“Exactly how readers will be able to use the material, however, is still a bit foggy. Google will give each participating library a copy of the books it has digitized while keeping another for itself. Initially, Google will use its copy to augment its existing Google Print program, which mixes relevant snippets from recently published books into the usual results returned by its Web search tool. A user who clicks on a Google Print result is presented with an image of the book page containing his or her keyword, along with links to the sites of retailers selling the print version of the book and keyword-related ads sold to the highest bidders through Google’s AdSense program.”

Eventually Google may make the text of out-of-copyright books available:

“In fact, Google may put the entire texts of these public-­domain materials online itself. In the future, Google could even use those materials to create a kind of literary equivalent of the Web, says Wojcicki.”

The article also mentions the Chilling Effects Clearinghouse, which discusses free speech and intellectual property issues.

“Chilling Effects aims to help you understand the protections that the First Amendment and intellectual property laws give to your online activities. We are excited about the new opportunities the Internet offers individuals to express their views, parody politicians, celebrate their favorite movie stars, or criticize businesses. But we’ve noticed that not everyone feels the same way. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some individuals and corporations are using intellectual property and other laws to silence other online users. Chilling Effects encourages respect for intellectual property law, while frowning on its misuse to “chill” legitimate activity.

The website offers background material and explanations of the law for people whose websites deal with topics such as Fan Fiction, Copyright, Domain Names and Trademarks, Anonymous Speech, and Defamation.”

what about the book stores and copyright protection

In case it somehow wasn’t clear: Bookstores will still exist, and copyright will exist as well, “protecting” whatever works were previously covered by copyright and restricting people’s access to them as it always has.

As Scott wrote at the very beginning, Google’s agreement is to digitize the out of copyright holdings, that is, books that were published so long ago that their copyright protection has expired.

Any way this will be good enough for the people and students who are realy fond of reading good and informative books but are unable to buy one due to financial crises.
Thanks to google

I’ll leave as an exercise the contemplation of whether anyone still buys printed copies of the plays of William Shakespeare, the U.S. Constitution, Moby Dick, etc. …

Google will digitally scan and make searchable virtually the entire collection of the U-M library. A person looking for information will gain the extraordinary capability to use Google to locate and read the full text of printed works that are out of copyright. For works in copyright, a search will point the way to the existence of relevant volumes by returning a snippet of text, along with information that identifies publishers or libraries where the work can be found.

(For reference, Project Gutenberg has about 13,000 books.)

Malcolm