Google Scholar

Like many others, I have been astounded by the recent introduction of the Google Scholar search service. This service will have enormous ramifications for libraries and I am already thinking of how we can harness it and present it to users. Some in my profession are running around like Chicken Little, crying out that the sky is falling. I have a different view, one that is more positive. For one thing, this is good news for things I feel passionately about, especially open access publishing. For another, my hope is that the Google Scholar service will help to finally break us out of longstanding mold of being locked into pricey subscriptions to proprietary library databases. I have a lot of questions about the service but I am really pleased to see it develop.