Now this sounds fascinating. Both in its own right and it what it may portend for how the relationship between learning and institutions is likely to evolve. One more example
of the resources becoming available to anyone who has the motivation to learn. One thing that suggests to me is a potential role for guides to help others who want to navigate what will be a fairly messy and complex environment over the near term.
Battelle’s scoop on Google’s University library project. Mark Frauenfelder:
John Battelle has the scoop on Google’s “Project Ocean.” From an email he received: “Harvard University is embarking on a collaboration with Google that could harness Google’s search technology to provide to both the Harvard community and the larger public a revolutionary new information location tool to find materials available in libraries. In the coming months, Google will collaborate with Harvard’s libraries on a pilot project to digitize a substantial number of the 15 million volumes held in the University’s extensive library system. Google will provide online access to the full text of those works that are in
the public domain. In related agreements, Google will launch similar projects with Oxford, Stanford, the University of Michigan, and the New York Public Library.”
UPDATE: Edward Vielmetti offers some more information on Michigan’s participation in this project