Oct. 17th 2019 10:42 am

One of early Google’s most ambitious projects was to scan the world’s books and make them available online. The project ran into a number of copyright issues, but still exists as Search’s book lookup functionality. Today, the service is getting redesigned with the Google Material Theme.

Fifteen years ago, Google Books set out on an audacious journey to bring the world’s books online so that anyone can access them. Libraries and publishers around the world helped us chase this goal, and together we’ve created a universal collection where people can discover more than 40 million books in over 400 languages.

Google Search has a number of filters and specific tools. In recent years, Finance, Flights, Images, News, and Shopping have all been revamped with the company’s latest design language.

Google Books redesign

Books is now the latest, with Google positioning the service as a tool to learn about literally material, discover, and research. A book’s about page makes use of a bright background, as well as Material Theme tabs and cards. There are sections on where to buy digitally, and whether they’re available to borrow from your local library.

These tools already appear on Google, with today’s update more closely aligning Books with Search. There are also reviews, author details, and a carousel of “Similar books.”

And for those using Google Books for research, each book’s bibliographies are located prominently on the page and the citation tool allows you to cite the source in your preferred format, all in one spot.

Another convenient feature is the ability to search for key phrases or excerpts within works. An “interactive experiment” allows users to browse the Google Books collection using artwork from Google Arts & Culture.

The new Google Books redesign is available on the desktop web today and can be manually opted into.

Old Google Books

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