Googling The Library

The Internet giant Google is getting into the library business in a way that will revolutionize our ability to access information. Google has entered into agreements with a number of major libraries across the country – Harvard, the University of Michigan, Stanford and the New York Public Library – by which Google will scan the non-copyrighted holdings of these and other libraries and make the material available on the Internet. There is no cost to the libraries for this service nor will anyone be charged for using this material online. Google will derive its revenue by selling ads, just as it does on its current search screen. The libraries get their holdings scanned for free. Because the Internet business is characterized by a certain follow the leader mentality, it is almost certain that other major Internet information providers such as Yahoo, Microsoft and Amazon will embark on similar projects. While scanning books and documents is still a labor intensive activity, the continuously dropping cost of electronic storage, advances in scanning technology, and the widespread use of broadband, DSL and other high speed, high capacity information pipelines makes this effort to make all of the world’s information freely and readily available to anyone with a computer close to becoming a reality. Why do I write about this? Because it’s exactly what we’re trying to do here at the registry with regard to land records. Every day, we add more data and images to our computer system. The ultimate goal is to have every record freely available over the Internet. Unfortunately, a number of people in the registry of deeds business are big advocates of charging for access to this information. That’s a very bad idea as far as I’m concerned. While the provider might realize a few dollars from such a service, it’s backwards thinking that runs counter to this ever growing effort to democratize access to information by making it freely available to anyone who can use it.