Band Of Publishers Battle Online By Going Online
Band Of Publishers Battle Online By Going Online
December 8, 2006: In a move that competes with Google, Australian education publishers have combined resources and joined together for a new digital content service that encourages the use of copyright material.
The online content aggregator service is aimed at universities, starting with the MBA market. It’s the work of five educational publishers who have developed the service with support from the Australian Publishers Association, Australian Copyright Management Company and Copyright Agency Limited.
With competition from Google standing in the way, the Chief Executive for the Australian Publishers Association, Maree McCaskill, believes the publishing industry needs to encourage the use of copyright material in the digital environment.
“This service may be the answer,” says McCaskill. “It showcases flexible and convenient online access to quality material while ensuring copyright and compliant use.”
The service comes as a number of publishers in Europe are banding together to fight Google over copyright issues. With Google on a controversial mission to scan the world’s libraries, many publishers are gearing up to battle the search giant and prevent their works from being readily available online.
Palgrave Macmillan, Pearson Education, John Wiley, McGraw-Hill and Thomson will pool their resources to provide content for the online service. Initially set up as a 12 month trial, the service will provide MBA lecturers and staff instant access to a variety of materials including books, journal and newspaper articles.
The service is expected to grow extensively after its initial stages with more then 40 publishers to soon be providing content. Implementation is scheduled to take place in April 2007.