Google Books Citation – Is it an actual book?

I have found information online for which I am trying to create a citation. However, my source has me confused.

Goucher College (previously named The Woman’s College of Baltimore) published an Annual Program. Some of these Programs are available electronically through Google Books. It appears to me that what Google did when digitizing this series of Annual Programs was to create a single eBook that contains digitized copies of several individual Programs. I am fairly confident from scanning the image that the eBook does not, in fact, represent an actual published book. The book in question is found here: http://books.google.com/books?id=haLOAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

I found important information for my research in the Nineteenth Annual Program published in 1907. My dilemma is how to cite a book that was found online as a component of a digitally created eBook. I know I want to cite the actual Annual Program that I contains the information that is critical to me. If I were to create a reference note based on this, it might look like this:

Example 1: Woman’s College of Baltimore, Nineteenth Annual Program of the Woman’s College of Baltimore 1907 (Baltimore, Maryland: Munder–Thomsen Company, 1907), 73, digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com : accessed 15 November 2014).

The problem with this reference note is that the book in question, Nineteenth Annual … is actually found in an eBook that is apparently named Announcements: Goucher College, Woman’s College of Baltimore. When I look at the Bibliographic Information provided by Google Books, they print the title as simply Announcements followed by a hyperlink to a list of related books. They show the Author of the eBook as Goucher College, the Publisher as Goucher College, 1904 (which is misleading since the Woman’s College of Baltimore was not renamed Goucher College until 1910,) the copies were provided by the University of Michigan, and they were digitized Jan 5, 2009. So now that I have relevant information about the eBook, what do I do with it? So I turned to EE.

I found myself in the section for E-Books which then sent me to 12.79. Since what I have is multiple works combined into one, I also looked at 12.80 which I don’t think applies since these are separate books rather than multiple volumes of a single work. So I thought maybe this fits better in Series & Occasional Works starting at 12.84, but again that does not feel quite right. So unless I have missed something I am thinking I should use what I have as models and build my own, based on the principles of layered citations in QuickLesson 19.

Example 2: Woman’s College of Baltimore, Nineteenth Annual Program of the Woman’s College of Baltimore 1907 (Baltimore, Maryland: Munder–Thomsen Company, 1907), 73; consulted as Announcements — Goucher College, Woman’s College of Baltimore, digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com : accessed 15 November 2014).

I have two questions:

Is Example 2 a better approach than Example 1 for creating my reference note?

If Example 2 (with appropriate corrections) is the correct approach, I am unsure how to create my source list entry: is my lead element Goucher College, or is it Woman’s College of Baltimore, or is it Google Books?

Thanks!

Tom

Submitted byEEon Sun, 11/16/2014 - 15:51

Tom,

The title page of the volume reads Nineteenth Annual Program of the Woman's College of Baltimore, with the conventional publishing details. If you Google for Nineteenth Annual Program oft he Woman's College of Baltimore, the Google delivers the image of that volume—even though Google bundled it, for digitizing, with several counterparts. Google didn't create a new publication or a new book.

As a correlary, think of the film you use at FHL. Those films typically have several different items on a roll. The fact that the filmers bundled it with other things, doesn't change the fact that you're citing just that one item. You don't need an artificial title that covers the whole roll of film, right?  After citing that original item, in proper form, then yo would add a conventional citation of the film number, the library that created the film, and its location.

For material accessed online, the process is the same. So is the principle. In this case, you have a little publication to cite in full, using the data on its title page. Then, in the second layer of your citation, you'd cite the website Google Books, in standard form for a website.

 

Submitted bytmphelpson Sun, 11/16/2014 - 19:20

In reply to by EE

Sometimes it is good to have the perspective of logic to overcome my natural tendency to over think. I have to admit that I never tried to Google the name of the Program - I originally found out about it another way. Your analogy of a microfilm at FHL that contains multiple items is very helpful. Everything you say makes perfect sense.

Thanks!
Tom