Now Jim will probably gloat here that he correctly predicted a quick end to my self-imposed moratorium on Google Library Print blogging, but I maintain this post doesn't count because I'm merely providing a link. Business Week Online via TechNewsWorld reports that Google currently is focusing its scanning efforts on out-of-print or public domain books:

"We are not announcing a policy change," says Susan Wojcicki, Google's vice-president of product management. "We are communicating something that we had as a policy in the past, which we didn't communicate widely enough."

Google still plans to scan titles from libraries that are both in print and under copyright protection at some later date. But it says it will begin by scanning older books -- typically out of print or in the public domain -- at the universities, such as those housed in Michigan's Buhr Remote Shelving facility.

The reason for focusing on public-domain and out-of-print books is simple, says Wojcicki. "They're the most inaccessible, and it's harder for our users to get access to that material."