PARIS (Reuters) - France’s national library has raised a “war cry” over plans by Google to put books from some of the world’s great libraries on the Internet and wants to ensure the project does not lead a domination of American ideas…
California-based Google Inc. said last December it would scan millions of books and periodicals into its popular search engine over the next few years. Its partners in the project are Harvard University, Stanford University, Oxford University, the University of Michigan and the New York Public Library…
“Here we find a risk of crushing domination by America in defining the idea that future generations have of the world,” he wrote, urging the EU to act fast.
He pushed his campaign forward this week by announcing the national library would make editions of 22 French periodicals and newspapers dating back to the 19th century available on the Internet.
Exccusez moi! I’m sorry we didn’t consult with the French first before making some progress or inventing some new words. Quell faux pas! Let’s start by scanning the 3 page pamphlet French War Heroes…
Last gasps of a dying civilization. I can hardly imagine the Americans putting up such a hew and cry if the Chinese were to say post a similar selection of books. I think this is fantastic. Let’s see who is in favor of progress? Millions of books being made available to readers all over the world for free or trying to stop such an effort because it indirectly promotes English over French. I seriously doubt that anyone will speak French in another 50 years. What’s the point?
I thought that was the point of the Prime Directive–to avoid interference with less-advanced cultures…?
I wonder if they have specific ideas in mind that France needs to keep out, or is it just any idea that is American that would be dangerous?
French philosophy and literature is already going to endure for as long as anyone has any taste. Not all of it, of course, but enough greats to ensure that someone, somewhere will be studying French.
If there’s ever a Chinese equivalent of this project, I bet it will be organized by Americans. (That’s what happened in the case of Tibetan and ancient Greek and Latin literature.)
[quote=“Shenme Niao”]California-based Google Inc. said last December it would scan millions of books and periodicals into its popular search engine over the next few years. Its partners in the project are Harvard University, Stanford University, Oxford University, the University of Michigan and the New York Public Library…
[/quote]
I don’t really think the French have anything to worry about. The last time I checked, Harvard and Oxford did have French books as well as English ones in their libraries. Michigan is noted for its superb foreign language collections.
Surely if they are worried, this is the correct response? Start putting their own books, newspapers, and magazines online.
I think this is a great idea, the more books the better. There are already a few sites with e-books (all the old classics etc.) but if google gets involved maybe more people will start using them more. I just wish they would come up with a decent portable e-book reader so that I don’t have to be tied to my computer
If anyone is interested in free e-books you can check out abacci.com/books/default.asp. A lot of the books here are formatted for msreader while others are just plain text files. They are affiliated with project gutenburg (another good site)
This is the most ridiculous load of BS I have heard come out of France in a while. They are in the middle of a huge project to put the entire Bibliotheque Nationale on line. Plus, there are plenty of websites with full French books on line. I don’t recall the last time someone accused them of nefariously spreading their culture by posting books in that manner.
Mais non! Ce n’est pas possible! C’est la culture francaise, alors c’est sacree! Blah blah blah!
Why don’t they just come out and blatantly say, “our culture is better than yours?” At least then, it would be an unwarranted opinion rather than a pathetic attempt to argue for a cultural freedom from American ideas just because someone seeks to publish books on line.
