Google Book Search

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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.

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.

In December 2004, Google signaled an extension to its Google Print initiative known as the Google Print Library Project. 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. 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'.

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 In 2006 the German lawsuit was withdrawn.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

References

External Links

[Google Book Search] homepage

Google Inc.

Services and tools

Annual Revenue: $7.14 billion USD (2006) | Employees: 6,800 (2006) | Stock Symbol: NASDAQ [GOOG] | Website: [www.google.com]

This article or section contains information about Development_stage#Beta>beta software currently in development.
The content may change dramatically as the software development progresses.

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Google Book Search

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