Google’s mission to put all “the books of the world” on the web is rapidly dividing the academic community. As the debate comes to a crossroads on Oct. 7 — when Justice Denny Chin must decide to either hear oral arguments for a pending class action or dismiss the settlement — the Cornell Library is trying to straddle a rapidly vanishing middle ground.

University Librarian Anne Kenney stated in a letter to the court, dated Sept 2, that despite reservations, the Library supported the deal as providing an “inestimable … potential benefit to research.”

Open access — the free availability and use of library materials online — took another step forward this month when the Cornell University Library dropped restrictions on the reproduction of public domain items from its collections.

The Library no longer requires users to secure permission or pay any accompanying permissions fees to reproduce or publish material from its digital collections. This announcement, which comes amidst plans by the Cornell Library Board to establish a fund to support open access publishing, has been eagerly received by many in the online community.

According to a press statement, “the Library, as the producer of digital reproductions made from its collections, has in the past licensed the use of those reproductions.”