CIC/Google Book Search Project Frequently Asked Questions

CIC/Google Book Search Project Frequently Asked Questions

Overview
The national 12-university consortium called the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (the "CIC") has entered into a cooperative agreement with Google to digitize the most distinctive collections across all its libraries, up to 10 million volumes. As part of this agreement, the universities will build a shared digital repository combining all the digitized public domain materials from their individual collections into one easily accessible online resource.

The CIC is a consortium of 12 prominent research universities: Penn State, University of Chicago, University of Illinois, Indiana University, University of Iowa, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, Purdue University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The CIC has a successful, 50-year history of inter-university collaboration.

About this agreement:
Why is the CIC entering into this agreement?
CIC members are partnering with Google to digitize millions of bound volumes in their library collections. This is an important step to preserve the libraries' print legacy collections, and to provide broader present-day and future users with in-depth access to historically significant print resources. The initiative will preserve in digital form deteriorating 19th-century books included in the project, make historic collections more accessible to scholars, and make the ideas and references within books more discoverable through computerized 'search and retrieve' capabilities.

This partnership will allow for library digitization at a scale and scope that would not be possible with the limited means available to the individual universities. This partnership will allow the universities to digitize collections that would have taken hundreds of years and many millions of dollars. Beyond the scope and speed of digitization made possible by this agreement, the libraries' intention to build a shared digital repository to house public domain materials is a groundbreaking collaboration. The repository will allow faculty, students and the broader public to immediately access the full content of all 12 universities' rich array of public domain holdings digitized under the agreement. The CIC has been a national model of inter-university collaboration for 50 years. The consortium's member universities believe the CIC library digitization initiative is an example of the kinds of cooperation -- both among peers and with outside parties -- needed for higher education to remain strong and relevant in the future. Leading universities will operate effectively in a common virtual environment; institutions will continue to develop individual core competencies but also will leverage their assets collectively; and universities will seek out innovative partnerships with outside entities to achieve shared goals.

What other institutions are participating in the Google Library project?
Other participating universities include the University of California library system, Harvard University, Stanford University, the New York Public Library, Oxford University, Princeton University, the University of Texas-Austin, the University of Virginia, the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, the Library of Barcelona, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, the University of Lausanne, Ghent University Library and two members of the CIC: the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Google is conducting a pilot project with the Library of Congress as well.

What is unique about this agreement?
Two characteristics distinguish the agreement from those that have come before it. This is the first time a group of independent institutions have joined in a collective approach to the Google library digitization effort. Also, as part of this agreement, the 12-university consortium will build a shared digital repository. Each university will "deposit" its digitized public domain files into a commonly funded and managed data storage system so the universities can securely archive their aggregated public domain holdings collectively and provide immediate access to the full content of these materials for faculty, students and the broader public. This shared digital repository will bring together the public domain holdings of some of the world's largest libraries.

How many volumes will Google digitize?
Google will digitize select collections across all the CIC libraries, up to 10 million volumes. These totals are in addition to the volumes already being digitized at the Universities of Michigan and Wisconsin-Madison.

Which CIC collections will be digitized?
Google will identify from across the CIC those holdings that are unique to each institution (i.e., those volumes that have not been previously located or digitized as part of other agreements). In consultation with university librarians, Google also will identify and select CIC collections of distinction; collecting commitments from across the institutions that are nationally recognized by librarians and scholars as deep and historically rich research collections.

These collections of distinction could number in the hundreds across the CIC, but are typified by such examples as Africana at Northwestern University, South Asia at the University of Chicago, folklore at Indiana University, culinary arts at the University of Iowa, the Amelia Earhart papers at Purdue University, the University of Minnesota's Scandinavia and forestry collections, Lincoln materials at the University of Illinois, turfgrass materials at Michigan State University, psychology at Ohio State, and dairy science at Wisconsin. The collections reflect the efforts of individual libraries to support each university's mission, their faculties' global academic interests, as well as regional histories of the universities' home states. In a digital world, these complementary strengths can be brought together to provide users with one-stop access to rich and diverse resources that were previously difficult to discover and access.

Will books in multiple languages be included?
Yes. The consortium's libraries hold books in more than 300 languages, and approximately 40 percent of the collections are non-English.

