When Google Challenges Europe - Defending the Fight Back

Author: Jean-No?l Jeanneney
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: Following Google's launch of the GooglePrint Publishers program in October 2004, Jean-No?l Jeanneney, the Director of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, highlighted the dangers and challenges this program posed to different cultures and called for initiatives to preserve the diversity of world cultures and defend the cultures of nations and regions. In the context of the digitalization of countries, he offered his own opinions and suggestions on issues such as free collaboration, national funding support, the selection of specific digitalization technologies and standards, the long-term preservation of digital resources, and the management of digitalization projects. This book, published after Google proposed its plan to digitize printed books, advocates for how to defend local cultures and maintain the diversity of world cultures. Google, the world's largest search engine, plans to build the world's largest online library by 2015, and the European Union views this plan as a cultural invasion by the United States into Europe. In this polemical booklet, Jean-No?l Jeanneney, the Director of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, strongly responds to Google's plan and calls for initiatives to preserve the diversity of world cultures and defend the cultures of nations and regions. Although this booklet was initially aimed at French readers, its topic is relevant worldwide. As Jeanneney states in the preface to the Chinese edition: "Here, I want to reiterate to my Chinese readers that our efforts are not just for the benefit of Europe. In this new venture of digital libraries, Europe can learn from and collaborate with China, India, the Arab world, Latin America, and other regions of the world. Such exchanges benefit all of humanity."