Inside the Google Books Algorithm

Well, I think this is a must read piece from The Atlantic:

Inside the Google Books Algorithm
The Atlantic , Nov 1 2010

“The printed volumes represented on Google Books form a completely different kind of problem. Google’s famous algorithm can’t be deployed to search through books because they don’t link to each other in the way that webpages do. There is no perfect BookRank corollary for PageRank.”

OK, head off and read it now. I’ll wait.

So – all you librarians out there – what do you think? You obviously search for and inside books all the time. You also know how to use the advanced features of the GOOG for web searching. Consider these questions:

1. Do you think an algorithm for searching books is a good idea? Obviously being able to search the full text of a book is as transformational to our enterprise as fulltext searching of news and periodical articles was in the 1980’s.
2. If you do think algorithm searching is a good idea, what would be useful components of the algorithm? Ideas could include – cover, notes, first page, full text, first page of every chapter, OCLC WorldCat record, other metadata (which ones?), author bios for disambiguation, publication date, indices, other users’ search behaviour, paid sponsorships, bestseller lists, popularity, etc.
3. What should the results returned display look like? Is a simple list OK? Do you want a preview? Do you want simple enhancements like cover jackets or previews of tables of content? How about genre coding or even a simple division between fiction and non-fiction? Should the algorithm support limits and Boolean too?
4. Hoarier questions mights include: Should publishers or bookstores be permitted to influence the rankings? (Such as you can do with SEO and SMO now with basic web search.)
4. Should advertisers be encouraged to advertise on the results or search page? How clear should those advertisements be? Can book trailers be an enhancement?
5. How about targeted ads based on your profile or search behaviour inside the book or while reading the book on an e-reader or in a browser? Should personally customized ads be included even when you purchase the book (just like a magazine but targeted to you)?

I have no inside knowledge of how this will ultimately play out with Google Books and Google Editions (and to some extent Google Scholar). Readers and young scholars are a very desirable commercial market.

Either way, we should be able to see some strong differentiation in the the positioning of libraries’ programs, databases, collections and services, and search engine offerings. Are we ready to articulate that difference and the benefits thereof?

As usual, comments are open.

Stephen