In This Chapter

As great as Google is for the average Internet user, it can also be a librarian’s worst nightmare. Many students and researchers are abandoning bricks-and-mortar libraries (as well as proprietary online research services) in favor of Google’s free online searches. Almost any piece of information, it seems, can be found with a standard Google web search.

Or can it?

Google’s web search engine indexes only that part of the Internet that is accessible to the general public. It doesn’t access the tons of information stored in private research databases, or that exists in print journals and reference books found only in university and research libraries. Although you could use Google to conduct research or write a scholarly paper, the amount of true scholarly information available to you would be limited—and difficult to separate from all the home-grown information out there. Google, it seems, is more for the hobbyist than for the serious student or professional researcher.

To their credit, the folks at Google recognized this deficiency and acted on it. The result is a relatively new service called Google Scholar. Google Scholar enables anyone—students, researchers, even the general public—to search a database of scholarly journals and articles free of charge. Now students and researchers can conduct their research from the comfort of their dorm rooms and offices, without having to trudge down to the local library.