Lauren Parmelee Murphy
 GOOGLE BOOKS

http://books.google.com/ 

 
What is the purpose of Google Books?

Google Books was conceptualized as an online digital library.  It was created to enable access to vast collections of digitized books so that a search will yield the books' content and analyze connections between books.  This helps individuals to determine the usefulness and relevance of any particular book.  For a history of Google Books, go to: http://books.google.com/googlebooks/history.html

 
How can Google Books help Researchers?

Google Books is an extremely well-organized and comprehensive search tool that is readily available to help researchers in the implementation and analysis process.  It works in the same manner as a web search.  In order to try it out, I entered the term “creativity” and was rewarded with approximately 2,050,000 results within 0.32 seconds.  By clicking on an image of each book’s cover, I was able to investigate the contents of that book and ascertain its usefulness to my research.  For an overview on Google Books, go to: http://books.google.com/googlebooks/about.html

 

How can Google Books help the book industry?

Google Books can function as an effective marketing tool by bringing a particular book to the attention of consumers.  Authors and publishers are able to gain visibility and sales through Google Books.  For thoughts and opinions about Google from publishers, users, authors, and the media, go to: http://books.google.com/googlebooks/thoughts.html

 

What particular information can a Google Books search yield?

Google Books has a reference page for every book.  For an example, see the reference page for Fast Food Nation, authored by Eric Schlosser by clicking on the picture opposite. The links you will find include a preview of the book, Preview this book »; information about the author, Eric Schlosser; reviews of the book, All 2863 reviews »; the opportunity to write your own review, Write a review; business information, Cahners Business Information; selected pages, Page 148, Page 30, Page 168, Page 132, Page 12; other editions,  View all; contents; common terms and phrases; popular passages; references to the book in other books, Born to buy: the commercialized child and the new consumer culture; references to the book on the web, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal Overview; places mentioned in the book, Maps; and bibliographic information. 

(click on picture for review) 

 

Can Google Books help to locate a copy of the book? 

If you would like to obtain a copy of a particular book, Google Books provides information about where to purchase or borrow a copy. 

 

 

The future of Google Books: What is the Google Books Settlement and how will it impact researchers?

The Author’s Guild, various authors, the Association of American Publishers, and various publishers filed a class action suit against Google Books which will result in expanded public access to library holdings.  The Google Books settlement will increase access to books by making available out of print books as well as the collections from many of the top universities.  Many older and out of print books are deteriorating and becoming increasing fragile because the acidic paper they are printed on becomes brittle as it ages.  The Google Books settlement will help to preserve these valuable resources. This settlement will also enable underserved populations increased access to information.  Here are video testimonials regarding the impact of this settlement: https://sites.google.com/a/pressatgoogle.com/googlebookssettlement/video-testimonials .

 

GOOGLE SCHOLAR

http://scholar.google.com/

What is the purpose of Google Scholar?

Google Scholar was created to provide a method of searching for scholarly literature.   This includes works from academic publishers, professional societies, and various scholarly resources from across the web. Google Scholar ranks documents using the same criteria that researchers do, weighing such things as the source, the author, and how recently and frequently it has been cited.

 

How can Google Scholar help researchers?

Google Scholar is a useful and convenient search tool for the implementation, analysis and representation phases of research.  It provides a multitude of sources for scholarly literature.  Researchers can use Google Scholar to locate articles, books, abstracts, theses, court opinions, and other scholarly literature.  Researchers can set up an account to send notification as key scholarly literature becomes available in any area of research

 

How is a search performed with Google Scholar?

One may search on Google Scholar by author, by title, by category, or by topic.  It will find whatever you have requested as well as literature with related information.  The advanced search option may be used to locate documents in specific publications.

 

How does Google Scholar notify individuals when key information becomes available?

Google Scholar sends e mail alerts each time relevant new documents are available.  This occurs several times per week, but not on holidays.  The "Create alert" option is used for this service.

 

How can Google Scholar help researchers to gain recognition and track followers?

A researcher can add their publication to Google Scholar by placing it into their institutional repository or by putting a PDF version of it on their personal website.  Google Scholar tracks each time the literature is cited elsewhere.

 

Does Google Scholar interface with a bibliography manager?

Google Scholar contains a citation exporter which can be linked to an account at RefWorks, RefMan, EndNote, or BibTeX.