Following an extended collaboration between the Harvard University Library (HUL) and Google, a Harvard-customized version of Google Book Search (GBS) is now online. This new version of GBS offers users the option to search the full text of all books available in Google Book Search—whether contributed by Harvard, another library, or the publisher.

Users of GBS for Harvard will see “Find at Harvard University” links displayed with every item in a search-result set. By clicking these links, library users reach individual catalog records when exact matches are found in HOLLIS—together with information on location and availability within the Harvard library system. If an exact match in HOLLIS is not found, a pre-populated HOLLIS search screen opens, making it easy for the patron to launch a new HOLLIS search session.

Internet users can access GBS for Harvard from the “Harvard Libraries” portal or by a direct link to
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.eresource:googlebk.

Google Book Search for Harvard is also incorporated in “E-Research @ Harvard Libraries” as a new entry on the “Quick Jump” e-resource list. Users with current Harvard IDs and PINs can access the full text of e-books licensed by Harvard. Users will be taken directly to the full text of the e-books selected.

“For libraries,” stated Tracey Robinson, head of HUL’s Office for Information Systems, “one of the great promises of Google Book Search is the ability to find books by searching the full text of the works—and not just using the metadata on which library users have traditionally relied. This enhanced access to books in the Harvard collections was among the benefits sought by the University when it began to collaborate with Google in 2004. It is gratifying to have achieved this important goal.”

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