The American Library Association (ALA), the Association of College and Research Libraries, and the Association of Research Libraries have reiterated their basic support for the proposed Google Books settlement, while also repeating concerns that the settlement live up to its promises in balancing market pricing and broad access when selling institutional subscriptions. (They note that “The likely demand among academic libraries for an institutional subscription is high.”)
In a letter to the Department of Justice’s anti-trust division–following meetings with them as part of their investigation–the associations write “we believe that the Division itself should take a proactive role in the implementation of the settlement…. The Division should treat the settlement, if approved, as a consent decree to an antitrust action it brought. It should monitor the parties’ compliance with the settlement’s provisions as it would monitor the conduct of parties under an antitrust consent decree, and it should request the court to take action when it concludes that the parties have not met their obligations under the settlement.”
They also suggest that DOJ ask “the court to review any refusal by the Registry to license copyrights on books on the same terms available to Google. Finally, if necessary, the Division should ask the court to review the procedures by which the Registry selects members to its board of directors, and to evaluate whether the Registry properly considers the interest of all rightsholders in its decision-making.”
Release and letter