Google your own library!

Most of us know you can search books scanned by Google using Google Book Search, but did you know you can enter your own books using the My Library feature to create a personal library that is also searchable (assuming Google has scanned your collection, and it probably has!)?

You can use a simple barcode scanner, or in my case the built-in webcam on my iMac, to enter the ISBN. Alternately, you can also enter the title or type in the ISBN. To get started, simply follow the My library link (above) when browsing on Google Books, then click on the Import Books link. Rather than type in the ISBNs by hand, you can use a barcode scanner to read and import the ISBN from the barcode on the back of each hard copy book in your collection.

Once imported, you can rate them and view these titles in My Library on Google Books. The real power of this tip? You can then use Google Books-powered search to browse just the books in you own home library. Check out the details in this video!