Google expanding public library connections in Europe

In talks with libraries in Italy and France

Google Inc. is preparing for a significant expansion of its book digitization program with agreements reportedly imminent with public libraries in France and Italy.

Signing up the National Library of France to the Google digital library marks a major breakthrough for the Mountain View Internet company, given France's traditional resistance to what it sees as Anglo-Saxon cultural imperialism.

The director of the National Library of France, Denis Bruckman, indicated last Tuesday that the prestigious French institution was close to surrendering to Google's powerful embrace.

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Google Inc. is preparing for a significant expansion of its book digitization program with agreements reportedly imminent with public libraries in France and Italy.

Signing up the National Library of France to the Google digital library marks a major breakthrough for the Mountain View Internet company, given France's traditional resistance to what it sees as Anglo-Saxon cultural imperialism.

The director of the National Library of France, Denis Bruckman, indicated last Tuesday that the prestigious French institution was close to surrendering to Google's powerful embrace.

"If Google can enable us to go faster and farther, then why not?" Bruckman told the business daily La Tribune. "Our negotiations with Google could be concluded within a few months."

France's change of heart is all down to money, La Tribune explained. The National Library has a digitization budget of just €5 million (US$ 7.1 million) per year but requires up to €80 million just to scan its collection of printed books dating from 1870 to 1940.

Exhibiting the caution typical of librarians, the National Library of France responded to La Tribune's report with a communiqué stressing that the Google agreement was not a done deal. "However, the Library has never ruled out a private partnership provided it conforms to the Culture Ministry's strategy for digital content and respects the principles of free access without charge exclusively to books that are not covered by copyright," it said.

Italy looks likely to follow in France's footsteps, with the Central National Library of Florence also in negotiations with Google for a digitization deal. "We have been talking to Google for quite a while," the Florence Library's director Antonia Fontana told reporters Wednesday. "I think it can only be an advantage for Italy. We obviously have to involve the National Library in Rome as well and resolve problems connected with copyright," the AGI news agency quoted her as saying.

"We and the French face the same economic problems. The Central National Library of Florence is the most important in the country and also has the task of cataloging and indexing everything that is published in Italian. It's a huge task for which we have neither the funds nor the personnel," Fontana said.

Google Italy spokeswoman Simona Panseri confirmed ongoing talks but declined to provide details. " We are talking with venture partners around the world and Italy is no exception. We have nothing specific to say at the moment though," Panseri said in a telephone interview.

Italy and France would add the homes of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment to a network of public and academic libraries already amounting to about 30. Beyond the borders of the United States, Google has secured the cooperation of the Bodleian Library in Oxford and libraries in Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan and Switzerland.

The priceless collections of the Vatican Library would surely constitute a tempting further prize, but the ecclesiastical institution appears indifferent to the allure of technological matrimony.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.