Google Books - do I need to cite Google Books' source? What about the exact link?

By Anonymous on Wed, 08/17/2016 - 04:53

Forums

I am using the following digitized book from Google Books.

I have two questions:

1) Do I need to cite Google Books' source, in this case the Harvard College Library, Charles Elliott Perkins Memorial Collection? I suspect not. But Google Books does specify the date of digitization.

2) Do I use the exact url (like with Family Search links) or a generic one for Google Books? I know it would depend upon the permanence of the links (the Ancestry vs. Family Search example in a recent post), but I do not know which applies to Google Books. In its terms of service is the statement "Google may change the entities from which you download Digital Content and through which your Google Books Digital Content transactions will be processed from time to time without notice." I tried to figure out what it means by "entities" with no luck.

Book url: https://books.google.com/books?id=FGAMAAAAYAAJ

Proposed long form citations:

Option 1:

1. James Morton Callahan, Genealogical and Personal History of the Upper Monongahela Valley, West Virginia, Under the Editorial Supervision of Bernard L. Butcher …: With an Account of the Resources and Industries of the Upper Monongahela Valley and the Tributary Region, Volume 3, (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1912), [page], digital images, Google Books ([link option] : accessed 16 August 2016).

Option 2:

1. James Morton Callahan, Genealogical and Personal History of the Upper Monongahela Valley, West Virginia, Under the Editorial Supervision of Bernard L. Butcher …: With an Account of the Resources and Industries of the Upper Monongahela Valley and the Tributary Region, Volume 3, (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1912), [page], digital images, Google Books ([link option] : accessed 16 August 2016); [digitized from] Harvard College Library, Charles Elliott Perkins Collection, 2007.

I've attached an image of first page and copyright page.

I know I'm overworking you lately.

Submitted byEEon Wed, 08/17/2016 - 09:32

eevande, have you seen the Google Books examples at 13.38 and on p. 661 (a QuickCheck model)?  Also, if you have the 3d edition, you'll find one in the QuickStart guide tipped into the front of the book.

Submitted byeevandeon Wed, 08/17/2016 - 11:14

There's a 3rd Edition?! My poor fibromyalgic hands and arms can barely lift the 2nd Edition!

13.38 is House and Senate documents? The numbers didn't change between editions, did they? I did find the Quick Check, though. I assure you that I thought I thoroughly looked before posting the question. Even did a search for Google on this website.

My other question, then, is not about how to form the citation, but why the source that Google Books used is not necessary.

Submitted byEEon Wed, 08/17/2016 - 17:54

Evande, the 3rd edition is only 6 pages longer. It shouldn't be too much more of a strain than the 2012 "2d edition revised." Section 13.38 is still House and Senate Documents, but in the third edition, the example demonstrates a citation to a published H/S Doc that's available through Google Books. (Incidentally, that epitomizes the reason for the frequent editions--over 400 pages this time. The research world keeps changing, particularly online materials!)

As for your last question, if we use a published work in a library, we don't cite the library because a published work is the same regardless of the library we find it in. The same holds for the works we find republished, as images, at Google Books. It doesn't matter what library Google used to access the book. That book would be the same at all libraries, so long as it has the same author/title/edition/publisher/date.

Submitted byTower19on Fri, 04/30/2021 - 20:49

I'm glad I did a search on the forum for google books, I was looking how to source one I found.

This is what I am citing, its a state report

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Biennial_Report/DEsZAQAAIAAJ?q=sanitary+fountain&gbpv=0#f=false

 

I feel mine might be a too wordy. If I record that p. 76 is what I'm referencing, in this case the Sanitary Fountain Company, your not going to know exactly what that is being listed for. But if you go to page 63 that is the start of the list, I wanted to somehow include the official list title, 

I. M Howell, comp, Fifteenth Biennial Report of the Secretary of State, October 1, 1916, September 30, 1918 (Frank M. Lamborn Public printer, 1918), p. 76, letter S, list of companies stricken from record since last report on July 1 1917, for failure to pay annual license fee, Sanitary Fountain Company, Spokane; image copy Google Books (https://books.google.com : accessed 30 April 2021).

 

Is this a good working citation or should I cut it down some?

 

Submitted byEEon Sun, 05/02/2021 - 08:41

Tower 19: What you've cited are the basic elements, except for two points:

1. Whenever we cite a book, the publication data we place in parentheses consists of three parts:

(Place of publication: Publisher, date)

2. The following details that you have placed in the Specific Item field might be unnecessary:

letter S, list of companies stricken from record since last report on July 1 1917, for failure to pay annual license fee, Sanitary Fountain Company, Spokane.

If you discuss this in the narrative to which you attach this reference note, then you do not need to include those details again in the reference note.

These rules apply whether the book is a work by John Doe, or whether it is a "printed government document" (EE 13.23) as in this case.