Linking to Book Information--Discovering Library Resources that You May Not Have Been Aware Exist

A room without books is like a body without a soul. Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106BC - 3BC Creative Quotations

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In the last couple of days, I have added two Internet links for us to discover more about books. They include:

1. WorldCat


2. Google Books

Founded in 1967, OCLC--Online Computer Library Center--is a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world's information and reducing information costs. More than 41,555 libraries in 112 countries and territories around the world use OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend and preserve library materials. The WorldCat search engine searches over 1.3 billion items stored in over 10,000 libraries. Worldcat.org

I have heard "in a general way"about World Cat before, but never checked it out. When I went to this site WorldCat this time, I found that I could add a WorldCat search engine keyed on our "88220" zip code to my blog. This search engine provides this service: we type in any name of any:

1. Subject


2. Title


3. Person

and a results page is returned to us showing library materials existing in libraries "near" to us that have materials on that subject, title or person. Once we discover such a resource, perhaps we can go about obtaining it through inter-library loan.

Google Books is also an amazing resource. Just type in a couple keywords like "humor + education,"("I found No redneck left behind : facing the real world after gettin' your diploma by Jeff Foxworthy ;or "children + humor," (I found I Hate Other People's Kids by Adriann Frost}; or "New Mexico + History." (I found Spanish Pathways : Readings in the history of Hispanic New Mexico by Marc Simmons);
and "blogging ( I found Teach Yourself Blogging by Nat McBride).

Don't use the quote marks in your search box and see what books "pops up" on your results page.

Related subject materials sometimes appear on a page, as well as other cited works by that searched-for-author.

Both sites help us to explore the unknown treasures of books that we don't know about yet--a chance to make new friends in the book/author world.

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The books that help you most are those which make you think that most. The hardest way of learning is that of easy reading; but a great book
that comes from a great thinker is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth and beauty. Theodore Parker (1810 - 1860) US theologian, pastor, scholar
Creative Quotations

© Bob Hoff, 2006