Bavarian books for Google Book Search

Johan Schloemann comments on the announcement that the Bavarian State Library (BSB) will be the first German library to participate in the Google Book Search project. This means another major non English-language library is joining the project, following the lead of the Spanish: "Between Bavaria and Catalonia the director of Paris' Bibliothèque Nationale, Jean-Noël Jeanneney, now stands isolated in his cultural battle against Google. For what will become of the 'dangerous cultural homogenisation' through Americanisation that the Frenchman warns of if in future we can simply download Old German studies from the 19th century, Asian rarities and virtually all non-copyrighted German literature, in addition to old Cervantes editions from Madrid? At any rate Paris, Rome, Warsaw, Copenhagen and Berlin are all blinking in astonishment at this bold step forwards by the staunchly traditional Bavaria."

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