Earlier this week, Jessamyn posted an excerpt from the Playboy interview with Google founders Sergei Brin and Larry Page. Brin said, “Actually, more and more librarians love Google. They use it. They do an excellent job helping people find answers on the Internet in addition to using their book collections.”
I use Google almost every day. I like the interface and the search results listing, and usually I’m looking for something specific. Plus it’s integrated into my browser (without the annoying toolbar). I don’t use it for academic research, though. I wouldn’t use it to help a student do research, except as a finding tool for a resource I know should be online somewhere (like government information). I digress. I did not intend this to be a libraries v. Google rant.
What I take issue with in his statement is the implication that the only thing libraries have to offer to supplement Google is books. Books are great sources of vetted information that every researcher should use. However, in addition to books, libraries provide access to scholarly journals and indexing resources that are not on the public Internet. Libraries are more than books, and it is apparent that Brin either has forgotten this or does not want others to remember it, since it’s in his best interest if Google takes precedence over, say, EBSCOhost or InfoTrac.
