Google Books

SEARCH WORDS

1. Define search words as precisely as possible.
2. Avoid noise-generating words (i.e. words that are vague or have multiple meanings)
3. The search itself may help identify the vocabulary and concepts suitable to a subject and/or the terms to be rejected. While searching, collect systematically new relevant words.
4. Translate words in languages that are search-relevant, at least in English.
The quality of the search depends essentially on the words chosen.

BASIC PRINCIPLES

1. When search words are entered without specific syntax in the standard search window, all or part of the specified words are retrieved.
2. Stop words (the, of, in, an…), lower/upper case letters, accents and other diacritical signs are ignored.
3. Quotation marks allow searching for exact phrasing.
4. Truncation does not exist.
5. When using operators, syntax and lower/upper casing must be strictly respected. Spaces are important: words combined must be separated by a single space and a search operator must always be attached to the word it relates to. The operator OR must always be in capital letters.
6. Results are sorted by relevance.

GOOGLE BOOKS

CONTENT: Google Books is a reservoir of all kinds of books but many academic and scientific works from selected partner libraries (Harvard, Oxford, Stanford, BCU Lausanne, …) can also be found. Journal archives are also digitalised.

SOURCES: There are two types of sources for these books. Google Books has a partnership agreement with editors who wish to promote their books on line and with important libraries who wish to have their collections digitalised and the information passed on.

ACCESS: Google Books helps to identify and locate documents; full text can sometimes be visualised. Access to books is subject to their copyrights. There are four types of displays: display of the entire book, display of excerpts, limited display and no display.

GOOGLE BOOKS ADVANCED SEARCH

Google Books allows advanced searching by means of an advanced search interface or by advanced operators.

GOOGLE BOOKS ADVANCED SEARCH INTERFACE

The advanced search interface is similar to Google’s, it allows to:
DEFINE the number of results displayed per page.
REFINE the search by filling out certain fields (blue zone) with search words.
RESTRICT the search by specifying the language, title, author, editor, date, ISBN or ISSN. 

RECHERCHER DANS
Restricts the search according to the document’s access rights.

CONTENU
Restricts the search to one of the two types of Google Books documents: books or journals.

GOOGLE BOOKS ADVANCED OPERATORS

Most advanced Google operators apply to Google Books. The following operators are particularly useful when searching Google Books.

word1 +word2 +word3
Displays results containing all the words.
The + operator ensures that results include numbers, letters or stop words that the Google technology generally ignores

word1 -word2
Displays results containing word1 but not word2.

« phrase »
Displays only results matching the exact phrase.

word1 OR word2 OR word3
Displays results containing at least one of the words.

intitle:word and allintitle:word1 word2 word3
Restricts the search to pages (<TITLE> tag) containing the specified word or words.

author:author
The author operator displays documents written by the specified person. It is useful when the author’s name is also a common name. The search can be refined by placing the author’s complete name between quotation marks.

GOOGLE BOOKS RESULTS

Results are displayed as titles of books (in blue) with the author’s name, the year of edition, and the number of pages (in black). A click on the title or on the image gives access to the document with additional information.
Book access is displayed under the author line; there are four types:

1. AFFICHAGE DU LIVRE ENTIER
Displays the digitalised book in its entirety. In some cases, full text can be obtained and can be downloaded in PDF format, exported and printed.

2. AFFICHAGE D’EXTRAITS
Displays at most three very short excerpts of the text containing the search words. The rechercher dans ce livre fonction can be repeated.

3. APERCU LIMITE
The number of pages that can be visualised is determined by the copyright holders. It is usually possible to access numerous pages and large excerpts.

4. AUCUN APERCU DISPONIBLE
No display available, but the result is often associated with numerous and useful headings that allow to expand or restart the search.

A PROPOS DE CE LIVRE
Each result is associated with a page called « à propos de ce livre » which gives information from automated procedures analysing the book or from other sources. This metadata is available depending on the selected title and appears under the following headings:

Ajouter à ma bibliothèque – It is possible to create one’s own library from Google Books search results if one has a Google account (free registration). Selected titles can be sorted, annotated, evaluated and a full text search can be made. The collection thus created is accessible on line, it can be shared by means of a link or flux RSS. Added annotations and evaluations are automatically made public.

Autres éditions – Displays other editions held by Google Books as well as their type of access (display of the entire book, display of excerpts, limited display and no display).

Avis – Displays editorial and users’ comments on the book as well as marks (stars) from 1 to 5. By clicking on « Rédiger un commentaire », a comment can be added which will be published in this section.

Expressions et termes fréquents – Displays the words that appear most often in the book as a cloud of tags. These words can be useful to refine or restart a search. 

Lieux mentionnés dans ce livre – Displays a Google map pointing to places mentioned in the book.

Livres sur des sujets connexes – Displays books by the same author, on the same subject, data about the author or about the book.

Meilleurs passages – Displays most cited excerpts, often the most famous..

Pages sélectionnées – Displays selected pages, mostly title pages and tables of contents.

Plus d'informations sur le livre – Displays the usual bibliographic data: title, author’s name, editor’s name, date, number of pages but also information about the location of the digitalised copy and digitalisation date.

Présentation du livre – This corresponds to the back cover, or a summary of the book with sometimes a comment or an evaluation.

Rechercher dans ce livre – A window allowing to retrieve the number of times the search word has occurred in the book. Fragments where the search words appear are generally visible. This feature is useful when attempting to spot a relevant excerpt or locating a citation.

Références à ce livre – Displays articles or books from Google Scholar or Google Books mentioning that particular book.

Références issues de pages Web – Corresponds to a Google Advanced Search generated automatically. Results are fairly relevant and allow to restart or expand a search.

Se procurer ce livre – Allows to find a copy of the book, either in a bookstore or in a libary. Works with the UNIGE resolver and gives access to the Geneva library network catalogue.

Table des matières – Displays the book’s table of contents.