I think the great challenge to Digital Public LIbrary of America is those books which are in copyright. He kept sounding optimistic about it, but it was very vague exactly *how* they'd get around it. To me it seems like getting around gravity.
Ultimately, virtually any book of recent date people are widely interested in is owned by a publisher. And who will convince the publisher of each individual book to donate it to the library, and for what gain?
So long as there is even a tiny potential that it may earn anything, that'll be a very uphill battle, to say the least. To illustrate that, see all the lovely photo art sites on the web... 99% of which have *way* too small images. You ask why, and they all say: "so my pictures won't get stolen". This includes most of those who never sold even one yet. Almost everybody holds on to copyright like it was their firstborn.
Ultimately, virtually any book of recent date people are widely interested in is owned by a publisher. And who will convince the publisher of each individual book to donate it to the library, and for what gain?
So long as there is even a tiny potential that it may earn anything, that'll be a very uphill battle, to say the least. To illustrate that, see all the lovely photo art sites on the web... 99% of which have *way* too small images. You ask why, and they all say: "so my pictures won't get stolen". This includes most of those who never sold even one yet.
Almost everybody holds on to copyright like it was their firstborn.