Library 2.0 Gang 04/08: Google Book Search API

Originally posted on 8th April 2008 on the Talis Library 2.0 Gang Podcast.

Google Book Search has created much interest since its appearance as Google Print back in 2004. Recently they released an API to enable the embedding of Google Book Search resources in to sites, not least library OPACs.

This month’s gang Oren Beit-Arie, Tim Spalding, Warwick Cathro, John Blyberg, and Carl Grant are joined by guest Google Product Manager, Frances Haugen who gives an interesting insight in to the thinking behind and application of the API. During the conversation Frances suggests that those who wish to offer comments about and suggestions for future API developments should contact her by mail - fhaugen@google.com.

The Gang also discuss how services such as Google Book Search, The Open Library, LibraryThing, and others may be indicators of how in the future library systems will increasingly use globally based services to handle resources traditionally held locally.

Dan Chudnov :: Library Geeks 003 - That Thing You Do

Originally posted by Dan Chudnov on August 31, 2006.

Abby Blachly and Tim Spalding of LibraryThing joined me last week for Library Geeks episode 003 - The Thing You Do. The goal was to have it posted in time to sync with LibraryThing's first birthday, but, better late than never. Happy birthday LibraryThing!

Our conversation covered a lot of ground, from privacy, tagging, and bookkeeping to Cutter codes and, yes, even marshmallows. Even edited down some, it's well over an hour, but I hope you'll agree that their project and what they have to say about it is so compelling that it's worth the extra time.

Jon Udell :: A conversation with John Wilkin about the Michigan/Google digitization project

Originally posted by Jon Udell on December 1, 2006.

My guest for this week's podcast is John Wilkin. He's the director of the University of Michigan Library's technology department, and coordinator of the library's joint digitization project with Google. It's been two years since Google began partnering with the University of Michigan and with other libraries, including Harvard and the New York Public Library. In this conversation we talk about the UM's earlier (and still-ongoing) efforts to digitize its 7-million-volume library, about how the partnership with Google has radically accelerated that process, and about what this is all going to mean for libraries, for publishers, for Google, and for all of us.

Web resources mentioned in the podcast include:

• JSTOR, a Mellon Foundation project chartered to "build a reliable and comprehensive digital archive of important scholarly journal literature"
• Making of America, "a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction"
• The Michigan Digitization Project, and in particular the contract between UM and Google
• Distributed Proofreaders, which "provides a web-based method of easing the proofreading work associated with the digitization of Public Domain books into Project Gutenberg e-books"