An article on Wired.com presents arguments both for and against Google’s plan to create digital copies of millions of books from the libraries of Stanford, Michigan, Harvard, and Oxford universities, as well as the New York Public Library. The controversial project, which has an expected completion date of 2015, involves the scanning of books both under copyright protection and in the public domain.

Opposing the project are publishers and librarians fearful of the long-term decrease in revenues and the industry precedent the project represents. Many of them claim that Google’s Print Library Project, as it is officially called, is an infringement of copyright law.

Google claims that the project is protected by “fair use” provisions that are a part of that same law. The search engine intends to establish restrictions that it hopes will prevent the unlawful use of books. “Under Google’s strictures, readers can see just five pages at a time and no more than 20% of an entire book through multiple searches,” reports The Associated Press.

The project, which was put on hold in August to give publishers a chance to submit lists of books they do not want distributed online, is set to resume Nov. 1.

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