Alexandria Rebuilt

15 December 2004



Google to Scan Contents of Major Libraries

"Don't Be Evil" is the motto of Google, the search engine folks -- and in the interest of fair disclosure, the provider of most the advertisements readers see on this website. Their newest move is more than just avoiding the bad. It actually promotes the dissemination of knowledge far beyond anything attempted before now. Five major libraries are going to put all or part of their collection of published works on the internet under a project Google thinks will not only make it money, but will make the great works in the libraries available to anyone with web access.

The least important thing about this is the financial dimension. Google gets paid by advertisers whose website gets listed in the sponsored links of its search engine results page. More content means more viewers, which means at least in theory, more money for Google. And on to what's really important.

The universities involved are Stanford, Michigan, Oxford and Harvard, and the small collection known as the New York Public Library will join them. In the cases of Stanford and Michigan, all their library's contents will be scanned and put on the web. The NYPL will allow a portion of its items that are in the public domain to appear. Harvard is less helpful, allowing just 40,000 volumes at first to assess how the process works -- a timid view that perhaps explains why the place is known as the Stanford of the East. Oxford, which must deal with English copyright rules, will put all its books in that were published prior to 1901.

To realize just what this means, consider a child in a modest house in Peoria, Illinois, or Bognor Regis, England, or Kabul, Afghanistan for that matter. With a simple internet connection a decade from now, that kid would have access to every major book or article in any field with a few key strokes. And because the advertisers at Google are paying for it -- the cost would be that of the internet access itself. Human development, both economic and spiritual, happens when ideas happen -- and free information ultimately sparks more ideas. Those who still believe in progress hang their hopes upon the imagination, and nothing fuels the imagination like other ideas.

The Royal Library of Alexandria was founded by Ptolemy II of Egypt, son of Ptolemy I who worked as one of Alexander the Great's generals. At its height, somewhere between 400,000 and 700,000 scrolls rested on its shelves. Whether it was destroyed when Julius Caesar took Alexandria, or whether it was burned at the orders of Caliph Omar, the fact is the ancient library is gone. With this new project, a far greater collection of knowledge awaits -- one that cannot be destroyed so long as mankind remembers to back up its data.

© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.

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