1/15/2009 8:51 AM
Modifying outdated copyright laws to allow existence and unrestricted access to full content of all printed books - similar to the Google Books - would likely have higher impact on advancement of our civilization that any other decision by this administration. 

In the history of mankind great breakthroughs in information sharing technology preceded social and economical advancement. Written word appeared at the dawn of civilization. Printing press gave us reformation and enlightenment that ultimately led to American civilization. Invention of internet had tremendous impact on the way we share information and has enormous promise to spearhead new ideas and inventions.  Ideas like E-Library of Google Books are in my opinion the most useful developments so far and should not be artificially hampered by short sighted regulations. Please remember that founding fathers' intention behind copyright by  was to "promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts".
 
Kagehi
1/15/2009 9:44 AM
You can lead some people to a computer, but not make them go to an E-library, instead of some place like Conservapedia... But, yeah. We need to make this stuff more accessable anyway.
 
Richard62
1/15/2009 11:56 AM
Read The One Click Revolution http://oneclickrevolution.com

One Click Revolution

Inside the Obama Strategy it is Phenomenal
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/richardgerber
 
Kevin J. Kauth
1/15/2009 4:05 PM
I would argue with Neva that the future will see the decline of printed books to the status of a novelty.  

Also, the public already has access to books from public libraries for free.  How would it be any different to simply offer those same books online for free in the eyes of copyright laws?
 
7teri
1/15/2009 9:44 PM
There is such a library. Go to Americanlibraries.org   Also go to Internet Archive. It is absolutely amazing. I use these in my classes. You can read thousands of books online for free.
 
Kevin J. Kauth
1/15/2009 11:59 PM
It, like openlibrary.org is a good start, but it  needs to be expanded greatly to have an impact on the quality and costs of our schools and public libraries.  The entire library of congress should be availiable, and our schools and libraries need to be filled with the computers to access them.
 
Kevin J. Kauth
1/16/2009 12:02 AM
Americanlibraries.org seems like an advertising site for online universities.  If it is an actual online library and wants to be an effective one it needs someone to completely redo the website
 
jmod1978
1/16/2009 9:06 AM
This is only a good idea if people have to pay to read more than a small sampling of any book. As an author, I do NOT support free access to my complete works online. Going to the library takes effort, yes, but at least I get paid for the book the library buys. I do not make a dime if you read my works online for free. Respect copyright laws and respect authors!!!
 
Kevin J. Kauth
1/16/2009 1:31 PM
So the curretn library system is ok because it makes it hard to read your works?  That seems like such a waste of taxpayer money.  Maybe there could be a fee for books still in copyright.  But surely this would help allot even if it was limited to books out of copyright.  
 
JUnruh
1/17/2009 3:58 PM
 It would be great to have PUBLIC DOMAIN MATERIAL available online, but for works that are under copyright this can-and should- only occur with the author's permission.
There is a lot of interesting material online from LOC already.  I wonder how many people use it.  Sometimes easy access doesn't translate to a quantity of use.  I think the traditional library experience is still very important and we should continue to invest in them.
 
Kevin J. Kauth
1/17/2009 6:42 PM
There absolutley can and should be a way to compensate authors that still have copyrights.  
 
Full of Hope in NC
1/18/2009 1:11 PM
One idea would be to partner with Amazon to use their Kindle wireless reading device, and lower the price to make it more affordable for purchase, or make the Kindle available for checkout at your local library.
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