Library Tips: an occasional newsletter

Morrisville State College of Agriculture and Technology

October 7, 2005                                 Back Issues: http://library.morrisville.edu/tips/

This newsletter is sent out via e-mail to all faculty, staff, and students.  Its purpose is to announce new library services and other items of interest to you.  Please send comments to Bill Drew: drewwe@morrisville.edu.

Google & Libraries

If you’ve read any recent news about the Internet and research technology, you’ve likely heard of Google Scholar. You’ve probably also heard librarians say that libraries contain a breadth and depth of information that is not available on the web. Academic libraries have vast collections of journals, magazines, databases, books, theses and dissertations, CDs, videos, DVDs, and audio materials that you can’t get from the Internet. Popular search engines are wonderful tools, and properly used can be an excellent step in the research process, but librarians and information professionals know ‘not everything is in Google.’

What is Google Scholar?

In late 2004 Google introduced a beta service called Google Scholar that began the process of providing access to research quality resources. Google Scholar enables specific searches of scholarly literature previously available only via subscription.

Recently an institutional access feature was added to Google Scholar, which links its users to electronic and print versions of journals contained in library collections. By partnering with Google Scholar, libraries can have their materials included in the results of a Google search.  Students and faculty with library privileges can access these resources without having to pay fees to download search results.

Sounds like a great idea and looks good on paper! But before you fire up the Google search engine, it’s important for you to know that Google Scholar is still in beta testing.

What Google Scholar can not do
 
As the Google Scholar beta database grows, it is unclear when or how frequently it is updated.  The lag time between publishing and getting items into the database is unresolved.  And most importantly, the criteria used to decide what will or will not be included in the database has not been finalized. In fact, rather than an editorial department or a publisher making these decisions, it is the Google machine itself doing the resource selection.

Librarians testing Google Scholar have found that it rarely includes all the offerings from publishers. As a result, it frequently misses many of the quality resources that are accessible to researchers in solid library collections.

Although Google Scholar claims to cover broad areas of research, early evaluations reveal an emphasis on science and technology, with lighter coverage on the arts, humanities, and social sciences. Medical researchers and physicians in particular have been cautioned by medical associations not to rely on Google Scholar exclusively.

In his recent column On the Net (ONLINE magazine, July/August 2005), librarian and author Greg Notess had this to say in comparing Google Scholar to Scirus, another web-based research tool:

“For the unaffiliated scholar, these tools provide both opportunity and frustration. The opportunity? These scholars can use both tools to search for resources. The frustration comes when a specific document is found, but it is available online instantaneously only for those willing and able to pay.  Strangely enough, both of these tools may work better for the affiliated scholar. With all the subscriptions available on campus based on IP access authentication, the campus-based researcher finds that the links in Google Scholar work seamlessly, providing direct access to the full-text articles.”

What it means to you

The search engine technology and concept behind Google Scholar and its library partners hold great promise for everyone. As the service matures and processes are refined, locating information in any library anywhere anytime will become easier and more robust.

Until Google Scholar moves from its beta test phase into a refined service, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

Recognize that Google Scholar is another tool available to you as an information user. It is not the end all – be all.

Listen to your librarian. Ask if the resources you need are available through Google Scholar.

Never assume your research is complete if you use Google Scholar. Check other resources and compare results.

Value your library and its collections.  The fact that Google is bringing libraries into its circle of resources and working with librarians confirms there is more valuable information beyond what a popular search engine can find.

Note:

Morrisville College Libraries is participating in Google Scholar as part of the Beta testing. Use it at your own risk since it does not point to all of our resources yet and will not for quite awhile. If you do use it, be sure to select Morrisville College from the pulldown list so that you can get to our resources.

Below is the search results if you search for Morrisville.

Copyright 2005. This article is reproduced with the kind permission of Emerald Group Publishing and its Library Link service. (http://www.emeraldinsight.com/librarylink ) This article may be reprinted in its entirety, in paper or electronic format, as long as this statement accompanies the reprint.