The Google Book Project is hot news right now in the library world and for many good reasons? I read a post somewhere, I can’t remember where now by someone claiming that the Google Book Project will replace libraries. Does this worry you at all? What advantages and disadvantages do you see to having an increase in number of books, especially those out of print and rare available for access online?

Here are a few of the advantages in my opinion:

1. For college and research libraries, this opens up access and makes it so that our patrons as well as the staff has access to a large amount of rarer and harder to find materials. This can only be beneficial.

2. It reduces interlibrary loan costs involved in requesting and sending hard to find materials to patrons.

3. It saves money for anyone who needs access to rare materials.

4. Many out of print books that were previously unknown to large numbers of people will be rediscovered.

Disadvantages:

1. Patrons may think that they can access all books in Google and will not ask librarians for help as much in regards to finding and accessing rarer books.

2. A loss in income to anyone who may be profiting from rare and out of print books being unavailable to the general public.

What other advantages and disadvantages to the Google Book Project do you see?