EOTO Feedback, Part 1

I am very interested in the topic discussed on Bart Wojdynski’s blog about Google’s fledgling print database program. The program, which is moving forward despite pending decisions on its legality, is one that will give the internet a comprehensive search tool that allows for print only media to be included.

Amazon.com uses a similar search function to sell books. When you search for a topic or phrase on Amazon, it will take you to a passage of the relevant books with the phrase highlighted. It is not as comprehensive as what Google is proposing, but it is extremely useful nonetheless. It is so useful in fact; that I have taken to searching Amazon’s database for useful sources before switching over to the UNC library database to see if the book is available for within the UNC library system.

I whole heartedly agree with Bart’s hope that “publishers and authors alike should recognize that any vehicle that could potentially help them sell books is worth a try. By allowing searching of internal content, users may find books they would never find using a title search alone.” With media moving towards being packaged digitally, I would think this would be a good stepping stone for books and other print-based materials to take baby step into the digital world until they can figure out security measures for electronic delivery of books to become more mainstream.