Here’s a neat use of Google Books. The NYLS library now adds a Google Books link to its catalog web page whenever there’s an ISBN match between the title and an item in the Google Books database. That way, you can preview the book (to the extent Google allows) before visiting the library for the full thing. Here’s an example, using David Nimmer’s Copyright Illuminated: Refocusing the Diffuse US Statute. That’s $238 if you buy it direct from the publisher, so from my perspective it’s a good thing the NYLS library has a copy. When I go to the catalog page for it, there’s a link in the right margin with a Google logo that says “More about this title,” which opens the Google Books page in a frame. Very clever.
It may be “neat” James, but in my case, to me, it is an unauthorized commercial use of my name and my work by a library. The University of Wisconsin-Madison Library catalogue pages are much bolder in their Google Books endorsement than the NYLS Library. This link — More Information At Google Books — is from “my” page at the UW-Madison Library. There for a few weeks in the fall the university had removed the link but it has now reappeared. In a letter dated November 17, 2009 the chancellor of the university, Ms. Carolyn “Biddy” Martin stated:
Following up on various communications between you and library staff members, all files of your book have been deleted by Google Books and the university-managed digital repository (known as the Hathi Trust). Both Google Books and the Hathi Trust repository have deleted the bibliographic record of your book.
I would be interested to know what information is still available to those who can log onto the university’s online library databases, after all if the Google link can reappear… Douglas Fevens, Halifax, Nova Scotia The University of Wisconsin, Google, & Me