Google Victory Could Mean Textbook Savings - Affordable Schools Online

"Google won a big victory last month in its eight-year court battle, giving the nation’s librarians a reason to applaud. Google won the right to scan more millions of books and make excerpts available online through its Google Books and Google Scholar databases. The Authors Guild, an advocacy group for writers and publishers, had sued, arguing that Google was violating copyrights and profiting from others’ work ... For students, this means that they could use Google to conduct more thorough research. Moreover, in cases where large portions of an assigned text are available online, students may even be able to sidestep expensive textbook purchases altogether.

The decision, if it survives an expected appeal, would let Google continue expanding the library, which it said helps readers find books they might not otherwise locate ..."