Data from 2007 looking at various Google services, reveals that usage of Google Scholar declined by nearly a third last year. Those who have followed Google Scholar closely, are not overly surprised, saying that there has not been enough development of the service.
Librarians and Information Professionals have consistently taken Google Scholar to task for not revealing the sources they use, questioned the citation data it produces and asked for enhanced search options. But at the same time they have taken on board the reality that it will be used by students and therefore sought to guide them to get the most out of it.
Perhaps “Googleisation” has not gone far enough. Many databases and other search tools provided by universities, still need tutorials and guides to help users get through their complex interfaces. One of the key lessons from Google Scholar may well be that users want easy-to-use services and that they do not find the process of finding / locating information as interesting as we do.
One of the other issues that something like Google Scholar raises, is how to retrieve search results at the item level and the upcoming Intute Repository Search will be a step in that direction for us. Subject communities have produced such services themselves, for example, RePec features 75% of the world’s top 1000 economists and provides access to hundreds of thousands of articles via the EconPapers service.
And how will Scholar sit in the Google family of products when their Palimpsest project comes to fruition and will they join up their work on open data and academic publications? Without significant further development it is hard to view Google Scholar as anything other than a missed opportunity.
Explore some of the debate around Google Scholar via these del.icio.us links.
Chuck says: January 24, 2008 @ 8:03 pm
As much as you would like to believe that Google Scholar is dying, I believe the data used for the TechCrunch comparison is skewed and incorrect, and it’s hard to predict whether Scholar is growing, plateauing, or decreasing.
In fact, this article from Compete shows Google Scholar has very strong seasonality: http://blog.compete.com/2007/02/20/google-properties-froogle-local-video-blog/
and TechCrunch compared Nov 06 to Nov 07 — which according to Compete is the month where Google Scholar traffic generally drops (which makes sense, because it’s nearing the end of the semester/finals).
I think someone needs to generate more accurate traffic stats to really understand what is happening with Google Scholar.
Rebecca says: February 20, 2008 @ 9:42 pm
So whens the Intute relaunch?
Linda Kerr says: February 25, 2008 @ 5:28 pm
Dear Rebecca The Intute Repository Search Service will shortly be linked to from the Intute home page. It is a beta service, which means it contains useful content and is also continually developing and adding new features. We will post a more detailed blog entry when the service is public.
Thanks for the interest and best wishes,
Linda Kerr, Intute Repository Search