Saturday, November 05, 2005
Google Library Project
Aaghh! Why didn't this kind of stuff exist when I was in high school and college? The folks at Google are establishing a system that will make searchable nearly every book in print, the Google Library Project. For my highly literate critique, I will say: it's awesome.
From what I understand, every book in print but no longer under copyright (which includes pretty much anything written pre-1900, plus more) will be available in its entirety. Is your English instructor having you read Jane Eyre? Forgot the book in your locker or don't want to buy it? Whoop...there it is. I see this being an especially nice thing for schools. Teachers can assign books without bankrupting their schools' budgets. A copy of Jane Eyre (or whatever the kids read these days) would cost the school under a buck to print up. If memory serves, the average novel used in schools is a hardcover which costs around $5 to $10 and lasts only a few years (there is a high turnover due to unreturned books). At a dollar each, schools could print up copies for the kids to keep and still save money. Plus students would have the benefit of being able to go highlighter-crazy.
The other aspect of this project is a bit more difficult to explain but nearly as good. Remember all of those long trips to the library, desperately searching through the card catalog, searching for a book on your topic? Well, the publishers' aspect of this system is making their current books available for purchase. I have not yet had a chance to navigate through the beta version but it looks like I could search for a topic or series of words and have books containing those things come up. I could then view the relevant page in the book(s). The idea is that I'd scream, "Eureka! I must buy this book!" And I'm sure that will happen on occasion. But more important for the average student, one could complete research and have complete references for a bibliography without ever leaving home.
Click here to try it out.
From what I understand, every book in print but no longer under copyright (which includes pretty much anything written pre-1900, plus more) will be available in its entirety. Is your English instructor having you read Jane Eyre? Forgot the book in your locker or don't want to buy it? Whoop...there it is. I see this being an especially nice thing for schools. Teachers can assign books without bankrupting their schools' budgets. A copy of Jane Eyre (or whatever the kids read these days) would cost the school under a buck to print up. If memory serves, the average novel used in schools is a hardcover which costs around $5 to $10 and lasts only a few years (there is a high turnover due to unreturned books). At a dollar each, schools could print up copies for the kids to keep and still save money. Plus students would have the benefit of being able to go highlighter-crazy.
The other aspect of this project is a bit more difficult to explain but nearly as good. Remember all of those long trips to the library, desperately searching through the card catalog, searching for a book on your topic? Well, the publishers' aspect of this system is making their current books available for purchase. I have not yet had a chance to navigate through the beta version but it looks like I could search for a topic or series of words and have books containing those things come up. I could then view the relevant page in the book(s). The idea is that I'd scream, "Eureka! I must buy this book!" And I'm sure that will happen on occasion. But more important for the average student, one could complete research and have complete references for a bibliography without ever leaving home.
Click here to try it out.
