From: Xiaotian Chen <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2012 19:34:54 -0500

Nothing will last forever and nothing is perfect.  Google and other
free services certainly deserve the scrutiny.

However, are we using the same scrutiny for subscription-based
databases?  Besides, have we ever taken cost into consideration when
we compare library databases with free services?

---
Xiaotian Chen
Electronic Services Librarian
Bradley University
Peoria, Illinois
http://hilltop.bradley.edu/~chen/


On Thu, Sep 20, 2012 at 6:29 PM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> From: "David P. Dillard" <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2012 05:40:52 -0400
>
> I certainly hope that academic libraries would not cancel databases to
> rely on Google Scholar, despite its good qualities such as the cited
> by feature.  Google in my view can not be relied upon for
> sustainability.
>
> Consider these developments.
>
> Discountinued digitization of newspapers for the Google News Archive project.
>
> Hid Google News Archive in the date limitation feature of Google News
> Advanced Search
>
> Eliminated Google Uncle Sam, now to get a Google search anything like
> Uncle Sam one must limit to domain GOV in the advanced search of
> Google web search.
>
> Advanced search in Google Scholar has reduced features and is now a
> drop down menu in the search dialog box of Scholar that serves to
> obscure what one is typing when one types longer search strings into
> scholar.
>
> The unlabled icon that one can use to activate an institutions link
> resolver in Google Scholar now only appears on the main page where one
> types in the search and disappears after one gets search results.
>
> Multi-step searching does not exist in the Google world.
>
> In short Google du jour is a poor replacement for quality commercial
> database search tools, despite the fact that I created a major
> collection of content in my Meet the Googles scenario.
>
> *Meet the Googles
>
> http://tinyurl.com/bwbps7j
>
> *Perhaps of related interest:
>
> Russell Conwell Educational Services Center Guide Series:
>
> Information Literacy and Friends
>
> http://guides.temple.edu/aecontent.php?pid=346514&sid=2834424
>
> Sincerely,
> David Dillard
> Temple University
> [log in to unmask]
> http://workface.com/e/daviddillard
>
>
> On Wed, 19 Sep 2012, LIBLICENSE wrote:
>
> > From: Todd Grooten <[log in to unmask]>
> > Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2012 20:34:26 -0400
> >
> > I would be curious to know if anyone knows of a library that has opted
> > to cancel databases in favor of Google Scholar.  I work in a corporate
> > library so I suspect our information needs may be handled/addressed in a
> > different manner than academic libraries.
> >
> > Todd M. Grooten
> > Cataloger, Infotrieve, Inc.
> > [log in to unmask]