Tuesday, September 18

Google Book Search Camtasia Tutorial (Rich Hoeg)

Tutorial (PDF Version): http://econtent.typepad.com/GoogleBooks/Google-Book-Search.html
Google Book Search: http://books.google.com/
Google Book Advanced Search: http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search

WHAT?
Search the full text of books to find ones that interest you and learn where to buy or borrow them.

HOW?
Book Search works just like web search: Try a search on Google Book Search or on Google.com. When they find a book whose content contains a match for your search terms, They'll link to it in your search results. Clicking on a book result, you'll be able to see everything from a few short excerpts to the entire book, depending on a few different factors.

VIEW?
  • Full view: If we've determined that a book is out of copyright, or the publisher or rightsholder has given us permission, you'll be able to page through the entire book from start to finish, as many times as you like. If the book is in the public domain, you'll also be able download, save and print a PDF version to read at your own pace.
  • Limited preview: If a publisher or author has joined our Partner Program, you'll be able to see a few full pages from the book as a preview. You can conduct multiple searches within the book, or browse through the available pages (there's a limit to the amount of the book you can view online).
  • Snippet view: Clicking on the book result, you'll be taken to the 'About this book' page. If you choose to search within the book, for each search term we'll display up to three snippets of text from the book, showing your search term in context. You can enter additional searches to help you decide whether you've found the right book. As always in Book Search, you'll see links to places where you can buy or borrow the book.
  • No preview available: For books where we're unable to show you snippets, you'll see an 'About this book' page displaying bibliographic information about the book, plus links to help you find it in a bookstore or library.

JUICE?
Look out for the new yummy "My Library" option discussed in the juicy screencast tutorial below. This option allows the user to save books to one's own personal bookshelf, and also share those books via RSS.

REFLECTION TIME!
Actually, I just wanted to share with you a great screencast by Rich Hoeg on how to use Google Book Search effectively. I suppose most of us have tried it, but then again how many of us know how to use it effectively to facilitate our learning?

Although, it is not as funny as the 5-minute University, I am pretty sure that this 5-minute Camtasia tutorial might have a greater impact on the way we access and learn from books :)

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