[Web4lib] Google Books a tease, not a useful tool, for serious research

[Bill Drew]

I just thought it was a bit ironic.  Your concerns are extremely valid.

How do searches for books in Google Scholar compare with searches in Google
Books?  Does Google Books use the records from Worldcat.org?

-- 
Wilfred (Bill) Drew
Associate Librarian, Systems and Reference
Morrisville State College Library
E-mail: bill.drew at gmail.com
AOL Instant Messenger:BillDrew4
My Wiki: http://billdrew.pbwiki.com
Wireless Librarian: http://people.morrisville.edu/~drewwe/wireless/
Library: http://library.morrisville.edu/
SUNYConnect: http://www.sunyconnect.suny.edu/
My Blog:http://babyboomerlibrarian.blogspot.com
Al Gore quoting an African proverb: "If you want to go quickly, go alone.
But if you want to go far, go together."

On 7/6/07, Richard Wiggins <richard.wiggins at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Wow, that was a shot out of left field.  Gmail is not free.  Their ads
> steal my eyeballs every minute of every day.
>
> I seek serious comments on the utility of Google Books as a research tool,
> and why they may have restricted some of its utility, not irrelevant
> potshots as to my use of other Google services.
>
> The question I raise is whether users of Google Books (or, as another
> pointed out, Google Patents) understand its limitations, that it is not
> definitive.
>
> /rich
>
>
> On 7/6/07, Bill Drew <bill.drew at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > These comments are all valid concerns but do seem a bit disingenuous
> > from people using an other free Google service, gmail.  To expect to get
> > definitive results from any Google search service is a bit over the top to
> > me.
> >
> > --
> > Wilfred (Bill) Drew
> > Associate Librarian, Systems and Reference
> > Morrisville State College Library
> > E-mail: bill.drew at gmail.com
> > AOL Instant Messenger:BillDrew4
> > My Wiki: http://billdrew.pbwiki.com
> > Wireless Librarian: http://people.morrisville.edu/~drewwe/wireless/<http://people.morrisville.edu/%7Edrewwe/wireless/>
> > Library: http://library.morrisville.edu/
> > SUNYConnect: http://www.sunyconnect.suny.edu/
> > My Blog: http://babyboomerlibrarian.blogspot.com
> > Al Gore quoting an African proverb: "If you want to go quickly, go
> > alone. But if you want to go far, go together."
> >
> >  On 7/6/07, Brian Gray < mindspiral at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > As an engineering librarian, I have experience similar concerns with
> > > Google Patents. They limit the number of results returned on your
> > > search, so you never receive a complete set of patents. But, the real
> > > problem is that they do not say that anywhere which may be very
> > > harmful to new, first-time patent researchers.
> > >
> > > You can fake Google out by repeating the same patent search over and
> > > over again for smaller subsets of year, and combining the results. But
> > >
> > > as Rich pointed out, the results returned are not the same everytime.
> > >
> > > Brian Gray
> > > mindspiral at gmail.com
> > >
> > > On 7/6/07, Richard Wiggins <richard.wiggins at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > Google seems to be paranoid about others mining their data.  Do they
> > >
> > > > actually change search behavior to limit the number of searches for
> > > a book?
> > > > If so it's obviously preventing reproducibility of research and even
> > > opening
> > > > the door to denial of service.
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> > >
> >
> >
>