Rich Results from Within Google Books

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Nov 03

An interesting piece from The Atlantic reveals a newly-launched enhancement to the search functionality within Google Books. "Rich Results" factors in 100 variables to find the likeliest set of titles that match the individual user's requirements. According to the reporter, "if you search 'dragon tattoo', you get Stieg Larson's block buster, not the 2008 children's book" by that name. The article suggests that the research problem driving this enhancement to Google Books has to do with satisfying a searcher's need without the clues leveraged through links on the open Web.

With Google Editions due to launch before the close of 2010, it would appear that Google wants to see how they can improve upon the efforts of both publishers and libraries in meeting Ranganathan's challenge of "Every book its reader".