MSNBC-Google's Two Revolutions

Google's" Two Revolutions
The goal is to have everything at your fingertips, instantly available to anyone who wants to see it.
By Steven Levy
Newsweek
Dec. 27 / Jan. 3 issue

"If it weren't for the war, and the terrorism and the election, 2004 might well be remembered as the Year of Search. Maybe it will anyway. If we get through these rocky times with civilization's underpinnings intact, our descendants, swimming in total information, might be required to memorize the date of last August's Google IPO as a cultural milestone. Except that in the post-Google era, memorization will be obsolete, because even the most obscure fact will be instantly retrievable."

Google Scholar...some articles
The Krafty Librarian

"Here are some articles on Google Scholar:

Payne, Doug. Google Scholar welcomed: New academic search service is applauded but librarians, academics have some reservations.


Quint, Barbara. Google Scholar Focuses on Research-Quality Content.


A blog from a student on Google Scholar"

On Google Scholar

TJ Sondermann, a Wheaton College (MA) librarian, started a blog "wherein a librarian tracks a paradigm shift. Love it or hate it, the effect will be profound."

Here's her 1st post:

"So. I think we'd all agree that what happened on on November 18, 2004 will have a profound impact on the world of scholarly research. Both within the world of libraries and (perhaps more importantly) outside of it. What I'd like to do with this blog is have it serve as a repository for all things Google Scholar."

Late Night Thoughts on Google Scholar
LibraryCog

"I was going to make my next post a description of how to set up a mirror for using the Google Desktop, but I couldn't resist a few brief comments on the Google Scholar and some late night scripting. There has been a flurry of e-mail on Web4Lib and at least one library review is already in, but I am on the heels of a colloquium as well as a public lecture by the remarkable Carol Donley, so I haven't done more than a cursory reading of the library reaction to this development tonight. Despite this, here are a few thoughts and at least one 'proof of concept' to suggest that this could be a positive tool for libraries (and to be honest, it's now the next morning, I was too tired to finish this post last night)."

'Google Scholar' is Born
ResourceShelf
By Shirl Kennedy and Gary Price

"The world of online 'scholarly' research is changing today as Google introduces Google Scholar. This specialized new interface -- which will NOT be linked from Google's main search page -- will allow users to search a treasure chest of 'scholarly material.'

As you've read here many times, Google is brilliant (that is, ingenious at marketing and trying new things), and this is yet another example of their savvy. This is something that some other large web engine(s) could have done years ago to help separate themselves from other players and also provide a useful service. No one did it. Now, others will likely play catch-up with Google. Basically, users of Google Scholar can, via a single search location, access content from 'scholarly' materials found on the OPEN WEB that they've found in the Google crawl of the web. Btw, it might also be time to take another look at what has traditionally thought of as 'scholarly' since some of the material in Google Scholar is not 'scholarly' using a traditional definition."

Scholarsportal vs Google Scholar

"You may have already have heard Google Scholar launched today. The buzz is so strong that I have already heard from one university staff member who floated the suggestion to integrate our university's websites with the services of Google Scholar. And so, I think today it would be appropriate to launch a Scholarsportal counter-offensive for the hearts and minds of our students and researchers. This is some of the the text of an email that I sent to the person suggesting the university integrate its webpages with Google Scholar:

Scholarsportal.info - a set of over 7 million scholarly articles and services provided by the Leddy Library and the other university libraries of Ontario (OCUL) - is only a half-step behind what Google Scholar in some areas and is even several steps ahead of Google Scholar in others ways."

Security hole found in Google desktop search
InfoWorld
December 20, 2004
By Scarlet Pruitt, IDG News Service

"Flaw found in beta version could allow third parties to access users' search result summaries
Researchers at Rice University have discovered what they say is a flaw in the beta version of Google's Desktop Search product that could allow third parties to access users' search result summaries, providing a sneak peek at part of the content of personal files."

Google's latest tool offers both promise and peril
newsobserver.com | Business
By PAUL GILSTER

"There's a lot to be said about Google's new Desktop Search program, not all of it good. Technology is always like this: A startling and effective tool -- like e-mail -- changes our lives, but then creates colossal problems, like spam. The new Google program is marvelous, and dangerous."

Google and God's Mind
December 17, 2004

COMMENTARY
Los Angeles Times
By Michael Gorman
Michael Gorman is dean of library services at Cal State Fresno and president-elect of the American Library Assn.

The problem is, information isn't knowledge.
"The boogie-woogie Google boys, it appears, dream of taking over the universe by gathering all the 'information' in the world and creating the electronic equivalent of, in their own modest words, 'the mind of God.' If you are taken in by all the fanfare and hoopla that have attended their project to digitize all the books in a number of major libraries (including the University of Michigan and New York Public), you would think they are well on their way to godliness.

I do not share that opinion. The books in great libraries are much more than the sum of their parts. They are designed to be read sequentially and cumulatively, so that the reader gains knowledge in the reading."

Oxford-Google digitisation agreement

From Bodleian Library:

"After more than a year of discussions and negotiations, the University of Oxford has concluded a mass-digitisation agreement with Google, Inc., of Mountain View, California, which should lead, over the next three years in the first instance, to the digitisation of more than 1 million of the Bodleian Library's printed books, and their worldwide availability on the Internet, through Google's popular search services and the Oxford website.

Because of copyright restrictions and intellectual property issues, the agreement between Google and Oxford covers only 'public domain' materials (i.e. printed books for which the copyright has expired - principally, books published before 1920), and it will involve the establishment in Oxford, by Google, of a digital scanning and processing unit which, when fully operational, should be capable of producing as many as 10,000 electronic books per week."

Google Checks Out Library Books

"MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - December 14, 2004 - As part of its effort to make offline information searchable online, Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced that it is working with the libraries of Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan, and the University of Oxford as well as The New York Public Library to digitally scan books from their collections so that users worldwide can search them in Google."

Majestic on GOOG: Brother, Can You Share a Dime?
John Battelle's Searchblog:

"On average, Google gets nearly a dime for every search it serves in the US."