You Can Never Have Too Many Books!

Last fall I wrote about the treasures found at AbeBooks.com. Another resource I use for books is Google Books.

Often, I use the two resources together. I tend to search for books by state and county: Brookings, South Dakota, for example. Then I look at the listings and read descriptions to find books that I am interested in. Other interesting searches can be done using terms like "norwegian immigration" or "icelandic immigrants."

If I find a book on AbeBooks.com that I want to buy, I check first to make sure it is not already available at Google Books.

There are some excellent resources available for free on Google Books. Many can be downloaded and saved locally for future reference. But once the books have been downloaded they can't be searched as easily. The books can still be searched online however.

In order to find free books, first perform a search. On the results page, choose "Search tools" from the menu across the top of the results page. From "Any books" drop down menu choose "Free Google ebooks."

The resulting list will show books that are generally available for download. There are many family history books, local history books, or books that have information about immigration and emigration.


Why are only some of the books free? According to Google Books, "If the book is out of copyright, or the publisher has given us permission, you'll be able to see a preview of the book, and in some cases the entire text. If it's in the public domain, you're free to download a PDF copy."

Where does Google Books get the books? There are two projects listed:

"The Library Project's aim is simple: make it easier for people to find relevant books – specifically, books they wouldn't find any other way such as those that are out of print – while carefully respecting authors' and publishers' copyrights. Our ultimate goal is to work with publishers and libraries to create a comprehensive, searchable, virtual card catalog of all books in all languages that helps users discover new books and publishers discover new readers."

"The Google Books Partner Program is a free marketing program that enables publishers and authors to promote their books online, through Google Books. By submitting a digital or physical copy of your book to be displayed online, you'll make it discoverable to Google users from around the world."


Note that information in italics is taken directly from Google's website describing Google Books and the two projects listed.