Google Books

By Jennifer Harris

In 2004 Google announced that it was initiating a Google Print Project and Library Project. Just a few months later the Authors Guild filed a lawsuit against Google to stop the project from moving forward. The Authors Guild represented authors and publishers who objected to Google scanning in-copyrighted books. On October 15, 2015, it was decided by a district court that Google was not infringing on fair use and the Supreme Court denied petition to hear the case (Hannay, 2015).

Google Books is a service provided by Google that allows you to do an online search of a library of digital books and magazines. These books primarily come from publishers and libraries, with over 25 million books having been scanned into their library. The libraries that established a partnership with Google gave them access to their books and were able to keep a digitalized copy of their books for research and preservation purposes.

When searching for a book on Google Books or Google.com you will find information about the book and basic bibliographic data, some books will contain additional information. Each book search will also lead you to direct links to the bookstores where you can buy the book and libraries where you can borrow it. If the book is out of copyright, or the publisher has given permission, you’ll be able to view the whole book. If the book is in public domain, you’ll be able to download and/or print a PDF of the book (Howard,2017).

There is also a limited preview of the book available on books where the publisher or author has joined Google’s Partner Programme. This allows you to preview a few full pages of the book and do searches within the book. A snippet view will give you information about the book and allow you to do a search within the book, allowing you to view three snippets from the book. All views will also take you to options to purchase or borrow the book.

Satyajeet Salgar, product manager for Google Books states that "For more than ten years, Google has been committed to increasing the reach of the knowledge and art contained in books by making them discoverable and accessible from a simple query” (2017). Researchers are now able to work with copyrighted books by using a search query to find exactly what is needed for their research analysis without reading or downloading the book. This, in itself, makes Google Books invaluable.

How to Use Google Books Video

Works Cited

 

Hannay, Bill. “Google Books: It ain’t over 'til the librarian sings.” Where do we go from here?: Charleston Conference Proceedings, 2015, edited by Beth R. Bernhardt et al., Purdue University Press, 2016, pp. 588–92. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv15wxr5j.102. Accessed 1 May 2025.

Howard, Jennifer. "What happened to Google’s effort to scan millions of university library books." EdSurge (2017). www.edsurge.com/news/2017-08-10-what-happened-to-google-s-effort-to-scan-millions-of-university-library-books Accessed 3 May 2025