Google to index libraries

(Traditional format)

Tue Dec 14 20:12:50 2004 Google to index libraries
Posted by Tony Lawrence
Search Keys: browsing
Referencing: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a9TVWzkITJ3E&refer=us

This is pretty incredible stuff. The expectation is that you'll be able to read books that are out of copyright, and see an excerpt around your search terms for those that are not. I imagine Google will also offer you a handy link to purchase whatever books it presents.

They say it will take 9 months to a year to scan and index something between 10,000 and 100,000 books - rather a wide range, I think, and I would expect that estimate must be for the low end. Unless they've invented a robotic handler, just the human labor involved to scan the books has to be incredible. I suppose some of it is already available in digital form, but certainly not all that much.

A bunch of executives at Microsoft and Yahoo are having a very bad day. Microsoft may have the financial resources to match this, but Google has a several year head start and apparently some new technology that speeds things up.

Gosh, I feel so sorry for Microsoft, don't you?

Comments?

More Articles by Tony Lawrence - Find me on Google+

Jump to Comments

Many of the products and books I review are things I purchased for my own use. Some were given to me specifically for the purpose of reviewing them. I resell or can earn commissions from the sale of some of these items. Links within these pages may be affiliate links that pay me for referring you to them. That's mostly insignificant amounts of money; whenever it is not I have made my relationship plain. I also may own stock in companies mentioned here. If you have any question, please do feel free to contact me.

Specific links that take you to pages that allow you to purchase the item I reviewed are very likely to pay me a commission. Many of the books I review were given to me by the publishers specifically for the purpose of writing a review. These gifts and referral fees do not affect my opinions; I often give bad reviews anyway.

We use Google third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.