Legal Research

Google and Espresso: Returning to Print

By Simon Fodden

Google today announced its partnership with On Demand Books, developers of the Espresso Book Machine, which can “perfect bind” a copy of a book printed on an attached copier in about three minutes, at a cost of one cent per page. (The press release [PDF] from On Demand Books is somewhat more detailed.)

This video shows the machine in action:

Google’s role in this is as a supplier of electronic copies of texts in the public domain. It would seem that the actual purchase of an “Espresso” book will depend upon the availability of the machine at a bookstore or other vendor in the customer’s area. According to the On Demand Books site, the following are actual or planned locations in Canada:

The University of Alberta Bookstore
Espresso Books
9012 Hub Mall
Edmonton, AB

McMaster Innovation Press / Titles On Demand
McMaster University Bookstore
Hamilton, ON

McGill University Library
McLennan Library Building
3459 McTavish Street
Montreal, QC

The University of Waterloo Bookstore
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, ON

Books Inn Inc. / Lightning Demand Press (coming winter 2009)
144 Newcastle Boulevard
Miramichi, NB

Oscar’s Art Bookstore (coming 2010)
1533 Broadway West
Vancouver, BC

I’d recommend that Slaw get one, if the price weren’t around $100,000, putting it somewhat beyond our budget.

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on September 17, 2009 (boomark / email).