Kevin Kelly on future libraries: Scan This Book!

Kevin Kelly on future libraries: Scan This Book!: "Xeni Jardin: Snip from an article by Kevin Kelly from this weekend's New York Times Magazine: When Google announced in December 2004 that it would digitally scan the books of five major research libraries to make their contents searchable, the promise of a universal library was resurrected. Indeed, the explosive rise of the Web, going from nothing to everything in one decade, has encouraged us to believe in the impossible again. Might the long-heralded great library of all knowledge really be within our grasp? Brewster Kahle, an archivist overseeing another scanning project, says that the universal library is now within reach. 'This is our chance to one-up the Greeks!' he shouts. 'It is really possible with the technology of today, not tomorrow. We can provide all the works of humankind to all the people of the world. It will be an achievement remembered for all time, like putting a man on the moon.' And unlike the libraries of old, which were restricted to the elite, this library would be truly democratic, offering every book to every"