"I just think--I know we have votes--but this is a major step forward for literacy and for the culture."
"The future of literacy does, I think, indeed rely a great deal on how we get right digitizing written material."
"We worked so hard to try and come up with a solution. And we failed. We failed."
"When I look at the book registry proposal it is like ASCAP and BMI for books, except it is not exclusive."
"I remember back a number of years ago trying to get ahead of this program legislatively, and we just utterly failed."
"I think Mr. Watt is right. We really at this point don't have a role to play, but this has been a useful hearing in outlining what the issues are."
"It seemed to me the fact that potentially a majority of the written works in this country are unavailable to the culture is a problem."
"I think it is a smart approach and addresses a necessary topic."
"In some parts of America, you can't do that. It is feed the kids, or donate; and the kids are going to get fed first."
"This system would be cheap at the price for the taxpayers, if it came to that."
"I really think in many ways what has happened in California is more of a political problem than an economic problem."