As Joe Atzberger points out in his reply to the original message on
the Koha list, if it is forbidden to use the book cover images, it
doesn't make sense that the examples at
http://code.google.com/apis/books/docs/dynamic-links.html#style-guide clearly show the use of a book cover image, and that the API includes
a thumbnail_url field.
Article 2.10 of the terms of service for the Google Books Search APIs
( http://code.google.com/apis/books/terms.html) specifies some
limitations on the use of the search results from the API -
specifically that no proprietary rights are transferred.
I read this as saying that I wouldn't be allowed to download the image
and resell it as part of another service. So a service like
LibraryThing wouldn't be allowed to harvest cover images in bulk from
Google Book Search. That makes sense to me.
But would you please confirm that it is an allowable use of the Google
Book Search API to use the returned thumbnail_url field as the value
of a src attribute in an IMG tag - for example, for use in a library
catalog? This seems to be at the heart of what the Google Book Search
API is for. Some clarity on this (to dispell the fear, uncertainty,
and doubt that has spread through the library community in the last
week or two) would certainly be appreciated.
Thanks for your message. I'm sorry to hear about the confusion that
you've experienced around this issue. In brief, the Terms of Service
for the API (http://code.google.com/apis/books/terms.html) say that
you should use the APIs and any content made available through the
APIs primarily for the purpose of linking to Google Book Search. This
includes use of cover images.
It is completely acceptable to show a cover image next to a "Preview
on Google Book Search" link (using JavaScript methods as described in
the documentation: http://code.google.com/apis/books/docs/dynamic-links.html ) -- so long as you are not scraping, harvesting, copying, storing, or
redistributing the cover images or any other content obtained through
the APIs, and so long as you use this content for purposes of linking
to Google Book Search.
I hope that this information is helpful to you. Thanks again for your
interest in Google Book Search, and please let me know if you have any
further questions about using our API.
> As Joe Atzberger points out in his reply to the original message on
> the Koha list, if it is forbidden to use the book cover images, it
> doesn't make sense that the examples athttp://code.google.com/apis/books/docs/dynamic-links.html#style-guide > clearly show the use of a book cover image, and that the API includes
> a thumbnail_url field.
> Article 2.10 of the terms of service for the Google Books Search APIs
> (http://code.google.com/apis/books/terms.html) specifies some
> limitations on the use of the search results from the API -
> specifically that no proprietary rights are transferred.
> I read this as saying that I wouldn't be allowed to download the image
> and resell it as part of another service. So a service like
> LibraryThing wouldn't be allowed to harvest cover images in bulk from
> Google Book Search. That makes sense to me.
> But would you please confirm that it is an allowable use of the Google
> Book Search API to use the returned thumbnail_url field as the value
> of a src attribute in an IMG tag - for example, for use in a library
> catalog? This seems to be at the heart of what the Google Book Search
> API is for. Some clarity on this (to dispell the fear, uncertainty,
> and doubt that has spread through the library community in the last
> week or two) would certainly be appreciated.
> Thanks for your message. I'm sorry to hear about the confusion that
> you've experienced around this issue. In brief, the Terms of Service
> for the API (http://code.google.com/apis/books/terms.html) say that
> you should use the APIs and any content made available through the
> APIs primarily for the purpose of linking to Google Book Search. This
> includes use of cover images.
> It is completely acceptable to show a cover image next to a "Preview
> on Google Book Search" link (using JavaScript methods as described in
> the documentation:http://code.google.com/apis/books/docs/dynamic-links.html > ) -- so long as you are not scraping, harvesting, copying, storing, or
> redistributing the cover images or any other content obtained through
> the APIs, and so long as you use this content for purposes of linking
> to Google Book Search.
> I hope that this information is helpful to you. Thanks again for your
> interest in Google Book Search, and please let me know if you have any
> further questions about using our API.
> > Similarly, on the Koha developer's list, a recent discussion came up
> > about the allowed use of the book cover images from Google Book
> > Search.
> > As Joe Atzberger points out in his reply to the original message on
> > the Koha list, if it is forbidden to use the book cover images, it
> > doesn't make sense that the examples athttp://code.google.com/apis/books/docs/dynamic-links.html#style-guide > > clearly show the use of a book cover image, and that the API includes
> > a thumbnail_url field.
> > Article 2.10 of the terms of service for the Google Books Search APIs
> > (http://code.google.com/apis/books/terms.html) specifies some
> > limitations on the use of the search results from the API -
> > specifically that no proprietary rights are transferred.
> > I read this as saying that I wouldn't be allowed to download the image
> > and resell it as part of another service. So a service like
> > LibraryThing wouldn't be allowed to harvest cover images in bulk from
> > Google Book Search. That makes sense to me.
> > But would you please confirm that it is an allowable use of the Google
> > Book Search API to use the returned thumbnail_url field as the value
> > of a src attribute in an IMG tag - for example, for use in a library
> > catalog? This seems to be at the heart of what the Google Book Search
> > API is for. Some clarity on this (to dispell the fear, uncertainty,
> > and doubt that has spread through the library community in the last
> > week or two) would certainly be appreciated.
