Between our physical and digital collections, there are frankly far too many books for any one person to read, much to my chagrin. It helps to have tools to help you narrow your focus to find books you’ll love in any format. The databases and services we use offer periodic updates to make them easier to navigate and more helpful for users, and there have been a few recent updates that I want to share with you.
Our catalog is full of book lists highlighting a wide range of themes and genres. Just last week, they got a new look and a few more features. If you’ve never used the lists feature before, you can access lists created by library staff and other users and can create lists yourself. When you log into your library account through the upper right corner of our website, you can select “Lists” to create a new list or see lists you’ve already made.
Staff create book lists regularly, for historical commemorations, genre guidance, or just personal niche interests, and patrons can do the same. These lists can also be helpful for finding “readalikes” for books you’ve enjoyed.
If you’ve used lists before, you might have noticed some of the new features – one exciting change is that the list now lets you know if a title is available in other formats.
Another feature is that all titles in a list will display on the same page, where previously you would move on to page two after a certain number of items. The print button is also now placed more clearly at the top of the page rather than at the bottom, in case you prefer to use a printed list.
Libby, the app from Overdrive that connects you to ebooks, audiobooks, and more, has also added some additional filters. One that I’m most excited about is the ability to filter audiobooks by length – if you’re looking for a quick listen or something to fill a road trip, you can narrow your choices to match. Another filter for both ebooks and audiobooks lets you find either books that are first in a series (for those who prefer to read in order) or are standalones (for those who don’t want to get into a series just now, thanks).
All of our resources will continue to change and adapt over time, and we hope that these changes will make it fun and easy for you to find and share stories you love. If you need help creating or finding book lists or using Libby, just stop by one of our service desks or otherwise get in touch to let us know how we can help.
Photo by Hester Qiang on Unsplash