Celebrating World Book Day

Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 5:29 PM

Posted by Santiago de la Mora, European Partnerships Lead, Books

Growing up in Colombia in the '70s, I saw the effects of illiteracy firsthand. Some might take it for granted, but the ability to read is perhaps one of the most empowering acts we can do as individuals and members of society.

This idea is what got me so excited about Google Book Search and, in fact, what brought me to Google. It’s also what makes me so happy about our involvement in The Literacy Project, a joint initiative by Google, LitCam, and UNESCO’s Institute for Lifelong Learning to create an online resource for finding and sharing ideas about literacy and promoting reading.

In honor of World Book Day--the day of Cervantes' and Shakespeare’s deaths in 1616-- The Literacy Project is highlighting initiatives that our partners have carried out on local, national, and international levels. You'll find subtitled videos, interactive comic books, and customizable books, as well as information that can be used by other reading organizations around the world. Associations can plot their contact and project details on a searchable map, share ideas through our forum, and find great educational materials from members worldwide.

Check out what one of our members, CAST, has to say about it here. The technology they've developed to make reading easier is just one of the many cool intiatives being featured by The Literacy Project.

Kant find a book in full view?

Wednesday, April 09, 2008 at 10:49 AM

Posted by Katharine Lu, Book Search Support Team

Having trouble finding a full view version of Hamlet or Pamela? Do you suspect that an old book listed as limited preview may actually be in the public domain? Nicola, a reader from Chicago, had the same feeling when searching for a full view copy of Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Judgment in Google Book Search:

I am at it again, trying to find “Critique of Judgment." Now, some 200 years later, it must be well in the public domain, however, I find that someone republished it, and therefore there is no public copy on Google Book Search. I have found this with a lot of old titles; that someone reprints it, and then the full view copy disappears... Help!

Books can go through many editions, but we still strive to make books as accessible as we can for readers. In cases like these, it’s easy to search for other, full view editions of a book in Google Book Search.

One simple way is to check out the ‘More Editions’ link, which is located under book listings on the search results page.


After clicking on this link, you'll be directed to another results page that lists more editions of the same book in our index. Like all Google Book Search results pages, you can restrict the results to only display books in full view. Sure enough, there's a version of the third Critique that's fully browsable.

You can also search for full view books using the Advanced Book Search option, which you'll find to the right of the Google Book Search query box. Make sure to select “Full view only” under the ‘Search’ section.

So next time you need to compare or locate other editions of an older book like the Critique of Judgment, simply click on the ‘More editions’ link and explore its various incarnations.

Finding a dream on Google Book Search

Friday, April 04, 2008 at 3:07 PM

Posted by Sarah Payne, Book Search Support Team

By nature, I’m a loquacious person, so it should be no surprise that one of my favorite classes in college was a political science course on speakers and speeches. One of the textbooks, Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History (by one of my all-time favorite New York Times columnists, William Safire) became one of my most cherished literary discoveries.

In resolving a Trivial Pursuit dispute last week, I consulted it and came across Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous ‘I have a dream’ speech. It’s a powerful piece of oration, and after reading over it again, I was inspired to visit Google Book Search to find books containing his writings.

This time, I noticed the ‘Popular passages’ section, which makes it easy to find books that cite a particular block of text – such as speech by Martin Luther King Jr., for example. You'll find this feature to the right of book content on Google Book Search, as in the image below:



As you might expect, portions of this speech have been reprinted in quite a few places. My favorite discovery, though, was to find that the “I have a dream” speech found its way into an SAT prep book.

Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his ‘I have a dream’ speech in August of 1963. Less than five years later – and 40 years ago today – his voice was silenced. While we celebrate his life and memory each year on the anniversary of his birthday, the 40th anniversary of his death is a poignant time for reflection on the effect he’s had on America and the world.

Google Book Search now smells better

Tuesday, April 01, 2008 at 2:45 AM

Posted by Nathan Naze, Software Engineer

In the process of scanning and storing images of pages from over a million books, we've benefited from the fact that the book is, generally speaking, a relatively uniform medium. Most books are a bound collection of flat pages, and the variations between volumes lie primarily in page size and number of pages. Our scanning processes work well for almost all of these titles -- we scan the images, clean them up, and present them for view on the Web.

But a small subset of books possess peculiarities that make them hard for us to archive. For example, we hit a snag when trying to scan pop-up books, like this one -- how would one properly present a pop-up book in a browser? We've faced similar problems in scanning and displaying Braille books and flip books.

However, today I'm pleased to let you know that we've made some headway with one type of volume we've struggled with in the past: books employing scratch-and-sniff technology. Using special equipment and tricky JavaScript, we're now able to capture some of the smells during the scanning process and then embed them in your web browser when you preview these titles in Google Book Search.

