The Ancestor Hunt regularly adds and updates new collection links, as well as searches for and fixes broken links.
(This page's most recent update is December 2025)
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Google Books remains one of the most powerful — and most misunderstood — genealogy tools available online. It contains tens of millions of digitized books, including local histories, county biographies, city directories, church publications, military histories, government reports, school catalogs, and family genealogies. However, the Google Books interface has changed significantly over the years.
Despite these limitations, Google Books is still one of the best discovery engines for genealogical material — often revealing sources that can later be accessed elsewhere (Internet Archive, HathiTrust, libraries, or physical copies). This Quicksheet explains how to use Google Books effectively as it exists today, where the genealogical value lies, and how to work around snippet limitations.
Download the Quicksheet PDF
To obtain a five-page Quicksheet PDF of the information, download it by clicking on the Download button below:
For all the previously published Quick Reference Guides, click on QuickSheets.
Genealogy QuickSheets – Frequently Asked Questions
- 100 Best Free Online Genealogy Websites
- Beyond the Search Engine: Using Google Databases for Genealogy Research
- 64 Genealogy Items to Collect from Your Home
- United States Genealogical and Historical Societies
- 24 Places Where You Can Find Your Ancestors Occupation
- 13 Types of Genealogical Information You Can Find in Old Yearbooks
- 16 Places Where You Can Find Genealogy and Family History Books
- Easy Cousin Relationship Chart