[Web4lib] Query: union search for online books

[Henry Gladney]

Thank you, but it doesn't seem to be quite what I want.

I would like to identify a specific book (in the usual way) and be told
whether *anybody anywhere in the world* has made a digital version of it
available.  (I can already query many individual sites, such as Archive.org=
,
one after another, but this is both tiresome and likely to be incomplete.)

Optionally, I would like to be informed in the same response an indication
whether this digital version is merely page images, or consists of
searchable text.

Best wishes, Henry

H.M. Gladney, Ph.D.     HMG Consulting http://home.pacbell.net/hgladney/
(408)867-5454


On Mon, Mar 16, 2009 at 11:02, Stevens, Julieanne H. <
jhsteven at law.stetson.edu> wrote:

>
> I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but Archive.org
> has an extensive collection, as well as search capability.  You can searc=
h
> in a number of collections :
> American Libraries | Canadian Libraries | Universal Library | Project
> Gutenberg | Biodiversity Heritage Library | Children's Library | Addition=
al
> Collections
>
> Juju Stevens
>
> Julieanne Hartman Stevens
> Reference and  Electronic Resources Librarian
> Stetson University College of Law
> Law Library
> 1401 61st Street South
> Gulfport, Florida 33707
>
> 727-562-7304
> Internal extension: 7204
> jhsteven at law.stetson.edu
>
> Information is the currency of democracy.
>  - Thomas Jefferson
> =83=C0 Think Green - don't print this email unless you really need
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:
> web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Henry Gladney
> Sent: Monday, March 16, 2009 1:57 PM
> To: web4lib at webjunction.org
> Subject: [Web4lib] Query: union search for online books
>
> In recent years several giant digitizations of (mostly) out-of-copyright
> books have been mounted, some by commercial enterprises and some by
> academic
> institutions.  My relatively cursory Google search has not led me to a We=
b
> service from which one can mount a search that inspects a large fraction =
of
> these to determine whether or not a book (or a scholarly article) is
> available in digital form.  (I am aware of Google Book Search (see
> http://books.google.com/intl/en/googlebooks/about.html ) but currently
> believe its scope to be limited.)
>
> I wonder, has the kind of service been programmed and made available?  (I
> believe that providing it would be a relatively straightforward programmi=
ng
> task.  If not, perhaps some list member will take it on.)   If you know o=
f
> an example, I would be grateful for a pointer to it.  I suspect that othe=
r
> members of this distribution list would be as interested as I am.
>
> Best wishes, Henry
>
> H.M. Gladney, Ph.D.     HMG Consulting http://home.pacbell.net/hgladney/
> (408)867-5454
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