Some recent writings and key quotes in defense of the Google Books settlement:
Forbes–In Defense of Google Books:
By scanning the books, Google took us to a real-world discussion of how to get these volumes into the digital world in some way that we can live with. It is questionable whether we would have gotten there without such a bold move.
Slate–Save the Google Book Search Deal:
The critics’ premise is that the monopoly that the settlement creates is invaluable—and that without the settlement, we can create a competitive market for putting out-of-print books online. But I fear that’s a fantasy that misrepresents the options.
Wired–A Writer’s Plea: Figure Out How to Preserve Google Books:
I’m also working on a book about the history of (what we now call) green technology… And without Google Books, I’m not sure it would have been possible to write it. At the very least, my contribution to the book world would have been smaller and shallower.
The searchability, accessibility and breadth of the Google Books collection do not just portend some future best-ever digital library. It’s already the best resource for research that exists.
And a full round-up of filings in the Google Books case:
The Google Books Settlement: Who Is Filing And What Are They Saying? (PDF)
Feral Librarian 
Have you seen the new google books features? It looks like the search functionality is way down. What a bummer. I used to be able to collect my books into a library, search for a phrase, and get results – no longer.
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I haven’t explored the new interface yet, but the FAQ indicates you can search within your own library. I’ll have to play around with it to see how it works. Thanks for the heads up.
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