Saturday, 13 August , 2005, 10:11
US search Goliath Google has put on hold its internationally criticised plan to amass an online library of the world's books, the company website indicated on Friday.
The posted announcement by Google's print product manager Adam Smith was apparently intended to take the Silicon Valley company out of the cross-hairs of publishers who opened fire on the company after it launched the project.
"We know that not everyone agrees, and we want to do our best to respect their views, too," Smith said in a website posting. "So now, any and all copyright holders can tell us, which books they'd prefer that we not scan if we find them in a library," he continued.
Google won't scan any more copyrighted books until November, to give publishers a chance to figure out what books they want kept from the planned online library, according to Smith.
Google unveiled its project, "Google Print," in October 2004. In April, 19 European national libraries announced a multi-million euro counter-offensive aimed at blocking Google's quest to create a global virtual library.
The alliance, organised by France's national library, formed after Michigan University and four other top libraries -- Harvard, Stanford, New York Public Library and the Bodleian in Oxford -- made a deal with Google to digitise millions of their books and make them freely available online.
"As with many ambitious ideas, Google Print has sparked a healthy amount of discussion," Smith wrote. "And we've been listening." Google has consulted with publishers, authors and trade organisations to assuage concerns about copyrights, according to Smith.
Google is inviting publishers to provide lists of copyrighted works they want logged in the online library so the search engine can refer potential readers their way to buy the books in one form or another.
