Google adds magazines to book search

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 10 Dec 2008 at 08:42

Google has introduced scanned magazine archives to its Book search service.

US titles including Popular Science, Jet and New York Magazine are already scanned and searchable from the site, with Google promising more titles will follow.

"Over time, as we scan more articles, you'll see more and more magazines appear in Google Book Search results," the company claims on the Google blog.

"Eventually, we'll also begin blending magazine results into our main Google.com search results, so you may begin finding magazines you didn't even know you were looking for."

It seems some titles are applying caution when it comes to allowing Google to scan their valuable back catalogues, however. New York Magazine's most recent scanned issue is from December 1997, for instance, while Popular Mechanics stops at December 2005.

There are currently no British titles included in the magazine search, although it seems only a matter of time. "We think that bringing more magazines online is one more important step toward our long-standing goal of providing access to all the world's information," Google claims.

You can access Google Book Search here.