Google Book Search features links to WorldCat

Google Book Search now includes "Find this book in a library" links that lead to the free Web version of WorldCat.

The Google Book Search now features links to WorldCat's free Web service. The Google service, which lets you search the full text of books provided by participating libraries and publishers, includes "Find this book in a library" links that lead to the WorldCat Web record for an item. There you can enter a geographic identifier such as postal code and receive a list of nearby libraries that hold the item.

The "Find this book in a library" link to WorldCat typically appears in the right-hand column of any Google Book Search "view," beneath descriptive information for a book (title, authors) and "Buy this book" purchase options.

The WorldCat link appears within all four available Google Book views:

• the Full View offering access to the full content of a digitized title;
• the Limited Preview that lets you read only several pages of the book;
• the Snippet View that contextually presents passages of the book which contain your search terms; and
• the basic record view which does not feature a content preview.

Advanced Book Search also has Library Catalogs option

Google's Advanced Book Search also now allows you to limit a search to "Library Catalogs." Results produced by this limited search contain "Find libraries" links that lead to the WorldCat Web record for each item. (Some search results may also include links to other non-U.S. national catalogs.)

(2006 09 26)