How Will Google Print Library Project Affect the Use of Books?

Abstract

GOOGLE作為一個商業巨人進入了圖書館領域，於2004年12月宣佈了它的圖書館計劃，要將數百萬冊圖書館的藏書數字化後存入它的數據庫，供公眾網上查詢使用。這一計劃引起了各界的廣泛討論。本文著重從以下三個方面，參與對這一題目的討論：(1)從對傳統印刷書籍應用的分析，探討GOOGLE圖書館計劃是否可能明顯改變對這些書籍的應用；(2)從分析存在於網上搜索中的問題和用戶的搜索行為，探討GOOGLE圖書館計劃是否將為用戶提供更好的搜索方法和準確的查詢結果；(3)最後，本文探討了當商業公司在提供自由信息和金錢效益發生衝突時所具有的局限性。

Since its announcement in December 2004, Google Print Library Project has attracted many reactions--optimistic and pessimistic. Google as a corporation enters the library domain by digitizing millions of library books and providing them online. Many questions have been raised from various aspects since. The current essay aims to join and enrich the discussion by looking through three issues: (1) based on the analysis of the usage of print collections in libraries to question how much this million-dollar Project will change the use of the scanned books; (2) by looking at the problems in searching method, ranking of retrievals and users’ search behavior on the Web to examine how the Project will provide better search results to users; and (3) how it might shape the Project when a corporation’s provision of free information conflicts with profit pressures.