In the Mornin Blood Ran Through My Veinscomatosed Holy Ghost Again and Again

Finding a Volume When Y'all've Forgotten Its Championship

By

Gwen Glazer, Librarian

November 22, 2017

Information technology tin can be tough to retrieve the title and author of a volume you read a long time ago—even if it was a book that was actually of import to you. Fiction is cataloged by author and title, not by subject or plot line, which makes identifying books by merely their storyline difficult.

Readers often enquire librarians for help finding these kinds of books. And nosotros tin can't figure out the mystery every single time, but we do have a few tricks to help detect the respond.

Showtime, pin downward everything y'all tin call up about the book, plot, character names, fourth dimension period in which the book may have been published, genre, etc. All these details are clues in identifying the championship and author of the book.

Online resources can help with your search for a half-remembered book, even if all you have is a bones plot line. Searching yourself is a good place to start; then, you tin post to a listserv or discussion forum, where someone might recognize information technology. Or, concluding but not least, exit a comment on this post!

Before You Get-go

Try Google! Blazon in everything y'all can remember virtually the volume — as in, "moving-picture show volume rabbi animals advice yiddish" — and scroll through the results. (That's a real-life example of a book a patron was asking for:It Could Always Exist Worseby Margot Zemach.)

You can also try googling i key particular yous call back from a volume. One of our librarians solved a volume mystery by searching "USS You-Know-Who" — the proper noun of a boat in the story that the patron happened to call up. (Some other existent-life example: She Flew No Flagsby Joan Manley.)

Crowdsourcing

• What'south the Name of That Book?
  A Goodreads group with searchable discussion posts and thousands of questions and answers.

• Name That Book
  A LibraryThing grouping of ~3K members — many of whom are librarians or library-side by side — who aid solve book mysteries via threaded discussions.

• The Fiction_L listserv
  Stumpers! Search archives of by questions, answered by an intense book-ish community, or subscribe and post a new 1.

• Reddit'southward whatsthatbook thread
  A well-nigh endless thread of users trying to help other users think volume titles, including several often requested books. Especially good for science fiction and fantasy.

• "Stump the Bookseller" blog
  A cool indie bookstore in Ohio that maintains extensive, searchable archives — and offers a $4 service for personalized help. Lots of children'south books here.

• Big Book Search
  If you tin can only remember what the cover looks like, try this comprehend-search tool.

Library Databases (log in with your library card)

• Books & Authors

• Books in Print

• The New York Times databases

• NoveList and NoveList G-8 (in-library use only)

How to Move On

Sometimes, it'southward just non going to happen, and you tin't notice that elusive volume yous've been searching for. It's okay! Great news: The world is full of great books! Here are a few ways to find more...

• Check out recommendations from our book experts here at NYPL. Nosotros offer suggestions via blog posts, the Staff Picks book finder, The Librarian Is In podcast, and more.
  
• If y'all'd similar a personalized recommendation, find us on Twitter or fill up out our What Should I Read Next? electronic mail form.
  
• Desire a brand-new read? Check out our favorite New and Noteworthy titles.

Feel costless to exit a comment and tell united states of america about a book yous're trying to think! Our library staff members will pop in and bank check it periodically, and readers of this post are welcome to brand guesses and suggestions.

More Suggestions

• If you can remember just i discussion, use the search office on Goodreads or Library Thing to detect long lists of titles with a item give-and-take.

• Goodreads' browse-able lists of titles that readers have shelved in unique categories, such as authors' professions or decades of publication, is also be helpful.

• For recently published books, the reviews in Booklist Online are broken down by detailed genre.

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Source: https://www.nypl.org/blog/2017/11/22/finding-book-forgotten-title?page=1

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