Will each university's individual contribution be identified in some way?
Information about the source library for digital content is provided in Google Book Search, and it will be maintained and identifiable in the shared CIC repository.

Does the agreement include both public domain and in copyright works?
Yes. The digitization initiative will include both public domain and in-copyright materials in a manner consistent with copyright law. For books in the public domain, readers will be able to read, download and print the full texts from the Google site. In addition, the consortium will build a shared digital repository for all 12 universities' digitized public domain materials so the holdings can be collectively archived and made available to faculty, students and the broader public. For books protected by copyright, users will just get basic background (such as the book's title and the author's name), at most a few lines of text related to their search, and information about where they can buy or borrow a book. If publishers or authors do not want to have their books digitized, Google will exclude them.

What materials are in the "public domain?"
For users in the United States, the Google Books Library project treats all books published after 1923 as protected by copyright, except for books to which no copyright was attached in the first instance, such as federal, state and local government documents.

Does Google or the universities own the copyright to a work once it is scanned?
No. Copyright holders maintain copyright over their work and public domain works remain in the public domain.

Will the universities receive copies of public domain and in-copyright materials?
Google will provide the CIC with a digital copy of the public domain materials that are targeted for this project. Google will hold the digital files of in-copyright material on a secure server, to be released to the universities when certain release conditions are met. This agreement does not supersede the pre-existing terms and agreements Google has with the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

When will the project begin?
Project planning will begin immediately, and scanning will begin soon after.

How long will the project take to complete?
This is a six-year agreement, with opportunity for renewal.

Will Google scan the books on each campus? If not, where will the books be
scanned and how?
CIC library materials will be digitized at one or more of Google's scanning centers in the U.S. Since the advent of the library digitization program in 2004, Google has demonstrated its ability to ship library materials in a quick and secure manner.

How will the project be funded?
Google assumes the cost of digitization, and directly related expenses such as shipping. The libraries will assume the costs of preparing the material for shipping, including the technical processing before and after digitization. Prior to the Google Book Library initiative, libraries estimated the costs of digitization at approximately $100 per volume. Hence, the value of this project at the anticipated level of volume is measured in the hundreds of millions.

Will the universities receive any financial benefit from this arrangement?
The universities will receive no direct financial compensation from this agreement.

Is this an exclusive agreement with Google?
No, this is a non-exclusive agreement.

About the Shared Digital Repository:
What is the Shared Digital Repository?
Each university will "deposit" their digitized public domain files into a commonly funded and managed data storage system so the universities can securely archive their public domain holdings collectively and provide immediate access to the full content of these materials for faculty, students and the broader public. This groundbreaking collaboration will bring together the holdings of some of the world's largest libraries into one digital resource. The Shared Digital Repository will enable the universities to build and offer services core to their educational mission and specific to the academic community, such as the organization and archiving of content for scholarly purposes (for instance, the search functions can be customized to meet the needs of specialized user communities). The Shared Digital Repository will enable scholars to access a vast array of material immediately, produce customized searches, and perhaps even discover new information previously too difficult to access or to study side by side.

When will the Shared Digital Repository be available to scholars and students?
The design and implementation of this project is complex and will take several years to develop fully. The University of Michigan will host the repository, and work has already begun.

About the scanning process:
How will Google scan each book? Can the public view the process?
Google has developed proprietary scanning technology for this project. Google does not permit public access to scanning facilities.

Will Google scan rare books, and how?
Inclusion of rare books is not assumed by the agreement, but neither are these materials explicitly excluded from consideration.

Will scanning harm the books?
No. Google developed innovative technology to scan the content without harming the books. Any book deemed too fragile will not be scanned by Google, but may be treated by expert library staff. Once scanned, all print volumes are returned to the library collections.

How will redundancies among the collections be addressed?
Google will digitize unique volumes in these collections. Google will provide the CIC with a digital copy of all public domain materials in the CIC collections that are targeted for this project.

About the Google Library Project:
When did Google first launch the Google Library Project?
Google announced its first library partnerships in 2004 with the University of Michigan, Stanford University, Harvard University, Oxford University and the New York Public Library.

Does this project comply with copyright law?
Yes. The counsels from all of the CIC universities believe the Google Book Search is fully consistent with the fair use doctrine under U.S. copyright law, as is the participation of our campuses.

