Book Searching: Find Your Book No Matter What

Written by Sunshine King  @10sunking

A lot of times I find myself typing in a phrase of a book I barely remember and low and behold no magical book pops out to give me the answer to a question I can't even form. Five minutes later of rephrasing what I think the title is and I'm done. It's frustrating trying to remember a title or author for a book when sometimes all you recall is a feeling or a piece of it.

This is where the phrase "two heads are better than one" come into play. If you can't remember the title or the author of your book and you've tried thinking of memorable quotes, characters, plot points, the appearance of the cover, etc. and nothing comes up then see if someone else can help you.

Online groups such as Goodreads: What's the name of that Book??? have several people dedicated to helping each other out just for this purpose where you can post the book you are missing and other members will try to find a match for it. This is a great way to break into the book community as well and possibly find people with the same interests in books as you.

Also, keep in mind librarians and book store associates can help as well, especially if you're able to find a library or book store with people working solely in certain areas of literature such as adult or children's books. You can find all the nearest libraries to you and their collections using Worldcat.

Finding the right book can be a difficult process if you're missing key pieces of information, but searching for it doesn't have to be a solo job. The same can be said with any sort of material you're researching, and there are several subject librarians at Columbus State University that are excited and willing to help you find material you're looking for even if you have a general idea of what it is.

While talking about it to people might not provide instant gratification than looking it up online, you might miss out on good places to search based on others' experience or you may be missing pieces of information that you wouldn't think of but someone else will.  

The internet can be a great place to find information but remember that people are resources too and can understand you in a way far better than a search engine can. Whether through the virtual world or real life reach out to others and seek their support.

That being said, if you're trying to remember titles for YA books I can help you out! Feel free to send questions by Twitter @CSULibraries or Facebook at Columbus State University Libraries or leave a comment in this post.

Happy Searching!