Searching Books & Authors
Books & Authors provides a set of predefined search and browsing options. You may enter terms in a single field, in several fields, or in all of the fields present or simply click through items on a page to browse. For most of the searches, if you enter terms in more than one field, the search engine automatically uses the AND search operator, looking for entries that contain each of the terms in the specified fields. For Award Winners and Expert Picks, fields are linked by the OR search operator.
Author Search
Within the Home Page search field, enter a complete name or any word or combination of words known to be part of the author's name. Upon clicking Search, a list of authors with date of birth/date of death and nationality information will appear. Clicking on any of these will take you to the entry for that author. Illustrators and other creators are also searchable as part of the Author Name index.
Title or Series Search
Within the Home Page search field, enter the complete title of a work or series name or any word, beginning of a word, or combination of words known to be in the title. Upon clicking Search, a list of authors with date of birth/date of death and nationality information will appear. Clicking on any of these will take you to the entry for that author. Illustrators and other creators are also searchable as part of the Author Name index.
Keyword Search
Within the Home Page search field - at the top right hand corner of the home page - enter a subject term or phrase. Upon clicking Search, a list of titles will appear that have this term or phrase within the author, title or subject guides. Clicking on any of these titles will take you to the entry for that book.
Browse Genre
The Genre Browse feature allows you to find a book based on its associated Genre and Story Type/Subgenre. From the homepage, there are two ways to perform this browse: clicking on a genre on the left-hand navigation bar or by choosing one from the drop down list that appears if you click the Browse Genres button in the button bar under the Books & Authors logo at the top of the home page. Clicking on a genre in either case will show a list of titles and their associated book covers for you to browse. You can navigate through the pages of results at this point or dig a little deeper into the genre by then selecting one of the story types or subgenre that appear to the left of your browse results. Once a term is selected, the book jackets and titles will change to match the genre/subgenre combination you've chosen. Clicking on a book jacket or title will then take you to the full entry for that book.
Browse Titles
The Genre Browse feature allows you to find a book based on Genre and Story Type/Subgenre. From the homepage, clicking on a genre on the left-hand navigation bar will show a list of story types or subgenre from which to narrow your browse criteria. Once clicked, the associated subgenre list will appear and once a term is selected.
Browse Authors
The Browse Authors allows you to find authors through an alpha link display. Click on the Browse Authors link on the home page to access this feature. Once on the Browse Authors page, simply click on the first letter of the author's name to see all writers whose last name begins with that letter. Alternately, you can begin typing in the first few letters of an authors name and click SEARCH to find matches to the spelling so far. Clicking on an author will take you to the associated biography page.
Read Alike Wizard
Within the Read Alike Wizard input box, enter the complete title of a book or any word, beginning of a word, or combination of words known to be in the title. You will then receive a list of all titles in the database that fit your search. Once you select a title from the results list, you will be provided with a list of terms associated with the title you chose. You may then select any or all of the terms displayed to find other books that share some or all of your selected terms. Your results list will be sorted by the number of relevant terms matched. The search terms will be connected by AND search operators, except for Genre and Story Type which have OR operators.
Who? What? Where? When? Search
This feature allows you to search for books based on character descriptors, subjects, geographic settings, and time periods. You must enter the name of a geographic setting in the Where field. Select any combination of up to three fields, and view a visualization of your results on the diagram as it is generated on the right hand image box. The areas that intersect show your most focused results. Who?, What?, and When? fields allow you to choose from a pull-down list of terms. To select a location in the Where? Box, simply begin typing in a geographic setting (i.e. New York, Europe, Mars, Avalon, etc.) to see a list of searchable locations. Each of the four fields is connected by AND search operators. Click on Your results to see a list of matches.
If four operators are chosen, only the first three will appear in the diagram but all will be displayed in your results list. All four operators and their overlaps will be represented in the diagram soon!
Expert Picks
You can access hundreds of Expert Picks and Librarian's Favorites lists from two places: from the Expert Picks box on the home page or by hitting the Expert Picks button on the home page button bar under the Books & Authors logo. Clicking either of these will take you to a page with two browse lists - Expert Picks and Librarian's Favorites. Select a list from either menu and click RETRIEVE to view the contents of your selection. Once in a list, clicking on any of the hotlinked titles will take you to the entry for that title.
Award Winners
Similar to Expert Picks, there are hundreds of literary awards and bestseller lists available to you by using one of two paths: from the Award Winners box on the home page or by hitting the Award Winners button on the home page button bar under the Books & Authors logo. Clicking either of these will take you to a page with two browse lists - Award Winners and Best Sellers. Select a list from either menu and click RETRIEVE to view the contents of your selection. Once in a list, clicking on any of the hotlinked titles will take you to the entry for that title.
Advanced Search
One or more fields may be filled in to created a customized search. Author, Title, Location, Character Name, and Full Text fields are type-in fields. Genre/Story Type, Subject, Time Period, and Character Descriptor fields contain pull-down lists of terms. Fields are connected by AND search operators. Within the fields provided, select from the associated pull-down list the name of an award, librarian favorite, expert pick, and/or bestseller you wish to find. Fields are connected by OR search operators.
Navigating Results Lists
Once you have filled in your search criteria and selected Search, you will be presented with a list of the books or authors that match your query. Your search criteria is repeated at the top right of the results screen for your reference. The number of result pages found and the first set of documents will also be displayed. Drop-down sort options appear at the top right corner of results lists. In an author search, the results list will show all authors that match the spelling as typed in the SEARCH box from the home page. Clicking on an author name will take you to a full biography of that writer. In a title search, all titles that include your search term will appear as a results list. Clicking on a title will take you to the full title entry.
Navigating Entries
Once you've selected a title, there are a number of tabs that contain different kinds of information related to the book you've chosen. Each one provides a new window into the book, the author and where you may go next in your reading adventures:
Books - Once you have selected a title from a results list or from a "VIEW THIS TITLE" link on the home page or from a title search result list, a tabbed display will show a number of views from which to choose: about the author, about the book, book reviews, and read alikes.
About the Title - displays the plot summary and title details for your chosen book, including main characters, genre, subgenre, settings and subjects associated with the title. Associated lists that the title appears on will display along with bestseller lists librarian's favorites, etc.
About the Author - details about an author, including full - length biographies (when available) appear under this tab. Clicking on the SEARCH for books by this author will take you to his/her full list of titles that appear in Books & Authors.
Book Reviews - this tab provides print and audio book reviews as well as critical essays from over 30 popular and literary periodicals. In addition, you can write a review, provide a star - rating or log on to my reading room using the links on the right - hand toolbar.
Read Alikes - over 20 genre and subject experts provide thousands of lists that will help guide you to the next good book to curl up with. Think of Read Alikes as "May we suggest?" or "If you like this book, then you'll LOVE this one" lists.
What Do I Read Next? - titles in Books & Authors are linked in a variety of ways. For instance, there are hundreds of titles that share common a common genre, subjects, time periods or locations or settings. IN the right-hand column of the display, you will find these common elements spelled out for you. Each genre, subject, setting or time period associated with the title you are viewing will be given, along with the number of titles that have these attributes. Clicking on any of these terms will take you to a results list for titles that match the indexing term you have selected.
Tool Kit - There are a number of options you have at this level of display, including:
You can also write a review for this title by clicking the Write a Review link below the Community Rating, which is dynamically generated to reflect the rating chosen by the entire Books & Author community to date.
My Reading Room
My Reading Room is a brand-new environment that allows you to create, maintain and share lists of your favorite authors or titles, your own written book reviews, your marked list. Click here to learn more!
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