Search

We examined the search behaviors of diverse fiction readers in different search scenarios. The aim was to understand how fiction readers with varied reading preferences are selecting interesting novels in library catalogs. We conducted a controlled user study with 80 participants. Two reader groups were elicited according to similar reading preference patterns. The readers enjoyed the entertainment, escape, and comfort that reading as a pleasurable activity offered. The aesthetic readers valued the artistic and aesthetic pleasures, widening vocabulary, and ability to express oneself through fiction books. We compared the search queries and search actions between the 2 reader groups. Our results demonstrated that preference patterns were associated with readers' search behavior, that is, the number of viewed search result pages, opened book pages, dwell time on book pages, and the type of search queries. Based on the findings, we present 3 search tactics for fiction books in library catalogs: i) focused querying, ii) topical browsing, and iii) similarity-based tactic. The most popular search tactic in each search scenario was “focused querying” with known author in both reader groups.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate fiction readers’ interest criteria when selecting novels in library catalogs for various search tasks. Design/methodology/approach – The data of the book selection behavior from 80 genuine fiction readers were collected using recorded interviews and conversations. The data were qualitatively analyzed. Reuter’s categorization of the components of aesthetic relevance has contributed to the construction of interest dimensions. Findings – A five-dimension categorization of interest criteria is presented based on fiction readers’ interpretations of the influential factors in fiction book selection in different search tasks. The findings revealed that readers apply the identified interest criteria in a flexible and multiphase way depending to the search task and the system used. The findings showed a context-related pattern in readers’ fiction book selections. A combination of readers’ search capacities, “behind the eyes” knowledge, affective factors and a well-functioning interaction with a system used results in a successful book selection. Originality/value – A five-dimension categorization of adult fiction readers’ interest criteria was created based on their search behaviors in library catalogs. The results provide a systematic step toward a comprehensive understanding of readers’ fiction book selection in digital environments.

In 2004, Google embarked on a massive book digitization project. Forty library partners and billions of scanned pages later, Google Book Search has provided searchable text access to millions of books. While many details of Google’s conversion processes remain proprietary secret, here we piece together their general outlines by closely examining Google Book Search products, Google patents, and the entanglement of libraries and computer scientists in the longer history of digitization work. We argue that far from simply “scanning” books, Google’s efforts may be characterized as algorithmic digitization, strongly shaped by an equation of digital access with full-text searchability. We explore the consequences of Google’s algorithmic digitization system for what end users ultimately do and do not see, placing these effects in the context of the multiple technical, material, and legal challenges surrounding Google Book Search. By approaching digitization primarily as a text extraction and indexing challenge—an effort to convert print books into electronically searchable data—GBS enacts one possible future for books, in which they are defined largely by their textual content.

Searching large collections of digitized books is a relatively new area in information-seeking and retrieval research, made possible by initiatives such as Google Books and the HathiTrust Digital Library. The availability of large full-text book collections is transforming how users search and interact with information in books, but the characteristics of these changes are unknown. This paper aims to provide insight into the characteristics of full-text searches in a large collection of digitized books and is the first step in a broader research agenda intended to improve book retrieval. To better understand the types of queries that users are issuing to full-text-book collections, we analyzed a full year of anonymized query logs from the HathiTrust Digital Library full-text search engine. We also manually classified a random sample of 600 queries to develop a taxonomy of book search query types. We found that users are beginning to search for information in books instead of searching for books. Searches still largely follow bibliographic models, but, as expected, new types of searches are beginning to take advantage of full-text capabilities. Additionally, comparing the results of our query log analysis to searches in other domains, we found similar search patterns including short queries, sessions with only a few queries, and users viewing only a few pages of results per query. We discuss how these findings can be used to characterize users of large full-text book collections.

This paper updates three ongoing book scanning projects (Google Book Search, the Million Book Project, and the Open Content Alliance), discusses the changing paradigm for authority in scholarly work, and reflects on the barrier of copyright and how it might be overcome.

