- 16 Dec 2004 16:59
#532124
Books from some of the world's largest academic libraries are to be scanned and made instantly searchable by Google.
The internet search engine has revealed plans to scan the whole of Michigan and Stanford University libraries, along with some archives at Harvard University and the New York Public Library, all in the US, as well as archives at Oxford University library in the UK.
Google has developed its own technology for scanning books rapidly and in a way that will not physically harm fragile old texts. Details have not been disclosed but Google spokesman Fabio Selmoni describes it as "a combination of digital and mechanical technology".
Selmoni says that by adding the content from these libraries to the Google index, the company hopes to make its search service more useful. "We felt there was an opportunity to add incremental value," he told New Scientist. "And we felt this was a new stream of information altogether."
Selmoni adds that the search engine is in talks with many other major libraries, including some in non-English speaking countries. "We're only just beginning," he says.
Information location
Google already provides the ability to search recently published books through its search engine. Users see several pages of these books returned by a search query and can then buy the book directly from the publishing company if desired.
This new scheme will provide the Google user with a snapshot of the book sought - it will not provide the entire text - which should be enough for the user to decide whether it is worth getting hold of the original text. The service will also make rare and out-of-print books - as well as magazines and other reference material - searchable for the first time.
"The pilot is a small but extremely significant first step that can ultimately provide both the Harvard community and the larger public with a revolutionary new information location tool to find materials available in libraries," says Sidney Verba, director of Harvard University Library in an email sent to colleagues and posted on a popular “blog†website on Monday.
Alan Dawson, a researcher at the Centre for Digital Library Research at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, believes the scheme could open up entirely new avenues of research. "I think it will be enormously useful," he told New Scientist. "But we don't know exactly how it will be used and that's the beauty of it - people will find stuff they didn't know about."
Dawson notes that digitising old books can be difficult because of out-of-use words and foreign characters. But he says the service should ultimately prove a valuable resource for academics and the general public alike.
"These institutions now need to publish a list of the books they are digitising," he adds, to save other institutions replicating the work. "There's no point in doing it twice."
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6797
The internet search engine has revealed plans to scan the whole of Michigan and Stanford University libraries, along with some archives at Harvard University and the New York Public Library, all in the US, as well as archives at Oxford University library in the UK.
Google has developed its own technology for scanning books rapidly and in a way that will not physically harm fragile old texts. Details have not been disclosed but Google spokesman Fabio Selmoni describes it as "a combination of digital and mechanical technology".
Selmoni says that by adding the content from these libraries to the Google index, the company hopes to make its search service more useful. "We felt there was an opportunity to add incremental value," he told New Scientist. "And we felt this was a new stream of information altogether."
Selmoni adds that the search engine is in talks with many other major libraries, including some in non-English speaking countries. "We're only just beginning," he says.
Information location
Google already provides the ability to search recently published books through its search engine. Users see several pages of these books returned by a search query and can then buy the book directly from the publishing company if desired.
This new scheme will provide the Google user with a snapshot of the book sought - it will not provide the entire text - which should be enough for the user to decide whether it is worth getting hold of the original text. The service will also make rare and out-of-print books - as well as magazines and other reference material - searchable for the first time.
"The pilot is a small but extremely significant first step that can ultimately provide both the Harvard community and the larger public with a revolutionary new information location tool to find materials available in libraries," says Sidney Verba, director of Harvard University Library in an email sent to colleagues and posted on a popular “blog†website on Monday.
Alan Dawson, a researcher at the Centre for Digital Library Research at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, believes the scheme could open up entirely new avenues of research. "I think it will be enormously useful," he told New Scientist. "But we don't know exactly how it will be used and that's the beauty of it - people will find stuff they didn't know about."
Dawson notes that digitising old books can be difficult because of out-of-use words and foreign characters. But he says the service should ultimately prove a valuable resource for academics and the general public alike.
"These institutions now need to publish a list of the books they are digitising," he adds, to save other institutions replicating the work. "There's no point in doing it twice."
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6797
Ixabert wrote: Why dost thou roll thine eyes at me?
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