New Features on Google Book Search

by Calvin Reid -- Publishers Weekly, 6/19/2009 4:50:00 AM

Google is rolling out a set of new features for its Book Search that will make searching and previewing books even easier. Google spokesperson Jennie Johnson says that starting yesterday users can imbed a full preview of any full view title found in Google Book Search on their personal blogs and websites. This new feature makes it easier for non-techie readers to add a full preview to their sites or e-mail or text message a preview to a friend. For more information visit the Google Books blog.

Among other new features are: an enhanced search feature within the book preview that will now show more of the context around the search term and can grab any images on the page; magazines, full view and public domain books will now offer a thumbnail view that provides a miniaturized overview of every page in the book; and book previews will now offer a drop-down menu that will let the reader jump to different pages or chapters in the book. And for visually impaired readers (or for the use of text to speech software) there’s now a plain text mode that will replace an older books degraded or original typeface with a clear modernized html font for easier reading. And Johnson also reminds us that full view book previews embedded on websites or blogs or emailed to a friend, can still be purchased by using the Buy This Book button. And Google still hopes to allow consumers to buy online access to the books they've scanned by the end of the year.

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