Will I be able to read an entire book online?
If the volume has no copyright restrictions and is in the public domain, the full text will be available for viewing or download. For books under copyright, readers will just see basic background (such as the book's title and the author's name), at most a few lines of text related to their search, and information about where they can buy or borrow a book.

Can I use Google Book Search now?
Yes, currently there are more than a million books available to search in Google Book Search.

Are books going to be unavailable while they are being scanned?
A book will be unavailable for a short period of time in which it is being scanned; however, Google will do everything possible to minimize the time out of circulation.

Does Google display ads on books scanned from the libraries?
No. There are currently no advertisements on the books that are scanned from a library. Please visit the About Google Book Search to see more about how library books will be displayed: http://books.google.com/intl/en/googlebooks/about.html online.

Does Google track the books I read?
Google Book Search uses the existing Google.com cookie to determine how much book content to display. Google does not rent, sell or share what pages a user has viewed with third parties for any purpose without the user's permission or as described in the Google privacy policy at http://print.google.com/privacypolicy.html online.

Where can I go to see a book scanned from a library?
For examples and screenshots, go to http://books.google.com/googlebooks/library.html online.

About library digitization efforts:
Why is it important to digitize library holdings?
The role of archiving and preserving the vast spectrum of written materials is a critical one for university libraries. In a world marked with ever-quickening change, libraries take the long view -- century after century. Over time many works become out-of-print, or deteriorate with age, or are threatened by natural disasters or societal upheavals. Digitization enables us to preserve these works for all time. And, as we move to a completely technological and digital environment, materials not available in a digital format will become less and less discoverable and less relevant to scholars, students and the public. Finally, digitization of the world's printed material will democratize information: anyone, anywhere in the world with access to the Internet can have access to the world's printed treasures.

Will this affect how universities collect and preserve printed materials?
This initiative is unlikely to have much effect on the print acquisition policies of CIC university libraries, but will extend available options for the management of the large print legacy collections. Given the opportunity provided by this partnership to assure some level of intellectual access to content in deteriorating print format, the libraries can now refine their decision-making and priorities for higher levels of content preservation and conservation of print artifacts.

What about security concerns in a digital environment?
Universities and their libraries take very seriously the security of digital resources, and honoring their contractual obligations to limit unauthorized use or access to their digital content and environment. Stringent system level security and rights management control are built into the operation of the library systems, and will be employed as part of this initiative including the creation of the consortium's shared digital repository.

About the CIC:
Who belongs to the CIC consortium?
The CIC is a consortium of 12 prominent research universities: Penn State, University of Chicago, University of Illinois, Indiana University, University of Iowa, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, Purdue University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. With campuses in eight states, CIC universities enroll more than 300,000 undergraduates and 76,000 graduate students, and employ some 33,000 full-time faculty and 139,000 full-time staff.

How is the CIC organized?
Founded in 1958 as an unincorporated association, the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) is a consortium of 12 research universities. The organization is governed by the provosts (the chief academic officers of each university), who act as a "committee of the whole" and who are the members of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation. The CIC has a staff of 18, headquartered in Champaign, Illinois, and through agreement with the board of trustees, operates as an affiliate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The CIC is funded through dues that are paid by the member universities. Each member university contributes equally to funding the organization, though participation in any CIC activity is voluntary.

What is the CIC's mission?
Our mission is to advance academic excellence by sharing resources and promoting and coordinating collaborative activities across the member universities.

How do the CIC universities work together?
The CIC universities collaborate in such activities as sharing access to study abroad offerings, coordinating large scale purchases and electronic licenses, creating programs for professional development, coordinating access to library materials, and building shared data networks. The work is focused on three areas of dynamic, evolving collaboration: (1) national leadership for higher education; (2) combining, leveraging and expanding resources of member universities; and (3) expanding learning opportunities by sharing unique courses and programs.

What is the CIC Center for Library Initiatives?
The Center for Library Initiatives is a CID program to encourage and facilitate collaboration among the libraries of CIC research universities. In addition to projects such as mass digitization and building a shared digital repository, the Center for Library Initiatives supports such efforts as cooperative licensing of library resources, building an expedited interlibrary loan network, and promoting best practices in scholarly communication to protect the intellectual property rights of CIC scholars.