Intrigued? To start you off, here are a few aromatic examples:

• The Cheese Companion
  
• Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide
  
• The Science of Chocolate
  
• Gorillas in the Mist
  

We hope you enjoy the new feature, and we'll let you know when we get something working for those pop-up books.

In Search of Already-Found Books

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 2:10 PM

Posted by Frances Haugen, Associate Product Manager

A few weeks ago, while I had an early version of the Google Book Search Library Gadget on my iGoogle page, I was suddenly transfixed by the fascinating cover of Shelters, Shacks, and Shanties. What was this book doing, hovering somewhere between my weather gadget and the latest news headlines?

One of the perks of product managing Google Book Search gadgets is that I get to play with them before anyone else does (except, of course, for the engineers who code them). The library gadget shows me books I've saved to my library, displaying them on my iGoogle page. I'd actually forgotten that, some months ago, I'd added this book to my library while browsing Google Book Search. Remembering my initial interest in the book, I dove back into it. I delighted at the instructions from this former Boy Scout about how to construct the most important priority in survival situations.

When I use Google Book Search, I find that I regularly add books to my library. I usually don't have the time to read a book right away, and adding it to my library is an easy way to remind myself of a book that I should check out later. Since my tumble into D.C. Beard's work, I've made sure to keep on adding titles to my library -- you never know when a book might strike your fancy a second (or third, or fourth) time. Here's what the fateful library gadget looks like:


So go on, surprise yourself! You can add it to your iGoogle Page here:

Preview books anywhere with the new Google Book Search API

Thursday, March 13, 2008 at 10:09 AM

Posted by Bethany Poole, Product Marketing Manager

Today we announced the release of a new API for Book Search. We're excited about this API because it makes it easy for users and other book lovers to connect with Google Book Search through a myriad of library sources, from their local library catalogs to their favorite book sites.

For example, using the API, a library can add a link to "View this book in Google Book Search" next to every book entry in its catalog for which we have a preview in our index. This means the library's patrons, whether in the library or online at home, can preview the book immediately via Google Book Search.

To see how you're most likely to encounter the API, check out the following examples:

At a local public library:

• Ann Arbor District Library (Michigan)
  
• Deschutes Public Library (Oregon)
  

While searching the catalog of a university library:

• Kansas State University*
  
• Northwestern University
  
• Plymouth State University** (New Hampshire)
  
• University of California
  
• University of Huddersfield (Huddersfield, UK)
  
• University of Iowa*
  
• University of Texas at Austin
  
• Waterford Institute of Technology (Waterford, Ireland)
  
• Università degli Studi di Padova * (Padova, Italy)
  

Or while investigating books on your favorite online library cataloging resource:

• LibraryThing
  
• Open Library
  
• Scriblio
  

We hope many more libraries and services will make use of the API. Our thanks to all the developers who moved so quickly to implement it. You can add it to your own site or web application, too - you'll find all the necessary information on this page.

*Implementations through Primo or SFX by Ex Libris
**Implementation through Scriblio

St. Patrick's Day spectacular

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at 2:24 PM

Posted by Sabine Knierim, Ellen Cano, Kristoffer Evensen and Agnes Eymery, Book Search Support Team

Ireland’s most famous day – Paddy's Day – is celebrated on March 17, in honor of (you guessed it!) Saint Patrick. On this day, which is believed to be the anniversary of St. Patrick’s death in the 5th century, Irish all over the world remember their patron saint, who is famous for two things: bringing Christianity to Ireland, and banishing all snakes from the island.

So if you walk around Dublin during the festival of St. Patrick's Day, you won’t find any snakes, but you'll probably find some of the symbols that typically decorate the streets to celebrate this date, such as the Shamrock. According to legend, this is what St. Patrick used to scare away the snakes of Ireland. You’ll also find plenty of green about, which has become synonymous with good luck for this day. Although it’s very likely that St. Patrick actually wore vestments of blue, green is so linked to the “Emerald Isle” that it is, without question, the de facto color of St. Patrick’s Day.

Five days of celebration culminate in an annual parade on the 17th of March, which always creates a carnival atmosphere, regardless of the weather. The theme of this year's parade is energy, which will certainly be displayed by participants like street performers and international marching bands. Parade aside, some of the most serious celebrations tend to happen in pubs, where young and old crowd together to enjoy a glass or two of the black stuff.

The Irish population is well represented around the world, making St. Patrick’s day a global celebration. New York’s parade is by far the biggest event in the world, with about 150,000 marchers and approximately 2 million spectators. Similar to the one in Dublin, it has street performers and infantry regiments leading the parade. This custom makes everyone feel Irish for a day.

Mark your calendar, because this coming Monday you might find a celebration near you. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!