ResourceShelf - Google Scholar - A treasure trove of academic search material

"The world of online 'scholarly' research is changing today as Google introduces Google Scholar. This specialized new interface -- which will NOT be linked from Google's main search page -- will allow users to search a treasure chest of 'scholarly material.'

As you've read here many times, Google is brilliant (that is, ingenious at marketing and trying new things), and this is yet another example of their savvy. This is something that some other large web engine(s) could have done years ago to help separate themselves from other players and also provide a useful service. No one did it. Now, others will likely play catch-up with Google. Basically, users of Google Scholar can, via a single search location, access content from 'scholarly' materials found on the OPEN WEB that they've found in the Google crawl of the web. Btw, it might also be time to take another look at what has traditionally thought of as 'scholarly' since some of the material in Google Scholar is not 'scholarly' using a traditional definition."
(see link for full article on Google Scholar)