The Google Book Search Library Project has partnered with an array of impressive libraries, including Harvard University, the University of California System, University of Michigan, and the New York Public Library. The reasons for collaborating with Google to further book digitization are different for each library. Moreover, the exact way in which these libraries will use their own digital copies has yet to be decided for many of the libraries involved. While the Google Book Search Library Project remains controversial, the Google library partners are seizing an unprecedented opportunity to amplify the scale of their pre-existing digitization initiatives.

This article looks at two different projects, the Google Book Search project and the Text Creation Partnership, both linked to the University of Michigan Library. Though on the surface they are very different, the Text Creation Partnership, a model of cooperation between scholars, librarians, and publishers, may have some useful lessons for how to make Google Book Search more useful for academic research, particularly in full-text searching.

Google's initiative to scan and add book content into its search engine has resulted in much praise and protest. Changing its digitization project's name from Google Print to Google Book Search and adding information to its site did not keep Google out of copyright court. However, publicity surrounding this project has spawned renewed interest in book digitization projects, with collaborative efforts quickly growing. This article will look at Book Search's history, highlight how it has been altered along with its name, and point out other interesting book digitization projects that Book Search has spawned or recently brought into the limelight, such as those associated with the Internet Archive.

Luis Collado answers some questions about the program Google Book Search. He describes what it is and what it is not. His words reveal Google’s philosophy of universal access to information.

SUMMARY Offering workshops on Google Scholar and Google Book Search, and including them in library instruction sessions, gives librarians a new opportunity to connect with their user communities. By adopting and marketing these and similar databases, librarians can open up new avenues of research for their users, both in Google's domain and in the realm of more traditional library research.

One finding of the 2006 OCLC study of College Students' Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources was that students expressed equal levels of trust in libraries and search engines when it came to meeting their information needs in a way that they felt was authoritative. Seeking to incorporate this insight into our own instructional methodology, Schaffer Library at Union College has attempted to engineer a shift from Google to Google Scholar among our student users by representing Scholar as a viable adjunct to the catalog and to more traditional electronic resources. By attempting to engage student researchers on their own terms, we have discovered that most of them react enthusiastically to the revelation that the Google they think they know so well is, it turns out, a multifaceted resource that is capable of delivering the sort of scholarly information that will meet with their professors' approval. Specifically, this article focuses on the fact that many Google Scholar searches link b...

Anotamos, neste trabalho, reflexões sobre as conseqüências das Tecnologias da Informação e da Comunicação (TICs) para o direito autoral e sobre os atores do processo informativo. Partimos da lei do direito autoral vigente no Brasil, perguntando-nos como tais normas protegem as obras intelectuais no contexto digital e até que ponto há legalidade e legitimidade na digitalização de livros protegidos, disponibilizados on-line, tomando como exemplo o caso “Google Book Search”. Constatamos que a lei atual pouco defende os direitos dos autores e dos leitores, pois se volta para a proteção dos interesses privados comerciais, e que a sociedade civil encontra formas de ampliar o fluxo comunicativo em decorrência da facilidade de reprodução e distribuição de cópias de obras intelectuais proporcionada pelas TICs. Palavras-chave Tecnologias da informação e da comunicação (TICs). Direito autoral. Information and communication technologies and the polemics about author rights: the case Google Book Search Abstract This paper points out the consequences of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on copyrights and the actors in the information process, based on the current copyright regulations in Brazil, questioning how these norms protect the intellectual production in the digital context and up to what extent there is legitimacy and legal support in making available digitalized copies of protected books, such as in the Google Book Search case. The conclusion is that today the law does not properly protect the rights of authors and readers, as it is focused in the protection of private commercial interests, and that civil society finds ways to enlarge the communicative flow as a result of the easy access to reproduction and distribution of copies of intellectual work enabled by the ICTs. Keywords Information and communication technologies. Copyrights.

The author describes USBE's Website, which meets virtually every back issue need of the serials librarian. An online catalog of over 17,000 scholarly journal title holdings, order page, membership application, and a fee-free out-of-print book search service are some of the features of the USBE site. The USBE Web pages also include instructions on how to donate surplus periodicals to the nonprofit organization, as well as special offers and other news pertinent to serials librarians. Includes interview comments by USBE President, John Zubal and USBE Operations Manager, Jean Marie Zubal.