I'm probably late to the party and many of you may already know about the Google Search called "Google Print". Google print makes it possible to do online book searches. (This is a BETA version)

Where do these books come from? (From Google Print Help)

Right now, most of our books come from the Google Print Publisher Program, a web-based program that lets book publishers of all sizes have their book content included in Google's main search results. Publishers send us their books and we digitally scan them and add their content to our search results – all for free

What types of books are available? (From Google Print Help)

Google Print finds pretty much any kind of book you can imagine: fiction, non-fiction, reference, scholarly, textbooks, children's books, scientific, medical, professional, educational, and other books of all kinds. As we add books from our library partners, our book selection will continue to increase, and you'll also be able to find out-of-print, rare, and public domain books.

The address for this search is: http://www.print.google.com

I thought this was really cool and wanted to pass it along.

Dwight

That is cool Dwight. I am an avid reader and will certainly bookmark that page. It will be an invaluable resource once they expand the index of books. I only wish it was around when I had to take Literature in college.

Derek

EXTREMELY cool, Dwight! I looked around and saved the link. Thanks for sharing!

But take a look at a recent article in Wired News: Google's Book Scanning Hits Snag, involving copyright infringement problems.

quote:

Stung by a publishing industry backlash, Google has halted its efforts to scan copyright books from some of the nation's largest university libraries so the material can be indexed in its leading internet search engine.

Thanks for that information, Professor. I hope this project will be continued because I think it could be a very important research method.

Dwight

Update: Story on CNN:
Five major publishers filed suit against Google Inc. in Manhattan's federal court on Wednesday seeking to block plans to scan copyrighted works without permission.

Thanks for the update. I can understand the publishers/authors fears of copyright violations. However, I thnk the end result may very well be increased sales due to the public being aware of materials they otherwise would not know about.

I hope this Google Print project is allowed to continue. I know that I would use this frequently.

Dwight

Another update from CNN (good news, Dwight ):

quote:

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California (AP) -- Google Inc.'s Internet-leading search engine on Thursday will begin serving up the entire contents of books and government documents that aren't entangled in a copyright battle over how much material can be scanned and indexed from five major libraries.

The list of Google's so-called "public domain" works -- volumes no longer protected by copyright -- include Henry James novels, Civil War histories, Congressional acts and biographies of wealthy New Yorkers.

Google said the material represents the first large batch of public domain books and documents to be indexed in its search engine since the Mountain View-based company announced an ambitious library-scanning project late last year...

Wow, that really is great news! I'm so glad to see this project get under way. It will make the Internet even more useful.

Thank you!

Dwight