Bob La Follette would be proud. In the spirit of the Wisconsin idea, UW-Madison has forged a partnership with Google that will vastly expand the capacity to sift and winnow beyond university confines.
In digitally archiving hundreds of thousands of historical documents—including text, images and maps—UW-Madison will extend its resources to the Wisconsin and international public.
Though previous Google mergers have raised copyright infringement concerns, UW-Madison plans to first digitize library collections without copyright restrictions.
Digitization will not impinge on the market for copyright-protected documents, since links to such texts will include only brief summaries and information on how to locate or borrow hard copies.
Moreover, publishers or authors who object to having their documents digitized will remain exempt, putting the legal impetus to prevent digitization on those who hold claim to intellectual property on the shelves of UW-Madison libraries.
In forging the partnership, Google and UW-Madison offer extraordinary educational opportunities to the public. Whereas borrowing UW-Madison documents was previously restricted to university faculty, students and paid members, the benefits will now extend to the entire public.
