You can now search your library’s e-book collection straight from Google

Read more books for free.
By Sasha Lekach  on 
You can now search your library’s e-book collection straight from Google
E-read away without ever having to look up. Credit: Stephen Brashear/Getty Images

You can now keep up with your book club more easily without dropping cash every month, thanks to Google.

The company just added a new search feature that lets you look up book titles in your local library's e-book system straight from your phone.

In a tweet this week, Google shared the hot tip that searching for e-books is as simple as typing in a book in the search bar on the mobile app or in your desktop web browser.

The book name will bring up the "Get book" tab, which offers options of where to buy or borrow the e-book version.

Instead of buying e-books, you can scroll down to just borrow the book from your local library system. Head to that section of the search results before getting pulled into the purchase options. Based on your location, the search will pull up nearby library systems where you can check out the book for your e-reader.

One of my recent book club picks, Alias Grace, by Margaret Atwood of The Handmaid's Tale fame, comes right up on nearby library systems.

Mashable Image
Credit: google search/screengrab

Instead of searching the San Francisco Public Library e-book app, clicking through on Google takes me straight to the library;s online checkout page so that I can download the book seamlessly from my original search. No flipping through different apps and tabs required.

Search, click, and read.

Topics Books Google

Mashable Image
Sasha Lekach

Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.


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