There is a discussion with a Google programmer at:
http://librarygang.talis.com/2009/02/10/google-books-and-libraries/
The really interesting idea is for libraries to put out their catalogs in an agreed upon format that would make it easy for search engines, including Google to crawl. She says Google would be very interested in using that information to make sure if you found a book in Google book Search you could find out that a library held it.
OCLC provides a layer that does this now, but it is not necessary for OCLC to try to be a monopoly and corner the market by trying to say libraries can’t put out their catalogs in this format. The really valuable information in this case is item level data, what the library holds, not really the bib data. The bib data could just be a number like ISSN to connect cites from one place to another. I emailed Marshall Breeding who was on the call to ask if he had followed up and he said, indeed there is a DLF group that wants to agree on and promote a standard for this. This is a necessary move ahead for libraries, I really don’t think OCLC will be successful it they try to put a finger in the dike and hold back this kind or progress. WE need to keep forging ahead.
