• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, September 19, 2017

Many of the authors I know in Southern California will no longer purchase books from Amazon because they give very little back to the author when a book is sold.

Most authors I know try to either purchase the book through a small local bookseller or search for the book in their local library.

As one fellow author and friend once told me, "I know it's convenient, but I shall remind y'all again, if we don't shop at least half the time at brick-and-mortar stores, they're gonna disappear. Just sayin'."

A new Google search feature on desktop and mobile may change that type of thinking. Google now give book readers another option. They can search online for an ebook available at their local library.

Frankly, it has been years since I last used a library card. These days, libraries offer digital material such as ebooks, which readers can download with an app. It's all free -- similar to the way you walk into a library, find the book on the shelf, and borrow it for a week or two.

Google announced the search tool in a tweet on Twitter. "Calling all U.S. bookworms! Now you can take a look at what e-books are available to borrow at your local library, right from search," per the Google tweet.

Until now readers needed to use the library system to search through multiple library catalogs. Now you can find the book and view some of the content directly in search results. For those who want to borrow the ebook, Google will direct the borrower to a page where they will need to sign in with library credentials, similar to the way physical cards are required. 

Mobile search results for a book now include a “Borrow e-book” option under the “Get Book” section. Those hunting for books simply tap on the library from where they want to check out the ebook. After filling out the sign-in page for the library, the feature will provide an option to download the book or read a sample page.