Surrounded by the 13 million books in the French National Library,Jean-No(?)l Jeanneney has good reason to feel safe from the frequentincursions of American popular culture and technology intocontemporary French life.Indeed,for many French,the vast library overwhich he presides is a reassuring symbol of the durability of Frenchliterature and thought.Yet Jeanneney,who has headed the library since 2002,is not one tolower his guard.And he was immediately alarmed in December when heread that Google planned to scan 15 million English-language books andmake them available as digital files on the Web.In his view,rather thandemocratizing knowledge,Google’s move would further strengthenAmerican power to set a global cultural agenda. Surrounded by the 13 million books in the French National Library, Jean-No (?) L Jeanneney has good reason to feel safe from the frequent incursions of American popular culture and technology intocontemporary French life .deed, for many French, the vast library overwhich he presides is a reassuring symbol of the durability of French literature and thought. Yet Jeanneney, who has headed the library since 2002, is not one tolower his guard. And he was immediately alarmed in December when heread that Google is planned to scan 15 million English-language books andmake them available as digital files on the Web. his view, rather thandemocratizing knowledge, Google’s move would further strengthAmerican power to set a global cultural agenda.