Prudence S. Adler
ARL Associate Executive Director

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Library Association (ALA), the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) and the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) today submitted a supplemental filing with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York overseeing the proposed Google Book Search settlement to address developments that have occurred since the groups submitted their filing on May 4.

While the library associations’ position has not changed since their initial filing, the groups believe that recent activity, such as an amended agreement reached between Google and the University of Michigan, the University of Texas-Austin and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Google’s recent public statement regarding privacy, and the library associations’ communication with the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) should be brought to the court’s attention.  In their supplemental filing, the library associations call upon the court to address concerns with pricing review, to direct Google to provide more detail on privacy issues, and to broaden representation on the Books Rights Registry.

Both of the filings emphasize that vigorous oversight by the court is needed to ensure the proposed settlement reached among Google, the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers does not erode core library values, such as equity of access to information, patron privacy and intellectual freedom.

Supplemental Library Association Comments on the Proposed Settlement