Monday, July 31, 2006 at 9:39 AM
We get email, lots and lots of email. And we love it all. It's especially exciting when we receive an email that tells a story about a time in someone's life when finding the right book has such a positive impact, the person is moved to write to us. Like this email, sent from a hard-working grad student:
As a graduate student working on some pretty heavy duty research, I think Google Book Search rocks. Thank you, thank you, thank you. On multiple occasions, I've discovered just enough information here to get the titles, which then propels me to the library where (much of the time, fortunately), I can get the whole text. Case in point: I'm researching marital and sexual attitudes in 17th century England. I type in "shakespeare marriage" and, wham, up pops B. J. Sokol's Shakespeare, Law, and Marriage from Cambridge University Press, 2003. It's *perfect.* Would I have found it without Google Book Search? Perhaps. But I also might have found it much later, and not allowed it to have the impact in my thinking and research it now does. Did Cambridge UP lose a sale? Um, no. I'm a grad student: I live in the freaking library. But they did gain another reference, and a someday sale when I get a tenure track position (fingers crossed). Additionally, they get heaps of good will because I know that they care about getting their catalog into circulation as conveniently as possible. That makes them cool. This has helped me discover information hidden where I otherwise would never find it. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
It's wonderful to hear that we're helping bring great books and people together, and as our index grows, we hope this kind of connection will happen more and more. If you've had a similar experience, we invite you to share it with us.
No comments:
Post a Comment