I can't help Wendy on her query, but I can help (some) failing
memories.
Some of you will already know about Google Scholar, but I be some of you
don't, so . . . first, here it is, Google Scholar, a search engine:
http://scholar.google.com/advanced_scholar_search
About the tool:
http://scholar.google.com/scholar/about.html
_______________________________
From Resource Shelf:
Some basic facts:
+ In a nutshell, Google has built an algorithm that makes a calculated
guess at *what it thinks* is a scholarly content mined from the OPEN
WEB, and then makes it accessible via the Google Scholar interface.
+ Precisely what makes something "scholarly" enough to be included in
Google Scholar, Google will not say. And this is not an insignificant
omission. Librarians, especially academic librarians, are *always* being
asked to provide "scholarly" material, even if customers aren't quite
sure what this means. Their instructor told them they needed articles
from "scholarly journals," so this is precisely what they ask for at the
library. As librarians, we may try to educate them about how "refereed
publications" work, but let's face it. What most of these folks really
want is to quickly download an appropriate article and beat feet out of
the library. And if they think they can get what they need from Google,
the odds are slim that they will bother with library resources at all.
College students AND professors might not know that library databases
exist, but they sure know Google.
The database vendors don't always make it easy for us, either. For
example, when searching Gale databases such as InfoTrac OneFile or
Expanded Academic ASAP, you see a check box that you can fill in if you
want to restrict your search to "refereed publications." How many of our
customers know what a "refereed publication" is? Does any instructor
ever ask his or her students to find articles from "refereed
publications"? What's up with this?
More facts:
+ Material accessible via Google Scholar can also found in the main
Google index.
+ Google Scholar results pages *will not contain advertising* -- at
least for now.
+ Some examples of material from major publishers who you'll find (we
know Google has been working with many) -- Google will not provide us
with a complete list, but look for content from ACM, IEEE, and yes, Open
Worldcat material from OCLC. We also don't know precisely what is and is
not available, date ranges, etc.
* In many cases Google will be crawling and searching the full text of
an article but users will either need to have a subscription to the
database or pay for access to an individual article.
_________________________________
Finally, a NY Times tech report:
http://tech2.nytimes.com/mem/technology/techreview.html?res=9B05E2D6143E
F936A15752C1A9629C8B63
Jamie MacKinnon
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