Quote:
Originally Posted by GeoffR
That site scans books without the copyright holder's permission, it is up to the copyright holder to send a takedown notice. The authors are not being paid for any borrows. It is really just a pirate site dressed up as a library I think.
From the Authors Guild: An Update on Open Library |
Wikipedia's entry for the Open Library seems to be positive, or at least non-critical:
Open Library is an online project intended to create "one web page for every book ever published". Created by Aaron Swartz[4][5], Brewster Kahle,[6] Alexis Rossi[7], Anand Chitipothu[7], and Rebecca Malamud[7], Open Library is a project of the non-profit Internet Archive and has been funded in part by a grant from the California State Library and the Kahle/Austin Foundation.
Open Library
OpenLibrarypage.jpg
Open Library homepage in September 2011
Type of site
Digital library index
Available in
English
Revenue
donation
Website
openlibrary.org
Alexa rank
Positive decrease 16,427 (April 2014)[1]
Commercial
no
Registration
free
Launched
2006; 12 years ago
Current status
Active
Content license
data: public domain[2]
source code: AGPLv3[3]
It provides access to many public domain and out-of-print books, which can be read online.
However, I suppose that the editors (writers) are required to maintain a neutral position--like the writers for ordinary dictionaries--Random House, Merriam-Webster, _et al._ are required to.
I am not a "published author," but I can sympathize with authors. They've done a lot of hard, tedious work to produce a book, and even articles, essays, _et al._ They should be fully compensated for their works, skill, and talents, just as people in other occupations should be.