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"Learning from Google Books: Best Practices for Libraries Seeking to Outsource their Digitization Activities." S. McDonald. D. McMenemy. Department of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Strathclyde. 2017. Download PDF (BibTeX) ILS

Abstract:
This dissertation investigates the contracts between Google and libraries for digitization of the libraries' collections. Research has revealed that there is scant scholarly literature concerning the contracts libraries enter into with Google as part of the Google Books Library Project. For the purposes of this paper, four contracts between Google and its library partners were located and reviewed. The goal of this research was to assemble a body of best practices for libraries that wish to digitize their collections. These best practices apply both to libraries seeking to contract with Google for digitization as well as libraries wishing to contract with another third-party, for-profit company. The discussion emphasizes the importance of libraries to be educated about the nuanced contract terms they negotiate. Once a library has decided to contract with Google or another third party for digitization, the library must consider what contract terms best suit its needs. Some things libraries should consider are the confidentiality of the contract terms, non-exclusivity provisions, time limits, the allocation of costs between the library and the digitizer, the breadth of digitization, whether the library chooses to digitize copyrighted works or whether it will limit digitization to public domain works, which party will be responsible for creating and providing metadata, whether the works will be available for data mining, how many digital copies the library will receive, the library's ability to use the digital copies on its website and for inter-library loans, the digitizer's ability to use the digital copies, both parties' rights to commercially profit from the digital copies, the library's remedies in the event of the digitizer's breach, user privacy, and the parties' responsibilities for security measures. In addition to best practices, the research also led to a compilation of alternatives for libraries that wish to digitize their collections in other ways besides partnering with Google in the Google Books project.