Google announced a settlement in their lawsuit with the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers.

Today we’re delighted to announce that we’ve settled that lawsuit and will be working closely with these industry partners to bring even more of the world’s books online. Together we’ll accomplish far more than any of us could have individually, to the enduring benefit of authors, publishers, researchers and readers alike.

From the Chronicle of Higher Education:

If approved by a judge, the accord would allow users of Google Book Search in the United States to see the full texts of books they can read only in snippets now. The deal would also have the potential to put millions more out-of-print or hard-to-find titles within the reach of readers and researchers. Institutions would be able to buy subscriptions so that their students and faculty members could have full access to complete texts. All public libraries in the United States would be given free portals for their patrons. (The settlement does not apply to the use of Google Book Search outside the United States.)

I’ve been experimenting a little with Google Documents (http://docs.google.com) in the past few weeks. This morning I created a presentation on Title 17 Section 108 for a lunch conversation about Copyright and Libraries, specifically focused on Boston University’s libraries beginning efforts to plan for a digitization project. I was generally pleased with the ease of creating the document. It isn’t as robust as MS PowerPoint, but it certainly met my needs.

It was possible to upload a PowerPoint presentation as a starting point. I was surprised, however, that I couldn’t download to a PowerPoint file, nor could I print it. With documents and spreadsheets, it is possible to export to a MS Office file. I didn’t try it, but a feature I really like is the ability to interact through chat with those who might be viewing the presentation online.

I was able to publish the document as well. This provides a URL (on Google) that is discoverable by the public. And this post is being written using Google Documents as the editor. In configuring options, I’m able to specify my blog for posting…