It once was the case that, if Google Book Search hadn’t yet made a book available in digital form, you were out of luck – that was the end of this particular resource’s line. But Google is now helping its users find those books out in the real world, and it’s also supplying more reviews and references (and books in French and Swiss) than ever before.
Google’s Viresh Ratnakar explained his company’s reasoning on the Inside Google Book Search blog. “We want all our users to be able to discover *all* books, to learn more about them and to be able to find copies wherever possible – online or offline,” he wrote.
Ah, good old Google. And you can’t help by smile at Ratnakar’s conversation with his infant son (the eight-month old’s side of the exchange involved words like “bababba” and “doodada”). Still, some folks remain concerned about Google Book Search’s ever-expanding nature.
“Who can argue with benevolent Google?” asked ZDNet’s Donna Bogatin. “Anyone that believes it is NOT in the public’s best interest for a single multi-billion dollar corporation to ACTUALLY control ALL the world’s information, and be the world’s librarian, to boot.”
Bogatin’s outburst came in response to Google’s announcement of a partnership with the University of Lausanne. “Swiss and French books will be digitized and made available online, including works from Victor Hugo, Honoré de Balzac, Benjamin Constant and the personal library of economist and sociologist Vilfredo Pareto,” according to The Book Standard.
Love it or hate it, Google Book Search is growing. And – Google certainly wants you to love it – the service is becoming more user-friendly as it expands.
