Google Books Adds over 1,800 Issues of Life Magazine

Google Books manages to stay in the news for two very different reasons. One is that it's one of the search giant's most controversial products, stirring up a lot of attention from government officials, competitors and all manner of organizations. The other reason is that Google is always adding new features and content to the service. This time it's the second as the company has just announced that every issue of Life magazine's run as a weekly, from 1936 to 1972, is now available on Google Books.

“Starting today, visitors to Google Books will be able to search and browse even more magazines on Google Books. We've partnered with Life Inc. to digitize LIFE Magazine's entire run as a weekly: over 1,860 issues, covering the years from 1936 to 1972. Most of us are familiar with the term "American Century," but chances are few of us have been able to read Henry Luce's defining editorial in its original context, a 1941 issue of LIFE,” Brandon Badger, product manager at Google Books, wrote.

Google is always adding new content to the Books project, part of the reason it got in trouble in the first place, and, while most of the attention falls on books, magazines are just as important. Now, thanks to an extended partnership with Time Inc., over 1,800 issues are available for viewing and searching. The two companies started working together last year with the Life Photo Archive, which boasts over 10 million photos and now the collaboration has been extended to Google Books.

The interface is familiar to anyone who has used Books before and is the same one used for any magazine with just a few additions. There are several views available, single and two pages and a recently launched thumbnail view that shows the entire magazine. There are also several ways of browsing the issues, either by using the time line or by searching for a keyword. As part of the partnership with Life, there is a link back to the official site and also a link for users to subscribe to the Life newsletter.