Digitize all Canadian books?
Via IP and mentioned on BoingBoing, law prof Michael Geist uses his Toronto Star Law Bytes column to propose that Canada create a national digital library:
The library, which would be fully accessible online, would contain a digitally scanned copy of every book, government report, and legal decision ever published in Canada…
While digitally scanning more than 10 million Canadian books and documents is a daunting task, the Google project illustrates that it is financially feasible. Reports suggest that it will cost Google approximately $10 to scan each book.
Assuming similar costs for a Canadian project and a five-year timeline, the $20 million annual price tag represents a fraction of the total governmental commitment toward Canadian culture and Internet development.
In fact, the most significant barriers to a national digital library do not arise from fiscal challenges but rather from two potential copyright reforms currently winding their way through the system.