• New York Times, Friday, October 9, 2009 2:37 PM

In a New York Times op-ed, Google co-founder Sergey Brin makes the case for his company's highly controversial Books project. "I often find that the past has valuable lessons for the future," he says in reference to the project's ability to search dated texts. He also alludes to "a vanishing number of libraries and used book stores," which he portrays as a problem for Google Books to solve rather than make worse.

Regarding the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, he says: "While we have had disagreements, we have a common goal -- to unlock the wisdom held in the enormous number of out-of-print books, while fairly compensating the rights holders." Of critical importance, he adds, "Rights holders can at any time set pricing and access rights for their works or withdraw them from Google Books altogether."

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