The fifth Google Librarian’s newsletter was posted today http://www.google.com/librariancenter/newsletter/0609.html.
It features two new posters–one on using Google Scholar; the other is a quiz on Google’s slightly lesser-known features.
The newsletter also discusses news on downloading the classics:
Starting today, you can go to Google Book Search and download full copies of out-of-copyright books to read at your own pace. You’re free to choose from a diverse collection of public domain titles — from well-known classics to obscure gems.
Google promises, “this is just the beginning. As we digitize more of the world’s books — whether rare, common, popular or obscure — people everywhere will be able to discover them on Google Book Search.”
My initial searches of classics like Thoreau, Twain, Austen, Shakespeare were pretty satisfying!
1 response so far ↓
I find Google Book Search helpful even if the whole book is not available. If I am looking for books on a topic to add to my library, I can often search by topic, and then read enough of the text to make a pretty good guess about how accessible/usable the book would be for my students. I am waiting for the day when we can download the whole text of our books into our library book catalogs. How much more “findable” our books will be then! Do I think that most people will then read the books online? No - I really don’t think so. I don’t see even our most wired of students actually reading much online. Instead - they are finding information online and then printing it. They still prefer to read “hard copy”. When all libraries have their books on shelves AND in databases - then people can better locate information. No more trying to guess what subject to type. From there they can locate the actual book and sign it out. Ok - MAYBE ebook readers will evolve to the point that they are nearly like a “real” book - so MAYBE they will download the book to an e-book. But really - I just haven’t seen any evidence of that happening anytime soon. But - what a wonderful dream. But maybe I am missing something. I haven’t really done the research. Are we getting close and I just don’t know it yet?