Monday, August 14, 2006

WorldCat Search Toolbars

WorldCat is now open for all to use at WorldCat.org. So if you need/want to find out if any libraries near you have a certain book, check it out!

And if you plan to use this a lot, you can install a WorldCat search toolbar. There are ones for the Google and Yahoo! toolbars as well as for Firefox. I installed the Firefox one, but we'll see if I use it. Since I do interlibrary loan, I'm always in the FirstSearch part of WorldCat, so the public version may not be as useful for me. :)

2 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Oh my god, I just read this now and it didn't really hit me for a minute or two how cool it really was! *hops excitedly* I've already looked up two books I've been looking for for awhile, and I've discovered they're both nearby. Well, practically any book I'd ever want can be gotten from the library of Congress, but still...I don't want to know what their system is for late fines (a sniper on the Capitol dome?), so I'll avoid resorting to them if at all possible : ).

Thanks!

Kate said...

Hehe, I'm glad you think it's great!

Your Library of Congress comment got me thinking, so I hunted around FOREVER on the site. What I finally found was that you can't actually check anything out from the library, you'd have to read it there. Since they have a "try to keep one of everything" policy, they have probably decided that it's a good idea not to let things leave the building. For more info, check out the Use of Materials page.

I need to come visit you! I've never been to the Library of Congress. I've been to China's national library, but not ours. Pathetic! :)