Google and the BnF

The BnF and Google are currently in negotiations about the digitization of the French collections, as announced in La Tribune today, and picked up by media outlets .

It seems that funding is a significant issue, "La seule numérisation des ouvrages de la IIIe République française coûterait par exemple, selon le directeur général adjoint de la BNF, entre 50 et 80 millions d'euros alors que la BNF ne disposerait que d'un budget annuel de numérisation d'environ 5 millions d'euros." (La Tribune)

Le Monde's article:
http://abonnes.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2009/08/18/la-bnf-negocie-avec-google-la-numerisation-de-son-patrimoine_1229430_3246.html

From former BnF President Jeanneney's tenure (and his book - Quand Google défie l'Europe : plaidoyer pour un sursaut. [Paris?] : Mille et une nuits, c2005. ZA4234 .G64 J43 2005 (English ed. Google and the myth of universal knowledge : a view from Europe, Univ. of Chicago Press, 2007. ZA4234 .G64 J4313 2007), to this announcement is a big step.

The current BnF President, Bruno Racine and his director of collections Denis Bruckmann, visited Stanford this spring, and they obviously have a different view of the situation.