Tony Horava, Collections Coordinator, Library Network
There is considerable buzz in the media and among library staff as to what Google Scholar means for the future of libraries. Google Scholar is the new search engine, still in beta version, that allows the user to restrict his or her search to the scholarly portion of the Web.
Google Scholar builds upon its reputation as a simple, easy-to-use search engine that is often the first choice of students for their information needs. It brings these researchers to scholarly content, as well as providing links to some library holdings.
What are libraries most concerned about?
The downside of Google Scholar is that the search results only represent a small subset of available research. Researchers using only Google Scholar will miss a vast array of full-text electronic resources.
The Library Network now licenses access to over 30,000 full-text titles (journals and e-books). The Scholars Portal, developed by Ontario universities, gives access to more than 7,000,000 articles from 5,500 full-text journals via an easy search interface and with the added ability to save references into RefWorks to prepare and format bibliographies. The Portal is a single point of access to the scholarly resources of the 20 participating universities and will include specialized databases, government documents, geospatial data and full-text journals and books.
In its current form, Google Scholar will provide researchers with references to scholarly information, but access to the complete text usually comes with a price tag: payment is required. Google Scholar downloads the cost of research onto the individual and adds to the costs of post-secondary education.
The Google developers have already demonstrated a willingness to collaborate with academia to ensure that researchers get the best of both worlds. What is needed is the ability to seamlessly view our libraries’ resources from the Google Scholar results list. The library community recognizes the value of Google Scholar and is now identifying opportunities to build on the “brand recognition” associated with Google searching.
