Questia Refuses To Go Away

stevenj writes “Questia, the for-profit purveyor of electronic books and articles, is on the rebound from a low point a few years ago when its payroll dipped from 300 to 24 employees. It currently has 70 employees. But getting to this point hasn’t been easy, and the road ahead could get crowded with powerhouses like Google and Yahoo also putting books online. This article from the Houston Chronicle provides an update on how Questia is doing in its effort to, as they say, “supplement not replace libraries.” Read more at:
chron.com“

December 28, 2005 by Uncategorized 8

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8 Responses

  1. lijemo says:
    December 28, 2005 at 8:44 pm

    Google is NOT putting copyrighted works online…

    get crowded with powerhouses like Google and Yahoo also putting books online.

    Google is NOT putting copywritten textbooks online (and most textbooks are recent enough to be still under copyright!). They are making three inch-high snippets from each book available based on your keyword search. I presume Yahoo has a similar set-up, though I haven’t investigated, so I could be wrong.

    Why do people persist in stating or implying that Google’s scanning project means that the copywritten books it scans are going to be fully accesible online? I just don’t get it.

    Reply
  2. Walt says:
    December 28, 2005 at 10:22 pm

    Geez, they’re still around?
    So now Questia says it’s not attempting to compete with libraries–a far cry from its marketing campaign back when it was going to be a sure-fire powerhouse and inevitable success!

    Since, far as I can see, the only plausible reason for anyone (or any school, sigh) to pay for Questia is because they want to avoid the library, the new sales pitch rings a little hollow.

    And, of course, the reason Questia didn’t attain huge size is marketing failure, they now say–not that they were marketing a solution for which there was no apparent problem.

    As for the question in the other comment: Because it suits people’s own motives to continue to provide disinformation about Google Book Search. With publishers and the Writers Guild, that’s transparent. And because it works: Most people are unaware of what Google is saying and doing here, and will probably continue to be so…and that apparently includes most journalists. After all, research is hard! (Not that this particular research would be hard at all, but, you know…)

    Reply
  3. Brian G. says:
    December 29, 2005 at 4:40 am

    Re:Geez, they’re still around?

    Since, far as I can see, the only plausible reason for anyone (or any school, sigh) to pay for Questia is because they want to avoid the library, the new sales pitch rings a little hollow.

    If that is the case, why do so many libraries subscribe to such a service and provide it to their patrons?

    Reply
  4. Walt says:
    December 29, 2005 at 7:18 am

    Re:Geez, they’re still around?
    Brian, From what the article says, about 300 high schools (not necessarily high school libraries) subscribe (or are on the books as subscribers). That’s not really very many; I’d wonder how many of them don’t have school libraries (since I’m a Californian), a different problem.

    I don’t think Questia claimed that any public libraries were subscribers. High school libraries may be in special circumstances; I may have over-spoken in that case. Add “or because library collections are truly inadequate.”

    Reply
  5. Brian G. says:
    December 29, 2005 at 8:25 am

    Re:Geez, they’re still around?
    I have heard academic librarians talking about adding this service before, but I do not know how much it has penetrated the academic library market.

    Reply
  6. Anonymous Patron says:
    December 29, 2005 at 12:44 pm

    Re:Geez, they’re still around?
    We are living in terror of getting it forced upon us for political reasons. I really hope it never happens.

    Reply
  7. Brian G. says:
    December 30, 2005 at 8:42 am

    Re:Geez, they’re still around?
    What?

    Reply
  8. Anonymous Patron says:
    December 31, 2005 at 5:40 am

    Re:Geez, they’re still around?
    Apparently some of our higher-ups are friends with their higher-ups and want us to have it. *shudder*

    Reply

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