[WEB4LIB] Student's point of view (RE: Google Scholar)

[Jim Campbell]

I like this and I like his suggestions for a page to help people use Google
Scholar in a local environment.  I've been working on a similar page and
there's good stuff to steal from there.

The problem with his challenge to libraries is that metasearch on any larger
scale is not a good option in the near future. An integrated database like
Google Scholar (or like Web of Science or Scopus) usually beats any of the
metasearch products now available, not because they're bad, but because it's
really hard to produce good results from very disparate databases working at
different speeds and with some of them under restrictive licenses that may
mean they won't accept a search at that moment. We've been saying that
imperfect metasearch is better than no metasearch, but Google Scholar raises
the bar. It will be interesting to see if the threat of Google Scholar makes
database providers more likely to cooperate with metasearch engines. I
wonder how much time they have to think about it.

The one thing his page still needs is the caution. There's a lot of stuff in
Google Scholar, but there's also a lot you won't find. There are publishers
that aren't participating (notably Elsevier, presumably because of Scopus).
And then there are the indexing tools with accompanying full text. If the
only version of a journal your library has is in InfoTrac or LexisNexis or
EducationFullText, Google Scholar won't find it. More use of DOIs (as he
suggests) and a local link resolver could help with the titles that are
available from several sources, but Google still won't pick up articles from
journals that are uniquely available through one of the proprietary
aggregators. And then for the humanities there's the problem of the titles
that are still only available on paper. 
 
- Jim Campbell
 
Digital Access Coordinator and
Librarian for German
University of Virginia Library
Voice: 434-924-4985
E-Mail: Campbell at Virginia.Edu
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: web4lib at webjunction.org 
> [mailto:web4lib at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Junus, Ranti
> Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2004 10:52 AM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: [WEB4LIB] Student's point of view (RE: Google Scholar)
> 
> All,
> One of our students wrote his impression about Google 
> Scholar.  I think he wrote an interesting argument from a 
> student's point of view.  And, yes, he's aware that I am 
> sharing this with you.
> http://ebybox.aresgate.net/blog/archives/google-scholar-and-th
e-furry-unleashed/
> 
> 
> ranti.
> 
> --
> Ranti Junus - Systems
>  100 Main Library W441
>  Michigan State University
>  East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
>  +1.517.432.6123 ext. 231
>  +1.517.432.8374 (fax)
> 
> 
> 
>