Comments on: Finding free books: How to search Google Books, so only public domain titles come up http://www.teleread.org/2009/03/20/how-to-search-google-books-so-only-public-domain-freebies-come-up/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:28:10 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Joseph Gray http://www.teleread.org/2009/03/20/how-to-search-google-books-so-only-public-domain-freebies-come-up/comment-page-1/#comment-1023979 Joseph Gray Sat, 21 Mar 2009 02:13:15 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/03/20/how-to-search-google-books-so-only-public-domain-freebies-come-up/#comment-1023979 I had forgotten that Firefox has the CC search feature built in already. Very useful. I had forgotten that Firefox has the CC search feature built in already. Very useful.

]]> By: Garson O'Toole http://www.teleread.org/2009/03/20/how-to-search-google-books-so-only-public-domain-freebies-come-up/comment-page-1/#comment-1023742 Garson O'Toole Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:09:53 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/03/20/how-to-search-google-books-so-only-public-domain-freebies-come-up/#comment-1023742 The second tip is useful, but it works imperfectly because many of the publication dates given by Google Book Search are inaccurate. One problem occurs with publications that are part of a series such as magazines and journals. Sometimes Google Book Search records the founding date of a serial publication and attaches that date to all the publications in the series. These misleading dates can cause confusion. For example, suppose a diligent researcher uses advanced book search to focus on works before 1870. The search engine might yield an issue of “The Economist” with the tag “Published by Economist Newspaper Ltd., 1856”. But a closer look might show that the document found is in volume 385 of the Economist and was really published in 2007. Further, only snippets can be displayed. Some documents have early publication dates but no access is provided; not even snippets are displayed. For example “Debates: Official Report, Canada. Parliament. House of Commons” with a publication date of 1892 says “No preview available”. These observations about incorrect dates are directed at the Google Book Search engine on the web. If the Google-Sony partnership sets up a separate search engine for a subset of the documents then maybe it will work differently. Also despite the flawed dates the Google service is an incredibly powerful resource. The second tip is useful, but it works imperfectly because many of the publication dates given by Google Book Search are inaccurate. One problem occurs with publications that are part of a series such as magazines and journals. Sometimes Google Book Search records the founding date of a serial publication and attaches that date to all the publications in the series.

These misleading dates can cause confusion. For example, suppose a diligent researcher uses advanced book search to focus on works before 1870. The search engine might yield an issue of “The Economist” with the tag “Published by Economist Newspaper Ltd., 1856”. But a closer look might show that the document found is in volume 385 of the Economist and was really published in 2007. Further, only snippets can be displayed.

Some documents have early publication dates but no access is provided; not even snippets are displayed. For example “Debates: Official Report, Canada. Parliament. House of Commons” with a publication date of 1892 says “No preview available”.

These observations about incorrect dates are directed at the Google Book Search engine on the web. If the Google-Sony partnership sets up a separate search engine for a subset of the documents then maybe it will work differently. Also despite the flawed dates the Google service is an incredibly powerful resource.

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