The Hathi Trust

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Wed, Sep 17, 2008 at 7:55 AM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:
>
> Quoting Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>:
>
> > Of vital interest to ADS-L'ers who have been stymied by Google Book Search:
> >
> > http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=602
>
> Thanks. Perhaps I was not explicit enough e.g. on 26 March* when I indicated I
> found a text that Google Books limited and misdated at UMichigan library, with
> a link to a Hathi Trust provided page.
>
> There have been a number of very nice finds lately.

As I understand it, Michigan was beginning to provide page images of
books scanned from their library under the banner of "MBooks". But now
they're committed to providing images for all scanned material from
CIC libraries via the Hathi Trust.

http://www.lib.umich.edu//news/stories/mbooks_becomes_hathitrust_403.html

> Has anyone heard a coherent explanation from Google why they would seemingly
> needlessly limit the value and efficiency of Google Books by restricting public
> domain texts? (They have, e.g., some rare early 1600s stuff I'd really like to
> read.)

I believe they have a system whereby public-domain material is cleared
for "Full View" only after going through an approval process (to make
sure no copyrighted material slips through). Given all the legal
trouble surrounding Book Search, it's not surprising they've been
extra-cautious.


--Ben Zimmer

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