Log in to the Google library


EducationGuardian.co.uk reports on Google's plans to digitally scan the contents of Oxford University's library, together with Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan and the New York Public library, and make them freely available to its users (which, let's face it, is anyone with an internet connection these says) in an expansion of its Google Print project. This page shows a draft of how the search results will appear.

Are some librarians shifting uncomfortably in their seats?

This piece in the US Chronicle of Higher Education, found via a link in Lisa Guernsey's Weblog, lays out the for and against arguments well:

Some librarians see Google's deal with the five institutions as a major boon for libraries and patrons - and a way to raise the public's awareness of the materials that can be found in the stacks ... [Steven J Bell, the library director at Philadelphia University] worries about what effect Google Print will have on library patrons' perceptions of electronic searching. Most library databases allow users to make more refined searches than they can using Google's search engine, he said. "This will add pressure to make things more like Google, and it will only serve to weaken the ability to get good information," he said. "It's going to be that much harder to convince people to use a more complex search tool."

Meanwhile as the dust settles after Google's latest announcement, which was preceded, as always, by a welter of accurate and not-so-accurate rumours, one wonders what the company with what ZDnet called a "Wonka-like mystique" around it will do next.

In the meantime, the rather nifty Google Suggest (the latest feature to come out of Google Labs) figures out what search term you're thinking of as you type.
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