Google's Controversial Book Search Project

Google has offered the first glimpse at the results of their controversial Book Search project, releasing the top 10 most-viewed texts in English for one week in September.

The list is topped by a study of tropical flowers, and also includes a 1934 translation of the Qur'an, Noam Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival, and a handbook for building an all-terrain robot.

With no relation to any bestseller list past or present, the list offers an intriguing snapshot of what users were searching for in the week beginning September 17 2006.

Chomsky's 2003 critique of US foreign policy owes its presence on the list to Hugo Chavez's midweek endorsement on the floor of the UN General Assembly.

Google Book Search allows users to search the full text of millions of books worldwide. Readers can view sample pages from books supplied by the programme's publisher partners alongside information about where the titles can be purchased.

The internet search giant has so far proved unwilling to give any idea of the numbers of searches involved, fearing that rivals would gain a competitive advantage. But Dr Kim Zwollo, global rights director for the German publishing house Axel Springer Verlag, said that since they had joined the programme "thousands of people" had looked at their titles, and that they had "seen a 10% rise" in backlist sales.

The European director of Google Book Search, Jens Redmer, was keen to stress the programme's potential for both readers and publishers.

"For the reader, the service opens up the world of literature and learning by typing a few simple keystrokes into a computer. For publishers and authors it enables more people to find more books in more languages."

The most controversial aspect of the project involves digitised copies of books contained in major world libraries such as the university libraries at Harvard, Oxford and Madrid, and includes books both in and out of copyright. Readers can view books in the public domain in their entirety. If the book is in copyright users are able to see basic background information, such as the title, the author's name and the library where it resides, and view two or three snippets in order to demonstrate its relevance.

But some publishers and authors have greeted the service with dismay, claiming that by scanning entire books into their database Google is infringing copyright. Bloomsbury's chief executive, Nigel Newton, has described the project as a "literary land grab", and called for readers to boycott the search engine. The president of the US Authors Guild, Nick Taylor, called the project a "plain and brazen violation of copyright law", adding that "it's not up to Google or anyone other than the authors - the rightful owners of these copyrights - to decide whether and how their works will be copied".

Since its launch at Frankfurt in 2004, the service has been expanded to include thousands of participating publishers and is now available in French, Italian, German, Spanish and Dutch.

Google faces lawsuits in France and the US over allegations that the service breaches copyright.


Top 10 most viewed texts in English:

Diversity and Evolutionary Biology of Tropical Flowers, Peter K. Endress

Merriam Webster's Dictionary of Synonyms

Measuring and Controlling Interest Rate and Credit Risk, Frank J. Fabozzi, Steven V. Mann, Moorad Choudhry

Ultimate Healing: The Power of Compassion, Lama Zopa Rinpoche; Edited by Ailsa Cameron

The Holy Qur'an, Translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Peterson's Study Abroad 2006, Thomson Peterson

Hegemony Or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance, Noam Chomsky

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage

Perrine's Literature: Structure,Sound,and Sense, Thomas R Arp,Greg Johnson

Build Your Own All-Terrain Robot, Brad Graham,Kathy McGowan