Libraries Shun Deals to Place Books on Web
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Several major research libraries have rebuffed offers from Google and Microsoft to scan their books, instead signing on with a nonprofit effort.
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The Internet search company Google plans to put millions of library books online and make them searchable. This week, Google announced a project with the New York Public Library and the libraries of four universities.
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Amazon.com may not offer free delivery on books in France, the high court in Versailles has ruled.The action, brought in January 2004 by the French Booksellers&#39; Union (Syndicat de la librairie fran&#231;aise), accused Amazon of offering illegal discounts on books -- and even of selling some books below cost.The court gave Amazon 10 days to start charging for the delivery of books, which should at least allow the company to maintain the offer through the end-of-year gift-giving season. After that, it must pay a fine of &#8364;1,000 ($1,470) per day that it continues to offer free delivery. It must also pay &#8364;100,000 in compensation to the booksellers&#39; union.Retail prices, particularly of books, are tightly regulated in France.Using &quot;loss leaders,&quot; or selling products below cost to attract customers, is illegal. Other restrictions apply to books -- retailers must not offer discounts of more than 5 percent on the publisher&#39;s recommended price. Many independent booksellers choose to offer this discount in the form of a loyalty bonus based on previous purchases. Larger booksellers simply slash the sticker price of books.But the free delivery offered by Amazon exceeded the legal limit in the case of cheaper books, the union charged.The union said it was pleased with the court&#39;s ruling, which would help protect vulnerable small bookshops from predatory pricing practices.Amazon.com did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Earlier this year, the union won a similar legal victory against Alapage.com, an online bookseller with operations in France, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The appeals court ruled that Alapage must pay a fine of &#8364;50,000 for illegal pricing practices including the offer of free delivery.It&#39;s not been a good month for U.S. e-commerce sites doing business in France: Last week,&#160;the French auction regulator sued eBay France for breaching rules on the conduct of auctions. The regulator said that eBay&#39;s failure to comply exposed consumers to the risk of fraud. In its defense, eBay France maintained that it is not an auctioneer and that it has &quot;invented another way of buying and selling&quot; not covered by the rules.
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If you want to hit the books online - you can point your Internet browser to hit the online search engine Google. The site is inviting publishers to include entire books in its index.
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Put off by restrictions Google and Microsoft want to place on new digital collections, several major libraries are instead signing on with a group that aims to make the materials broadly available.
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Another book publisher makes inroads toward the digital side of content.
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Google has announced a long-term project to put 15 million books from seven of the world&#39;s top libraries online. The libraries of Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan, the New York Public Library
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Book collections from five of the world&#39;s top libraries are to be made available on the internet by Google. The Oxford University library, the New York Public Library and three big US university libraries
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Students take note - endless journeys to the library could become a thing of the past thanks to a new multimillion-pound scheme to make classic texts available at the click of a mouse.
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Business & money: Extension to Reading 'is in the balance' as consultant says scheme would be waste of time
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Deal masks interest in controversial digital distribution patents?
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Live Search Books rivals Google Book Search, but limits selection.
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The new feature will direct users to both paid and free digital content on publishersÂ Web sites, but will not directly generate revenue for Google.
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Books have been a bit of the orphan in the digital world. Music has the iPod. Video has YouTube. Books have, well, Amazon.com, where you can buy them printed on paper.
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Book publishers are slowly warming up to the idea of putting their content online, with two companies announcing separate plans to offer web-based methods to search through their catalogs.
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ANN ARBOR, Mich.  - When you walk through the doors of Borders' new concept store, the place feels familiar. As with any big-box bookstore, you'll find a coffee shop over here and some strategically placed leather chairs over there. And, of course, lots of books. But follow the table of books snaking off to the right, and you'll come face-to-face with Borders' newest retail strategy: a digital center where you can download music or books, burn CDs, research family histories, print pictures and order leather-bound books crammed with family photos - with help from clerks who know how to do those sorts of things and won't embarrass you if you don't.
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Stop reading all that 'clickwrap' fine print! A browser bot will accept or reject agreements on your terms. By Mark D. Rasch from Wired magazine.