Google and the Myth of Universal Knowledge

The announcement that Google would digitize the holdings of several major libraries sent shock waves through the book industry and academe. Google presented this digital repository as a first step toward a long-dreamed-of universal library, but skeptics quickly raised concerns about the potential for copyright infringement and unanticipated effects on the business of research and publishing. Jean-Noel Jeanneney, former president of France's Bibliotheque Nationale, here takes aim at what he sees as a far more troubling aspect of Google's Library Project: its potential to misrepresent - and even damage - the world's cultural heritage. Jeanneney argues here that Google's unsystematic digitization of books from a few partner libraries and its reliance on works written mostly in English constitute acts of selection that can only extend the dominance of American culture abroad. As a leading librarian, Jeanneney remains enthusiastic about the archival potential of the Web. But he argues that the short-term thinking characterized by Google's digital repository must be countered by long-term planning on the part of cultural and governmental institutions worldwide - a serious effort to create a truly comprehensive library, one based on the politics of inclusion and multiculturalism.