Klaus Graf points out some potential damage from the death of Microsoft Live Search Books:
...If MSN has digitized Public Domain content in cooperation with the Open Content Alliance download links to the Internet Archive (IA) were given in MSN Live Search Books. After the end of Live Search the books are still downloadable at the IA but there will be no full text search.
There were no download links for the proprietary MSN Public Domain content especially the Cornell library cooperation. If Cornell doesn't make [these] books available this content will disappear next week. It is possible to circumvent the MSN digital rights management with simple means. I would like to recommend to do so and to save as many books as possible for the Public Domain.
Update: 75,000 public domain books from Cornell has been scanned by MSN. Cornell is aware of the problem (personal mail from Peter Hirtle). I did a quick search for "archival" in Live Search Books and checked the first 100 matches. 10 books are without download link and from Cornell. This include two volumes from the "Calendar of State Papers" from the UK Public Record Office. A lot of this series was digitized by MSN, most volumes in cooperation with Cornell.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
