Are Rank-and-File Librarians Sitting on the Fence Over the Google Book Settlement?

According to a Publishers Weekly survey as reported by Norman Oder in the Library Journal, the answer is yes. 29% of librarians support the Google Book Settlement. 21.5% oppose it. 37% are unsure. On the publishing industry and Authors Guild lawsuit opposing the Settlement, 25% support the lawsuit against Google. Another 25% oppose it. 50% have no opinion.

Trepid Support for the Settlement. The 225 librarians were part of a larger survey population drawn primarily from the publishing industry. Publishers Weekly's Andrew Richard Albanese summarized the complete survey in Unsettled: The PW Survey on the Google Book Settlement. According to Albanese there is trepid support for the Settlement:

If there is good news for the architects of the deal, it is that net support for court approval outweighs opposition—overall, 41% of respondents supported approval of the settlement, while 23% opposed the deal. Just weeks before the September 4 deadline for opting out or objecting to the settlement, however, it is notable that more than a third (36%) remain unsure of or indifferent to the settlement. Publishers (52%) support the settlement in the greatest numbers, followed by authors (42%) and librarians (29%).

"Your take on the results of our survey may differ," writes Albanese, "our take is this: there is simply too much confusion and too little support for anyone to feel comfortable." More from Albanese:

For us, the survey highlights a fundamental question: for all the good and bad scenarios raised by the deal, was it ever reasonable to think that such a revolutionary, unprecedented pact, negotiated in secret over three years by people with loose claims of representation, concerning a wide range of stakeholders, both foreign and domestic, involving murky issues of copyright and the rapidly unfolding digital future, could be pushed through as a class action settlement within a period of months, in the teeth of a historic media industry transition?

Whether it is approved after its scheduled October 7 fairness hearing, delayed, sent back for modification or rejected outright, behind the Google Book Search Settlement, there is a visionary plan for books. And, yes, this deal could very likely do every remarkable thing its supporters say it will do. The bottom line, however, is that, when the parties sued over a copyright question, no one asked, or expected these litigants to come back with a sweeping plan to transform publishing. And in the sprint to sell this deal, one simply has to look at how the settlement is being sold to know that the parties still don't seem to grasp how significant a challenge that represents.

Hat tip to Digital Koans. [JH]