Google Book Search Adds Downloading Feature, Library Access

-- Library Journal, 09/06/2006

Google Book Search has just unveiled two innovations: one provides links to Worldcat.org and international library catalogs, while the other allows users to download out-of-copyright books. So far reviews from librarians have been mixed. Downloadable access seems to be hit or miss, with no real pattern for finding which books are available. In addition, librarians noted, the quality so far is average. For the library catalog function, Google officials said they worked with "more than 15 library union catalogs that have information about libraries from more than 30 countries." However, library links still seem spotty as some books offer such links and others do not. Users can expect improvement, however, as the rollout continues.

As for the bigger picture, Gary Price, wrote on Resource Shelf that the introduction of library links on Google raises many issues for libraries. "Telling a user (not a librarian) that a book is readily available at The Library of Congress or a nearby university or special library in most cases does the patron no good, since the public doesn't have access to these libraries," he observed. Price noted that libraries may not be prepared to handle the interlibrary loans requests these links could spur, and users may not want to wait. "All of this can cause confusion (about how libraries work)," Price wrote, "and reinforce the belief that libraries are difficult and user unfriendly."