HarperCollins to Digitize 20,000 Books   - 1,712 Views,

Publisher HarperCollins has announced plans to digitize at least 20,000 books in their catalogue. Interestingly, they claim that the initiative, which they acknowledge will cost millions of dollars (an exact budget has not yet been set) is an effort to protect their copyrights and those of their authors in the face of Google and other search engines scanning in their own copies of the books.

While HarperCollins has invited proposals from vendors for the digitizing project, “We just don’t know how many millions this will be and we won’t know that until we get responses,” admitted HarperCollins group publishers president, Brian Murray.

Nor are they able to explain exactly how this is going to protect the copyrights for themselves or their authors. It would seem that their theory is that if they scan the books first, others such as Google won’t bother, opting instead to avail themselves of the HarperCollins digital inventory.

Explained Murray, “If publishers don’t do this, there are going to be too many digital copies of books out there.”

Added HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman, “This is not antagonistic in any way or vindictive. We want to be collaborative. But as a publisher we have to take charge of our lives.”

Ah, good plan.

Um..what exactly is that plan?