Hi listers,
Here is a second letter from google about the accessibility of their scanned matterial. I'm not so happy about the answer, but I don't see much more I can do.

-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: Google Print Support [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Verzonden: donderdag 23 december 2004 1:01
Aan: severine
Onderwerp: Re: [#18456762] When Will the text be accessible?


Hello Severine,

Thank you for your response.

Unfortunately we cannot provide a time frame for when Google Print will be
more readily available to those who are visually impaired. As this is
still a young program, we are working as hard as we can to make Google
Print universally accessible. 

Additionally, while we cannot get into any details about the digital
formats that we use, we hope to provide an appropriate solution to this
issue. With regard to how books will be offered, at this time we intend to
offer the full text for titles that are in the public domain. Books that
are still in copyright will show up in our search results, but users will
only be able to view very small text snippets and/or bibliographic
information until we get permission from the publisher to show full page
views. For more descriptions of how Google is treating these materials,
please visit http://print.google.com/library . 

Sincerely,

The Google Team



Original Message Follows:
------------------------
From: "severine" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: When Will the text be accessible?
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 09:39:21 +0100

Dear Google-print representative,
I thank you very much for your response.
[...]
At this time, Google Print content excerpt pages may not be compatible

HOW long do you expect that "this time" will last?
WHAT means "may not be accessible"? in which format are the exerpt? If
they are images in tiff or jpeg format, for instance, VI people can run an
OCR on those files and access that way. Or is that also impossible?
What is your policy as far as accessing a whole book is concerned? Will it
be possible to borrow a book that way or to buy it?
Good luck with your project, and please don't forget to keep me informed
when books will be more accessible.
                        Merry Christmas to you,
                        Séverine Renard


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