Thing #12 WorldCat

I searched WorldCat for an author whose name I had on a scrap of paper and had difficulty finding in the Library Thing exercise. While doing an advanced search for Charlotte McLeod, I noticed that without quotation marks I got “Jonnie H. McLeod” and the “Charlotte Drug Education Center.” I pulled up A Pint of Murder by Alisa Craig. The closest library to carry it for zip codes 08753 and 07753 is the Woodbridge Public Library. Searching the Woodbridge catalog reminded me that sometimes WorldCat takes you directly to the book, and sometimes it only takes you to the library search screen.

Using the WorldCat tab for Details and its link to the author’s name brought up more about her and her widely held works, that Alisa Craig is a pseudonym, languages in which her works were published, and related links such as some of her characters. The Editions tab pointed to two editions, and under Reviews I was invited to submit a review. I think I’d feel more comfortable reviewing in the less-formal Library Thing.

Another advanced search was predicated on a book I was looking for yesterday to ILL for a customer. I used Hopatcong as a subject, and was able to locate the book I wanted – Hopatcong: A Century of Memories by Martin Kane. Only 10 libraries have it – the closest is Rutgers.

In searching for a DVD (format) that is non-fiction (content) on (subject) “Ocean County” (with quotation marks) I found Ocean County Recycles. How much fun for Georgian Court, the only library with a holding!

I like using WorldCat to find older, more obscure, or different editions of books, along with materials I think more likely to be held by academic libraries. It is definitely helpful for making ILL requests.