[Web4lib] Query: union search for online books

[Andrew Hankinson]

I think you're describing the proverbial "Holy Grail" for digital  
librarians.

I would be surprised, amazed and ecstatic if something like this  
existed, but I think it's a ways off.

Each digitization programme tends to keep its data in silos, with  
little or no common (or consistent) API for accessing the contents of  
the database. Some systems are home-grown, some are commercial and  
some are open source.  There is also inconsistent cataloguing  
practices across all the digitization programmes that makes relatively  
straightforward things (such as searching by author) a chore.

The closest I can think of is OAIster (http://www.oaister.org/), but  
this only searches OAI-compatible systems.  Trying a "usual way"  
search of Title = "Huckleberry Finn & Author = Twain, Mark" in this  
system gives me reviews, audio books, and other 'noise' results.

If you're looking for results in non-OAI compatible systems, I don't  
know where you would look. I'd be interested in hearing from others if  
they know of anything, though.

-Andrew

On 16-Mar-09, at 2:10 PM, Henry Gladney wrote:

> 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  
>> search
>> in a number of collections :
>> American Libraries | Canadian Libraries | Universal Library | Project
>> Gutenberg | Biodiversity Heritage Library | Children's Library |  
>> Additional
>> 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
>>  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 Web
>> 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  
>> programming
>> task.  If not, perhaps some list member will take it on.)   If you  
>> know of
>> an example, I would be grateful for a pointer to it.  I suspect  
>> that other
>> 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
>> _______________________________________________
>> Web4lib mailing list
>> Web4lib at webjunction.org
>> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
>>
>>
>>
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