Yahoo venturing into online library

Yahoo venturing into online library

First, it was Google who started it. Then it was again Google who stopped it. And now it is Yahoo's turn to start it all over again. Yes, we are talking of the online library facility. And the latest address regarding this facility is the opencontentalliance.org website. At least book lovers are happy with this news although it does not bother the average man on the street much.

Let's get into the news first. Yahoo in association with University of Toronto, University of California, Hewlett Packard and Adobe Systems has launched the second online library. Its partners in this venture also include the National Archives of England, the European Archive, the Internet Archive, Prelinger Archives and O'Reilly Media. HP is doing the scanning part while the Universities and archives are supplying the books that will be scanned.

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Google first started the online library in 2004 and had access to the archives of the University of Michigan, University of Harvard and the Oxford University. But soon it got entangled in copyright laws and ultimately had to abandon the plan. Now Yahoo and its associates have taken a more measured step in that direction. They are not going for copyrighted materials as was the case with Google. Instead, they are making those books available in their website which are either not available in the market that is to say, which are “out-of- print” or those whose copyrights have expired. By doing this Yahoo is making sure that they are not infringing any of the laws.

The idea behind this initiative is no doubt very good. But what remains to be seen is how long this arrangement can continue, because by the very look of it, it appears temporary in nature. Before long Yahoo has to explore the copyrighted field, otherwise it would not be able to draw enough people. And the problem might just start there. Or, if it is ready to pull in big money or attract enough advertisements then there might not be anything to worry about also.