What is "Google Books" all about??

Answer 1

Google Search is a Search engine that searches the full text of books to find ones that interest you and learn where to buy or borrow them.

Just do a search on Google Book Search or on Google.com. When we find a book whose content contains a match for your search terms, we'll link to it in your search results. Click a book title and you'll see, like a card catalog entry, some basic information about the book. You may also see a few snippets of text from the book showing your search term in context. If the publisher or author has given us permission through our Partner Program then you'll see a few full pages from the book and if the book is out of copyright, you'll be able to page through the entire book. In all cases, you'll see links that lead directly to online bookstores where you can buy the book.

The books in Google Book Search come primarily from two sources: publishers and libraries.


Once you have found a book you like, you can :-

1. Browse: Click the forward-facing arrow to browse available pages and see if the book is useful or interesting to you.

2. Search within the book: Click on the additional search results on the side for other pages with your original search term, or try a new search within the book.

3. Buy the book: Click on one of the links to online booksellers to go to directly to a page where you can buy the book.

4. Find reviews: Choose "About this Book," then click "Web search for reviews" to find online reviews of the book.

5. Find it in a library: Many books have Library Links. Look for the "Find this book in a library" link to find a local library that has a copy. Learn more.

6. Learn about the publisher: Click the publisher's logo to go to the publisher's website and find more books from that publisher.

Answer 2

Google Book Search is a tool from Google that searches the full text of books that Google scans and stores in its digital database. The service was formerly known as Google Print when it was introduced at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2004. When relevant to a user's keyword search, up to three results from the Google Book Search index are displayed above search results in the Google Web Search service (google.com). Or, a user may search just for books at the dedicated Google Book Search service. Clicking a result from Google Book Search opens an interface in which the user may view pages from the book as well as content-related advertisements and links to the publisher's website and booksellers. Through a variety of access limitations and security measures, some based on user-tracking, Google limits the number of viewable pages and attempts to prevent page printing and text copying. [1]

As of December 2005, the Google Book Search service remains in a beta stage but the underlying database continues to grow, with more than a hundred thousand titles added by publishers and authors and some 10,000 works in the public domain now indexed and included in search results. A similar service, known as Search Inside the Book, is offered by Amazon.com's A9.com.

Many of the books are scanned using a robotic book scanner. Books are placed into the machine by a human operator and "scanned" (in practice, a digital camera is used at a distance) at a rate of 1,000 pages per hour. [2]

In December 2004, Google signaled an extension to its Google Print initiative known as the Google Print Library Project. [3] Google announced partnerships with several high-profile university and public libraries, including the University of Michigan, Harvard (Widener Library), Stanford (Green Library), Oxford (Bodleian Library), and the New York Public Library. According to press releases and university librarians, Google plans to digitize and make available through its Google Book Search service approximately 15 million volumes within a decade. The announcement soon triggered controversy, as publisher and author associations challenged Google's plans to digitize, not just books in the public domain, but also titles still under copyright. Google's Library Project later spurred a group led by Yahoo!, called the Open Content Alliance.

On November 17, 2005, Google changed the name of this service from Google Print to Google Book Search. [4] Its program enabling publishers and authors to include their books in the service was renamed Google Books Partner Program and the partnership with libraries became Google Books Library Project.

Google Book Search remains controversial. While many hail the initiative for its potential to offer unprecedented access to what may become the largest online corpus of human knowledge, the publishing industry and writers' groups decry the project as a wholesale rights-grab. The Authors Guild of America and Association of American Publishers have individually sued Google, citing 'massive copyright infringement'.

Jean-Noël Jeanneney, the president of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, has vocalized opposition to the service. [1]

In June 2006, a French publisher announced its intention to sue Google France.[5] In 2006 the German lawsuit was withdrawn. [2]

On August 10, 2006 the University of California System announced that it will also join the Book Search digitization project. This includes a portion of the 34 million volumes within the approximately 100 libraries managed by the System.

In August 2006, Google Print allowed out-of-copyright material to be downloaded in .pdf format.