IndustryNew Interface Available: Search Only Material in the Google Print Database

New Interface Available: Search Only Material in the Google Print Database

We figured that this was going to happen. Google has just released a Google Print “only” interface at http://print.google.com.

Although an advanced interface is unavailable, you can limit to words in the title of the book by using intitle: The allintitle syntax doesn’t seem to work.

It would be useful if options to limit by author, publisher, and language were available. Also, the ability to click on an author’s name to view all of the titles in Google Print could save the searcher time.

I also tried searching the Google Print “only” database with an ISBN but it didn’t appear to work.

Remember, with most Google Print and material from Amazon’s “Search Inside the Book,” you can only view a selected number of pages over a 30 day period as determined by the publisher. You’re also unable to annotate or print (yes, screen caps are possible) most of this material.

Google should consider offering a limit to search only material that’s in the public domain, where the full text can be read online with no restrictions. They might also want to consider linking to public domain books on the open web. Of course, this might not make some publishers happy. Google Print is as much an online research tool as it is a venue to sell content. In some cases, a book might have copywritten editions available but also have the text in the public domain. Roy Tennant pointed this out on ResourceShelf earlier this week.

I asked a Google spokesperson how many books Google Print currently contains and the rate new books added. I asked but didn’t receive answer. The company spokesperson would not reveal these numbers.

Btw, stopwords are also used with the Google Print database. So, if you want to find books about The Who, make sure to use quotes.

Even though Amazon.com doesn’t offer a “Search Inside the Book only” full text search interface (they should), they do offer plenty of search options to find specific titles and authors. You can also search by subject using the subject headings assigned to each title. In other words, Amazon offers more robust searching of bibliographic info. After finding the title, you can search the full text of a book. “Search Inside the Book” also allows the reader to enlarge a page on their computer screen. Google Print doesn’t.

Earlier this week I posted an overview of Google Print/Google Library and attempted to explain the differences. I also discussed other sources for full text books online including NetLibrary (available from many libraries) and the Online Books Page at the University of Pennsylvania.

Finally, here’s an unscientific comparison test I did trying to see what Google Print and Amazon’s “Search Inside the Book” offer.

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