The Infinite Library

From the University of Toronto Magazine:

Within just a few months, Google Scholar has established itself as a rival to powerful multinational companies such as Thomson and Elsevier that offer huge (and, for libraries, hugely expensive) databases of scholarly material. Some librarians say that Google underperforms its rivals in the currency and quantity of its search results, while others declare that its simplicity is a huge advantage.

Who knew?

Libraries search for better search engines

A lot of things are not relevant, current or unbiased when you just search online,' said Martin Kesselman, a Life Science librarian at Chang Science Library on Cook campus. 'In doing a regular Google search you're not going to find scholarly journals.' In response to this growing concern, University librarians have come up with a compromise - Google Scholar.

Emphasis mine.

Gaga over Google? Scholar in the Social Sciences

Susan writes in to note that she's co-published an article in Library Hi Tech that discusses some findings re: Scholar v. Fee-based databases in the Social Sciences. Abstract available here.

Scholar Ads

This ad appeared in at least one university newspaper. Was it in yours?

UPDATE: Gary weighs in with some thoughtful commentary.

Google Scholar adds scholarly dimension to Internet searches

From the Wilkes University student paper

Google--an Internet destination so huge it has become a common verb in the English language (as in 'Google it'). It can also be a librarian's worst nightmare.The Internet search engine has made even obscure knowledge easily accessible from the comfort of one's own home, making it virtually unnecessary for students to venture out to the library.