Using google books for research and teaching

Besides searching the web using Google, the google tool I use the most is Google books. I also have an iGoogle site which has usual calendar/weather plus links to RSS feeds for local NZ news, BBC news and Endgagets plus a few widgets which I use often including a currency converter, scrabble dictionary and a measurements converter. Google scholar also features high on my list of google tools to use as it augments the CPIT Proquest database for scholarly, peer-reviewed articles. I often use google scholar as a precursor to Proquest to get a feel for the researchers working in a pertinent field and then continue on with the Proquest databases.


However, I find myself using Google books at least a couple of times a day to look things up and to add to articles found on Google scholar or Proquests. Since starting the use of google books at the end of 2008, I now have over 500 books categorised into 47 bookshelves. 99% of these offer previews. Often the contents page and first introductory chapter contain enough information to follow through either with an interloan request to the library for a copy of the relevant chapter or a purchase request to the library. I am also now placing GB as a tag on to articles / books stored on Endnotes as a cross reference for me to access the relevant article or book easily.

Google books show up well on my ipod touch as well so with an ipad, the reading experience will be even better. It is really the convenience more than anything else which makes google books such a great resource. When I get the time in the future, I will contribute with reviews of books etc. as many of the books currently in my library tend to be focused on workplace learning, apprentice research, identity formation etc. which are not really books read by the general public.

I have found Google books to be a good way to ease adult education students into reading online.  I provide hyperlinks to pertinent and seminal books on Moodle as 'readings' the week before a scheduled f2f or online session. During the session we discuss a few main points I have asked the students to find out by reading a chapter in the book.  Almost always, when the class is introduced to Google books, there will be a discussion on how to read a book online, it's advantages/ disadvantages and how to later find the reading again. So using reading archived on Google books is one way to introduce tutors to the concept of ebooks. 

Digital literacy for tutors includes debates on the use of interactive white boards and mobile technology along with the availability and accessibility to digital information. These are all crucial components of the classroom of the future, whether f2f or online.  Google books is one way to introduce people to how technology has changed the way in which we are able to access information. From there, it becomes easier to springboard ideas about how to integrate technology into helping students learn better in different teaching contexts.

Google Books

During the summer, I put several weeks into extending on a first draft of my PhD thesis. One of the tasks was to ensure that all the references cited were accurate, down to page numbers for quotes. I have worked on ensuring that all the references I come across are written up on to index cards. Each index card details the bibliographical details along with pertinent page numbers etc. of relevant quotes. An important part of the index cards is information on where I found the journal or book. This is so that if I need to return to the source I will be able to do so. All of the information is eventually transported across to Endnotes which makes citing and referencing much easier.

Well, as usual, I missed a few but then I found Google Books offers limited previews of many of the books I needed to get back to. So I managed to find all the pertinent missed pages by looking them up on Google books. This caused me to explore the capabilities of Google books for further reading. I set up my library over a couple of hours of browsing. Now, most of the books are but a couple of clicks away instead of a trip to the university library on wet weekends. However, nothing beats browsing a shelf of books & being able to serendipitously unearth books that are real gems.

The ability to access such a large number of books is a real asset for all educators and researchers. Even though most of the books are only available as ‘limited preview’ there is enough provided in the books to provide a good sense of the overall content of the book. I have already referred a number of books I found & previewed on to our library’s list of books to obtain. The ability to set up a library also provides educators with the ability to build specific libraries that their students can dip into as well. All of which leads to less trees being felled to provide ‘readings’ to students. The advantage of having all the content online also means that I am able to (if I wanted) access my library on my phone which came in useful over the weekend when discussing evolution with a walking friend. I was able to access my library & show her a copy of Richard Dawkins – The selfish gene while we were up on the Port Hills 300m plus above Christchurch. Layout of the webpage was a bit wonky but I see today that Google books is now configured & available to Adroid & iphone users. Hopefully they are going to set out a Windows Mobile version soon.