SWING Spring FlingMay 21, 2010
Radford University
Google Scholar/Books
Luke Vilelle / Hollins University
The Basics
Luke Vilelle / Hollins University
“Search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites.”
A free academic search engine, searching full text. Best comparisons to:
EBSCO / InfoTrac / Web of Science / etc.NOT Google / Yahoo / etc.
Debuted in November 2004Still Beta?
What you get
Luke Vilelle / Hollins University
Multiple links to article versions/abstracts.Exception: Citations
Full textText posted by author: Copy /
institutional repositoryAlternative versions Copyright violation? Or here?If you want to pay $Links to library-subscribed full text
Through your library’s article linking service / EBSCO / JSTOR
What you get, cont.
Luke Vilelle / Hollins University
Citation tracking Example: Double counts / Student papers /
Question marksBut it’s still a lot more than five
Google algorithm for related articlesE-mail alerts -- for a search or for new
citations of an article
What you don’t get
Luke Vilelle / Hollins University
MetadataYears (2006 or 2004, Nonsense), authors (
P. Login), publication names (RUSQ): They can all be a mess.
Which means you also get things like thisAbility to sort results by anything other than
Google relevancy rankingweighs full text of document, publisher, author,
frequency and currency of citationsA list of what’s included, or when it’s updated
GS Nature vs. Nature.com
So how does it do?
Luke Vilelle / Hollins University
Pretty darn well.Howland et al. (C&RL, 2009): Google Scholar
is on average 17% more scholarly than library subscription databases
Walters (Portal, 2009): Google Scholar performs better than most subscription databases in both recall and precision
Numerous articles focused on use of Google Scholar in particular disciplines have found it to be comparable to subject-specific databases (though not the art study)
Legal****
Luke Vilelle / Hollins University
Google search brought to law: November 2009U.S. federal courts, and state district,
appellate and supreme courtsBeware: No easy way to see if case has
been overturnedNo Shepardizing treatment
No statutes/regulations/codes (not static like opinions and articles)Justia and FindLaw: other free services, but
not as much full text of opinions***I am not a law librarian!
Patents****
Luke Vilelle / Hollins University
Included in Google Scholar search by default
Patents can also be searched separately: http://www.google.com/patents
Searching full text back to 1790 (not possible on USPTO site)OCR
Does not include published applicationsLexisNexis, USPTO, do allow searches of
these applications.****I am not a patents librarian, nor a government documents librarian!
Are libraries linking to GS?• Search box on home page
– With video for setup– Switch to new discovery tools (e.g., Summon)
• Directions for using Google Scholar• Listing on A-Z databases: Radford, Virginia
Tech, many others• On a public library website• On a public library database list
Luke Vilelle / Hollins University
Are libraries teaching GS?• In the classroom: Personal use
– In upper level classes, particularly for citation searching
– Usually not freshmen -- full-text frustration• At the reference desk: Personal use
– Invaluable part of my toolbox• Full text available somewhere?• Get a sense of what's out there?
Luke Vilelle / Hollins University
Google Books
Luke Vilelle / Hollins University
No way to exclude Google Books results in ScholarMost common other type of result to appear
in Google Scholar searchesAnd clicking on a Google Books result takes you out
of ScholarFrom publisher partnersFrom library partners
Some allow for digitization of all booksOthers only allow digitization of public domain books
What you can see
Luke Vilelle / Hollins University
Google Book displays: Full text (books no longer in copyright)
Downloadable PDFs / E-Pubs sometimes availableLimited Preview (books for which you can
view a certain number of pages: as determined by publisher agreement: no printing/copying)
Snippet View (in-copyright books scanned by Library partners)
A Word About The Legalities
• Authors, Publishers filed suit• Google and Authors/Publishers reached
settlement agreement• Many groups, including Dept. of Justice,
objected to the settlement• Hearing on amended settlement held Feb. 18;
no ruling has yet been issued
Luke Vilelle / Hollins University
A Few Uses• Tough requests made easier: when was the
term serial killer coined?• Student couldn't remember page she
paraphrased in this book• Primary sources for history classes
– How were slaves treated in Louisiana in 1850s?– Child rearing in the antebellum period
Luke Vilelle / Hollins University
Google Books alternatives
Luke Vilelle / Hollins University
HathiTrustCreated by Google’s library partnersGoogle Books, but with metadata!And some additional full text (GB vs. Hathi)
AmazonAmazon I Spy vs. GB I Spy
For public domain books: Internet Archive, Project Gutenberg, others.
Where do we go from here?• Future of Google Books is the big question• Google and Libraries
• Librarian Central Blog and Newsletter discontinued summer 2008
• Google’s short-lived library conference attendance
• Will Google Scholar ever graduate? • It was a 20% project at Google, remains that
way.• What else might be added?
• Books, Patents, Legal… what’s next?
Luke Vilelle / Hollins University
Luke VilelleWyndham Robertson Library, Hollins
Thank you SWING
Luke Vilelle / Hollins University